Atelier Doré

Today we’re taking a peek into the serene oasis of Erin Kleinberg’s home and learning a bit more about her newly launched brand SIDIA that wants to put you into a caftan all day, everyday. Something we can get behind!

Your brand, SIDIA, was born during quarantine. Can you tell me a bit about the inspiration behind and why you felt like this was the right time to launch?

Everything about March felt like my world came to a screeching halt. My grandmother passed, I had just bought out investors in my company Métier Creative, COVID shut everything down, and it all hit me like a ton of bricks. Layoffs, cancellations, changes, feelings of survival. Pressure. Anxiety. Sleepless nights. Two kids. After the shock, my team and I realized that this brand, this living organism and idea that we’d been thinking, plotting, planning, testing for the past year and beyond, was about to be birthed. As a way to provide us with hope, creativity, newness, and future thinking.

The timing felt right for a myriad of reasons: I needed a way to cope with my grief around the loss of Sidia, and what better way to do so then to live her legacy through storytelling; her tale of being a Holocaust survivor and immigrant building a life for herself in Canada, and the stories of so many other women (that have either never been told, or need to be retold) to help future generations live our fullest lives. And what better way than to find joy in so much home time than to wear a caftan! Far more comfortable than any hard clothing, and simply put, far more glamorous than sweatpants. We had the quintessential quarantine piece – our Caftan is equal parts comfortable, chic, and confident. Global vintage dealer Lynda Latner once said, “What is apparent is that no one ever looks bad in a caftan,” and this resonates with us greatly. SIDIAs are versatile and a true universal, multigenerational unifier of style and comfort.

Once spring came, we started noticing women purchasing 6, 7, 8 Caftans so they could rotate for days of the week, creating their essential day to day uniform. This nugget of intel is what alerted us (among many DM convos with myself and our clients) that we had to build out our pilot brand Out Of Office into a bigger entity with more legs. The task was to build our own ecosystem and brand universe that would withstand the test of time. Thus SIDIA was born.

Fashion is in a new frontier now, as the fashion calendar/old school way of retail is flipped on its head—and I believe consumers will crave the idea of elevated simplicity. I’ve been there as a 20-year-old designer doing business with Barneys and Saks, and I find the new age model of DTC and connectivity with our community to be refreshing and modern.

Who is the woman you’re thinking of when you’re designing and creating for Sidia?

When we guide our clients at Métier, we are distinctly focused on a specific subset or group of people to create their worlds for, because after all it can be difficult to cater messaging to everyone, and especially in this market, targeting your niche group of consumers is the key to success. That said, with SIDIA, the nature of the cut, styling, fabric, etc. allows for all women to enjoy. Take our Easy Rider: a classic take on the LBD for the modern day woman. Sidia herself would wear this piece and merchandise it up with her baubles. Simultaneously I wore this piece to birth my children! Versatility is key for us. But ultimately I crave our SIDIAs because they simplify my life. They are easy, breezy, and allow me to live life unrestricted. Our fabrics feel like soft luxurious pajamas, but when I slip on a SIDIA, my husband always says, “You look so beautiful, E!” They make you feel like a million bucks, you’ve got it under control, and you didn’t agonize over what you were going to wear. They are loose, free, and got your back! Our mission is to create items that really live with you.

Your home feels like a tranquil oasis — what was your inspiration behind the interior design?

My husband and I got married at the Parker in Palm Springs and spend a month there each year with our family. My parents honeymooned there, grandparents owned a home there, and it’s deeply ingrained in my soul as our special place. We were hyper-focused on recreating the feeling we get while we vacation there—our long walks pining over the jaw-dropping Art Deco bungalows, clean architectural lines, sensations of the desert, open fresh air, and most notably the incredible facades of the homes. We iterated on one of our favourite homes there that has an exterior of multi-sized stones painted white that we recreated in our family den. It’s my favorite feature of the home.

In 2011 I co-founded Coveteur, which inspired me to be on a lifelong journey of home improvements! Seeing over 500 of fashion’s most unique homes made me realize that I adore interiors and was motivated to build this house with my husband Mickey. Over the past ten years personal style has extended so much into our home because we spend so much time here, and now more than ever, my musing on this is extremely accurate! Many made fun when I mapped out having a larger bedroom than average but I wanted to recreate the feeling I had when it was a rainy day and my whole family would congregate in my parents room as a kid with the fireplace and movies. We put a lot of TLC into knowing that we are homebodies and making sure we could build something that would stand the test of time!

The styles of architecture are a complete mixture; industrial meets beach house meets rustic meets desert chic meets modern. I wanted our space to feel warm and cozy, reminiscent of a beach house or Palm Springs oasis. The goal was to create a little piece of R&R paradise in Toronto that I could come home to everyday and feel instantly transported to some of my favorite travel destinations.

Can you tell us a bit about how SIDIA is giving back and why that’s important to you?

The heartbeat of SIDIA will be a partnership with organizations that help to heal individuals who suffer from Intergenerational Trauma; any trauma that continues to affect generations that follow beyond the initial occurrence of the trauma. As a Holocaust survivor, Sidia herself experienced a collective trauma that was woven into her lasting personal and familial legacy. We are currently building our SIDIA Stories Grant, a quarterly grant program for this fall which will sponsor winners to receive ongoing healing/writing therapy sessions tailored to helping IT. We will also offer support and sessions to these groups, and commit to continuing the conversation around healing through our editorial platform SIDIA Stories also coming this fall.