June 2024
Month 20xx
Akosua Yeboah & Nicole Lim
Charmaine Gooden
Jacob Marion
Highlights
Beginning of article
Judith Adams discovered her fascination for life’s finer things long before she knew the names Hermès or Chanel. It was in her home village of Argyle Mountain, Jamaica, where young Judith got her first glimpse of luxury.
Each morning, walking the village roads to school, five-year-old Adams would stop to admire her aunt’s pristine hilltop home, bathed in sunlight. She remembers thinking in awe, “I want to live a life like that.”
In these quite moments, without realizing it, Adams sowed the seeds of her aspirations and appreciation for a life of quality. She didn’t yet understand luxury as fashion or designer labels, but she did recognize beauty and elegance and how it could make you feel.
Now, on a chilly November afternoon, Adams warmly greets a longtime client passing by Studio D, the luxury boutique she co-owns with her husband Derrick. Wearing a refined white t-shirt and a leather jacket resting neatly on her shoulders, she moves effortlessly through the space filled with European fashion labels.
It’s clear that the little girl from rural Jamaica who dreamed of an elegant life didn’t just find luxury. She built a career helping others experience it.
Early Life and Career
Bright lights welcomed eight-year-old Adams and her family to Toronto on a wintry Christmas Day in 1974. Friendly and outgoing, she joined the social committee at Central Commerce High School and discovered that connecting with others came naturally. “I’ve always loved being around people, communicating and bringing communities together,” she confirms.
She landed her first retail job at a small, family-owned jeans store. Every bit of money she earned went towards the latest designer clothes, not just for herself, but also her sisters. “Even today, my sister recalls when I surprised her with a pair of yellow designer jeans and what it meant to her,” recalls Adams fondly.
For her, fashion was never just about owning designer clothes. Fashion was her language and a way of expressing herself through the silhouettes and colours she loved, and sharing that joy with her special people.
Adams’ fashion career began at Adrienne Vittadini, an American fashion brand. As an assistant manager at their Yorkville store, she built a loyal clientele, eventually leading to her being scouted by Hermès in 1998.
For nine years, Adams was the ready-to-wear and fragrance specialist at Hermès, dedicating herself to the brand and community. She learned that luxury retail had less to do with selling products and everything to do with cultivating relationships.
“I learned that luxury isn’t just about the product,” Adams explains. “It’s about exceeding expectations and creating an unforgettable experience.”
Business woman Simona Shnaider, has watched Adams build one of Toronto’s most respected careers in luxury retail for over three decades. What impressed her wasn’t simply Adams’ impeccable style, but the effortless way she made every client feel understood.
“Judith is exceptional with people,” says Shnaider. “She understood her customers before they even had to explain themselves. That’s a very rare quality.”
Shnaider recalls that Adams remembered not only what clients purchased, but how they lived, travelled and dressed. “She always knew what I liked, what I didn’t like. If Judith said she would find something for you, she did. That kind of follow-through is almost impossible to find today.”
One purchase, in particular, has become inseparable from Adams in Shnaider’s memory.
“More than 25 years ago, I can still remember saying, ‘Judith, I think I need a Birkin.’ She looked at me and laughed, ‘Honey, of course you need a Birkin.'”A few weeks later Adams called to say the coveted bag had arrived; a gold leather Birkin.
“Whenever I look at that bag, I think of Judith,” says Shnaider. “Back then it wasn’t about waiting lists or status. It was about trust. She knew exactly what I wanted and made it happen.”
“To me, luxury isn’t defined by price,” she says. “It’s an emotion, a way of carrying oneself through life.”
Chanel
In 2006, Adams received a call that would alter the course of her career. Roger Forcier, president of Chanel Canada, invited her to join the company as assistant boutique director at the Bloor street flagship store. Despite admiring Chanel for years, she turned him down, uncertain she was ready for such a prestigious role.
A year later, encouraged by her husband and inspired by her two children, especially her daughter Kelsey, Adams reconsidered. “I couldn’t tell my daughter to chase her dreams if I wasn’t willing to chase mine,” she says. This time, in 2007, she accepted.
After she accepted the offer, Adams was curious as to why she was chosen. Forcier replied that when they surveyed clients about whom they wanted to work with, her name was mentioned repeatedly.
“That touched me deeply,” Adams says quietly with emotion in her eyes. “It’s incredibly moving when other people see your strengths before you see them yourself.”
Shnaider believes Adams helped define one of the strongest eras in Chanel Toronto’s history.
“Judith and Anne were an incredible team,” she says. “Honestly, I don’t think the Chanel boutique was ever better. They understood luxury, but more importantly, they understood people and relationships. That’s what clients remember.”
Fashion and Diversity
Throughout her career, Adams has encountered her share of systemic racism, gender inequity, salary disparities and subtle micro-aggressions. Yet she refused to let those experiences define her.
“I never allowed others to undermine my worth as a human being,” she says. “I envisioned a future that created success and happiness, and I went after it with dogged determination.”
That determination would eventually lead Adams beyond the world of luxury retail brands and into entrepreneurship.
In 2015, Studio D shoes, curated by her husband, Derrick Adams, opened in the Lawrence Park neighbourhood. Filled with exclusive European designer footwear, Judith gradually realized this was her opportunity to create her own luxury retail space.
Two years later in 2017, after a decade at Chanel, she joined Derrick at Studio D. His expertise in designer footwear complemented her strategic planning and marketing expertise in women’s fashion. “I felt empowered,” she says. “Grounded in who I wanted to be and my legacy.”
She shares with us their struggles obtaining funding to finance Studio D and how her white peers didn’t face this same reality. They were able to leverage their combined years of experience and each other’s areas of expertise to finance and build Studio D from the ground up.
Their vision blends affordability with luxury. The family-run boutique offers a curated mix of emerging and established European luxury brands, high fashion, elegant, sophisticated looks from the likes of MIISTA, MSGM, Chloe, Missoni and Sebastian Milano.
Studio D moved to its current location in the Manulife Centre in 2021. Powder blue walls accent chartreuse coloured sofas. Black and white marble counters showcase Italian-crafted footwear, elegant jewelry, and Studio D Privé handbags. Gold-trimmed shelves display No Name and Philippe Model Paris shoes. Mannequins sport EMANO designs, topped with trendy berets for winter.
Ensuring that customers feel welcome is one of Adams’ main priorities.“I’m all too familiar with feeling uneasy in luxury fashion environments,” she explains.
“When a Black customer walks in, asking if I’m the owner; seeing the smiles when I answer ‘yes’, makes us feel so good and so proud,” shares Adams. She says BIPOC communities have been a constant source of support and agrees how important it is to give back to Black and other racialized groups.
Influence and Legacy
At both Hermès and Chanel, Adams built lasting relationships by combining luxury expertise with attention to details. She remembered her clients’ tastes, anticipated their needs and, perhaps most importantly, followed through.
“If you asked Judith for something, you knew it would happen,” says Shnaider. “She always knew what I liked, what I didn’t like, and she always delivered. That level of follow-through is something that’s missing today.”
After watching Adams’ career over three decades, Shnaider has no doubt about what sets her apart. “She’s grown and evolved with every stage of her career, and somehow she just keeps getting better.”
Beyond her expertise, Shnaider believes Adams possesses something less tangible.
“Judith has this wonderful disposition,” says Shnaider. “Whenever you’re in her presence, you just feel calmer. She understands fashion, she understands business, and she understands people.”
Then she pauses before offering perhaps the most fitting description of all. “There’s something about Judith that’s timeless,” Shnaider adds. “She’s incredibly chic, almost old hollywood. She has presence.”
That presence has become Adams’ signature. Whether at Hermès, Chanel or Studio D boutique, her career is defined by delivering outstanding customer service.
The image of a little girl gazing at her aunt’s hilltop home in Jamaica still inspires her today. In her journey working for the highest luxury brands to lifelong connections and Studio D collaborations, Adams isn’t just a dreamer, she’s an achiever.
“To me, luxury isn’t defined by price,” she concludes. “It’s an emotion, a way of carrying oneself through life.”
After she accepted the offer, Adams was curious as to why she was chosen.
Forcier replied that when they surveyed clients about whom they wanted to work with, her name was mentioned repeatedly.
Archive of images at BFC:
