Fashion forward Winnipeg designer has built loyal customer base with unique, personalized styles By: AV Kitching Posted: 5:55 PM CDT Thursday, Mar. 26, 2026

The most precious things in Mercedes Jaimes’s studio aren’t the yards of vintage Italian lace, sourced from a shop in Puglia, Italy, and carefully placed between folds of clothing, packed in cabin luggage for the long flight back to Winnipeg.

That distinction doesn’t go to the cameo brooches from Argentina, or the custom ceramic heart-shaped button covers by local ceramicist Meg Greenlay, or even the delicate crochet caps embellished with raw pearls that pass through three sets of hands before they make their way onto the heads of customers.

No siree.

The most precious item here is a small, bright pink plastic box stuffed with index cards holding detailed information of every single customer Jaimes (pronounced HAI-mess) has dressed.

“I call it my bible,” says the designer, who is in her early 50s and moved to Winnipeg from Argentina in 2003. “I started collecting client information about a year into the business when I realized it was imperative to serve my customers in this way. I have key measurements filed for each client, order history and notes and details that help me for the construction of the garments.

“It’s very fluid and informative, as from time to time we revise and take measurements again if needed, as our bodies change constantly.”

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La Vie Romantique 2026 is the latest and 48th collection to date from Maison Corazon, Jaimes’s fashion house and the culmination of her dreams.

The 15-strong collection, released a week ago, lives up to its name.

Beneath the loops and flounces, the romantic puffs and soft swirls, sits an exacting structure created by a designer who has mastered fabric, silhouette and construction.

Nowhere is this clearer than in the Josephine Peplum top in Toile de Jouy fabric, which has five different elements — each one requiring precise placement of dart and seam and frill and ruche and puff — and yet somehow avoids appearing overdone.

That’s no mean feat when you consider it’s also on a heavily textured print, wholly justifying its $265 price tag.

Jaimes has created a symphony of shape, texture and movement, the result of someone who knows how to manipulate fabric.

This is a woman you would trust to dress you, as evidenced by the loyalty of a clientele that returns year after year to sell her out of her offerings.

But perfection does not come cheap.

Her most popular pair of trousers, the Romeos from a previous collection, cost $185. Despite the price tag, her clients keep reordering them in different colours, trusting Jaimes will make them look their best.

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Jaimes’s first Instagram post as Maison Corazon in August 2017 was an act of faith. Long before she had a single item of clothing, let alone a whole collection, she began posting snaps of herself in different dresses in beautiful surroundings, dropping clues to her sense of style and esthetic.

It was tangible way for her to claim the dream she’d been nursing for as long as she could remember; she was taking the bull by the horns.

Less than a year later, in March 2018, she registered the business, releasing her first collection that spring.

“I created a very appealing visual, but there was no product, no collection. I did that because I think when you have a project or an idea, you have to start somewhere … because if you are waiting for the perfect time or to feel that you are ready, you are not going to be 100 per cent ready,” she says.

“I put myself out there, which was such a big deal. It was scary. But it was time for myself, for my dreams to get into fruition, to reality.”

In the early days of Maison Corazon, Jaimes would lug her racks to various markets across the city, her first collection debuting at Lucky Girl Pop-Up.

But just as she’d started, COVID-19 struck. The landscape shifted, but while other industries suffered, Jaimes thrived. Sitting at home with nothing to do, people started shopping online.

“COVID catapulted Maison Corazon. My sales went up and the website became incredibly strong. And I’ve continued selling only online; right now I don’t have to do any markets,” she says.

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At five-foot-one, Jaimes is petite and small-boned, the serious set to her face accentuated by a blunt bob and slash of, depending on the occasion, red or pink lipstick.

There’s an air of competence in her confident, self-assured manner, the kind of poise present in those who are in total control of their craft.

Friend and collaborator Meghan Greenlay of Meg Does Pottery has been working with Jaimes for at least seven years, since Jaimes requested Greenlay make her heart-shaped ceramic brooches.

They were pals and fans of each other’s work before joining forces, Greenlay says.

“Working with Mercedes isn’t just a priority for me; it’s become part of my personal and our collective growth as the seasons continue. She is not only a longtime collaborator, but someone I look up to immensely and admire deeply when it comes to dedication of fine craft,” Greenlay says.

These days Jaimes isn’t bound by the traditional fashion calender. Collections drop at any time; each one is constructed around a specific story she wants to tell.

With degrees in fashion design and textile design from Universidad De Buenos Aires, plus more than 15 years working in the industry, it’s no wonder Jaimes’s customers trust her.

Customers make appointments to visit her light-filled living room in south St. Vital, which doubles as a showroom, to go through her rack of samples, picking designs they like the best, receiving the kind of service you night get at Parisian haute couture houses.

She’s cultivated an intimate, unintimidating atmosphere; her fitting sessions are fun, personal and special.

“I already know your body because I have written it down — your measurements and a history of what I’ve made for you throughout the years. I know from the beginning what I’ve dressed you in. It’s like what happened with haute couture, except that that’s in Paris and I’m here. But it’s exactly the same, the same process. But my prices are way, way, way cheaper,” she says laughing.

It’s more than technical skill, industry experience or even the artistry of her clothes that keeps people coming back. It’s how well she knows how to dress their bodies. It’s her attention to detail, not just to what they’re going to wear but who they are, while not compromising with what she wants to say.

There is an element of play in her pieces, an ethos from her very early days that has perservered.

“It’s a thrill to create different forms for bodies, to be playful while still showing different aspects of yourself,” she says. “Being playful with the way you dress is a pillar of the brand. To have fun when you dress in the morning, not just to put clothes on.”

And with that she’s off, measuring tape and scissors in hand, off to whip up another playful dream to dress us in.

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