There are places that stay with you long after you leave them.
For me, that place is the South of France.
I started Saint Soleil after my honeymoon with my husband. We got married in Mexico, and then traveled to the South of France - spending time between Saint-Tropez and Provence. I had been to Paris before, but nothing prepared me for the South of France. It just feels different there. The food, the light, the pace of life, the effortless style - it all feels like it’s been perfected over time.
We stayed at an incredible hotel outside of Provence, surrounded by quiet beauty and slow mornings, and spent our days moving between boat trips, long lunches, and afternoons at Le Club 55 when in Saint Tropez. There’s a certain ease to life there that you don’t forget once you’ve experienced it.
One of my favorite memories from that trip was a morning in L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, a small town known for its markets and antique stalls.
We wandered through the market, stopping at different local vendors, and that’s where I found it - the sweater.
It wasn’t anything loud or overly designed. It was simple, incredibly soft, and had this beautiful, vibrant color story I hadn’t seen before in knitwear. I bought it without overthinking it, and I wore it for the rest of our honeymoon.
Something about it became tied to that entire experience.
That sweater came everywhere with me - boat days, dinners, mornings in Provence. And when we came home to Southern California, I kept wearing it. It would remind me of something I couldn’t quite explain at the time: ease.
And people noticed.
I’d wear it out in La Jolla or Del Mar, and people would ask where it was from. And every time, I’d say the same thing: I found it in a market in the South of France.
It made me realize there was something missing in the way we think about knitwear - something that felt effortless, elevated, soft, and joyful, all at once.
The women in the South of France embody that so naturally. There’s a quiet confidence in how they dress. Nothing feels overdone, but everything feels intentional. It’s a kind of quiet luxury that doesn’t need to announce itself.
That feeling became the foundation of Saint Soleil.
I wanted to recreate that emotion - not just the look of it, but the feeling of it.
A slower life. A softer rhythm. A little more color. A little more joy in the everyday moments.
Where I live in Point Loma, San Diego, there’s a similar energy. Ocean air, slow mornings, long walks, a life that doesn’t always rush. It felt like there was a bridge between these two places - Southern California and the South of France.
Saint Soleil was born in that space between them.
The name itself reflects that feeling. Saint Soleil translates loosely to “Saint of the Sun” in French. It represents warmth, light, and the idea of living in alignment with the sun - both literally and metaphorically.
I want people to feel connected to themselves when they wear Saint Soleil.
To feel elevated, but comfortable. Joyful, but grounded. To feel the texture of something luxurious on their skin and remember that life is made up of small, meaningful moments - your morning coffee, an evening glass of rosé, a walk at golden hour.
We use materials like mohair and alpaca because they carry that softness and warmth so naturally. After extensive research, I became deeply drawn to alpaca yarns and mohair blends - materials that feel both elevated and lived-in at the same time.
There’s a kind of ethereal softness to them that I couldn’t stop thinking about.
Every piece is designed with that intention: to feel like something you reach for without thinking, but that still makes you feel like your best self.
Bringing Saint Soleil to life meant searching for the right partners. We now work with a small, boutique manufacturer in Peru specializing in alpaca, and a family-run manufacturer in Asia that produces in small batches with incredible care. Over time, those relationships have become something much deeper than production - they’ve become part of the story.
I’ve also been building this while working full-time in my corporate job, sketching ideas at my dining room table, and slowly bringing each piece to life with my husband, John, who has been part of this from the very beginning.
What started as a sweater I found in a market has become a full collection rooted in a feeling I never wanted to forget.
Saint Soleil is about that feeling - of being present in your life, of finding joy in the everyday, and of choosing beauty not as something extra, but as something essential.
This is just the beginning 🌞✨
xx - Brooke