After 20 Years of Lavender May, Marie-Sophie Steps Into the Spotlight at Festival M.A.D.
Fashion, music, faith and transformation collide as Montreal multidisciplinary artist Lavender May unveils a deeply personal new chapter at Festival M.A.D. 2026.
📸 HERO IMAGE: IMG_5209.JPG
Caption: Lavender May enters a new chapter after two decades of fashion, performance and spectacle.
On Thursday, August 20 at 10 p.m., Lavender May takes over Place des Festivals for the opening night of Festival M.A.D. 2026, celebrating two decades of creation with a fashion show unlike anything she has presented before.
But calling it a fashion show doesn’t quite cover it.
Behind Lavender May is Marie-Sophie Rondeau, the Montreal designer, performer and multidisciplinary artist whose career has moved through burlesque, costume design, European tours, television, Cirque du Soleil productions and stages from the Olympic Stadium to the Olympia de Montréal alongside Dita Von Teese.
Now, fashion, performance and music are converging with something more personal: her faith, a new philanthropic purpose and the live unveiling of her first original song.
Twenty years of spectacle have shaped the unmistakable world of Lavender May.
Best Kept MTL sat down with Lavender May for five questions before she puts it all out there at M.A.D.
1. After 20 years of Lavender May, who is Marie-Sophie today?
“Lavender May taught me through years of hard work in a very difficult field how to be fearless and dream big.”
Naturally shy, Marie-Sophie credits Lavender with teaching her to walk onto a stage, take up space and eventually believe she deserved to be seen behind the character.
“Twenty years later, I don’t feel like I need to hide behind the Lavender character anymore.”
The creativity, audacity, femininity, humour and drive, she realizes, were hers all along.
“This chapter is about integrating the two rather than choosing between them. Lavender is still very much alive, but Marie-Sophie finally entered the room with her own voice!”
Behind Lavender May is Marie-Sophie Rondeau, the designer and creator who has spent two decades building worlds by hand.
2. Burlesque, sensuality and spectacle meet faith, grace and the divine. Are those two women really so different?
“Not at all.”
Rather than rejecting her past, Lavender sees those two decades as essential to the woman she has become.
“My relationship with God has made me more intentional. It hasn’t taken my creativity away, it has made me ask what I want to do with it.”
The glamour, femininity, transformation and spectacle remain. What has changed is their purpose.
“I don’t see it as leaving Lavender May behind. I see it as allowing her to grow with me.”
For Lavender May, femininity, transformation and spectacle are evolving rather than disappearing.
3. Why is now the moment to put your own voice at the centre?
After years of creating costumes, performances and entire worlds for other artists, Lavender says she finally knows what she wants to say.
“Before, everything was training me for this moment. So that when I would grab a mic, I would know what to say!” she says with a laugh.
That voice now carries a bigger purpose. Lavender is developing artistic events and initiatives intended to help raise funds toward efforts protecting vulnerable youth from human trafficking, a cause she says has become deeply important to her.
“Music is part of this new chapter because I have finally found my voice.”
Fashion, events, artistic direction and production aren’t disappearing. Instead, she sees them becoming vehicles for something deeper and more aligned with her values.
Music is becoming another creative language for Lavender May as she steps into her next chapter.
4. Is there something you’re trying to heal through this collection?
“Absolutely.”
The inner child sits at the heart of the M.A.D. presentation.
Lavender explores how childhood experiences of joy, fear, rejection, wonder and injustice can follow us into adulthood, and what happens when pain is acknowledged rather than allowed to define us.
“We are much more than what happened to us, we are what we choose to do with it.”
For her, beauty is now the invitation rather than the destination.
“Creating just for aesthetics isn’t enough for me anymore. Everything aesthetically pleasing or eye-catching can open the door to catch people’s attention, but what I really want to do with their attention now is to make a call to action.”
Beauty remains central to Lavender May’s universe, but increasingly as a vehicle for hope, transformation and purpose.
5. What are you about to show Montreal that we’ve never seen before?
“I think people are going to meet Lavender May and Marie-Sophie on stage together for the first time!”
Expect high fashion, handmade costumes, revived vintage pieces, theatrical reveals, invited performers and an original soundscape culminating in Lavender performing her first song live.
But don’t call it a retrospective.
“It’s a résumé of the lessons learnt through twenty years of creating, performing, winning, losing, learning, questioning and transforming, being brought into one show.”
Behind the spectacle: Lavender May prepares to bring two decades of creation together for Festival M.A.D.
And apparently, she’s still holding a few cards.
“There are a few surprises I’m definitely keeping for the runway. Do not miss it!”
LAVENDER MAY AT FESTIVAL M.A.D. 2026
Thursday, August 20, 2026, 10 p.m.
Place des Festivals, Quartier des spectacles, Montréal
Open to the public
Twenty years after Lavender May first gave Marie-Sophie the confidence to step into the spotlight, M.A.D. may represent something even more significant: the moment she no longer needs to choose between the woman and the character.
This time, they’re walking onto the stage together.
For another bold M.A.D. perspective, discover how Montreal designer Guillaum Chaigne is marking a decade on the runway with his biggest and most personal collection yet
