The former Governor-General of Canada, Michaelle Jean, popped into Angel Vancouver this weekend while in Gastown. She bought one of my hand-painted items for a family member — I can’t say what it was because it might be a surprise gift.

Mme. Jean is a beautiful woman who was dressed in a blue jacket from Ottawa, much like the one she is wearing in the photo at left. She obviously has great taste. She was Canada’s Governor General from 2005 to 2010. She is currently UNESCO Special Envoy for Haiti. She was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and immigrated to Canada with her family in 1968, fleeing a dictatorial regime.

A former journalist who had her own TV show in Quebec, she spent her early career actively involved in establishing a network of emergency shelters for battered women in Quebec. She also runs the Foundation Michaelle Jean, whose aim is to  “equip disadvantaged youth with the tools and drive to ignite change in their communities through the arts.”

Meanwhile, Angel Vancouver continues its 35 percent-off sale this week on select Desigual items to celebrate our store’s 35th year in business. We have new arrivals from the Desigual spring-summer 2013 line that came last week, and we have also received an early shipment of Desigual fall-winter 2013 clothing.

If you don’t see what you’re looking for, we might be able to order it in and ship it to you.

Angel  also specializes in custom hand-painted shirts. We ship worldwide.

Angel Vancouver is located at No. 2 Powell Street in the Gastown district of Vancouver, Canada. Our store is on the corner of Powell & Carrall Street in Maple Tree Square, which is where Vancouver began. The photo above, taken in 1886, shows the location of our store.

Click on angelvancouver at the top of page to see earlier posts.

Desigual’s slogan this season is La Vida es Chula (Life is Cool)!