I can’t believe I’ve been in any field for a decade, but here we are in 2015 and I’ve been reaping the benefits (from discounts to coveted fashion week invites) for over ten years, mostly as a stylist. Layered with nuanced cultural references and in-depth insider knowledge, my highly honed visual/spatial aptitude is essentially what allows me to assist clients with putting together the perfect look, choosing the right accessory and curating the ultimate wardrobe. Over the course of my career, I’ve helped women shop for everything from prom dresses to wedding gowns, abaya compliments to lingerie, Topshop jewellery to Birkin bags. These ladies have been Park Avenue princesses, actual Princesses and princesses only in their dreams.
It all started in high school, when my parents suggested that I apply for the Visual Presentation major at Manhattan’s Fashion Institute of Technology. I eventually did choose FIT, but I majored in Advertising and Marketing Communications instead. With alumni such as Calvin Klein, Michael Kors and Carolina Herrera, I like to call FIT ‘the MIT of fashion’. After university, I worked at a couple of magazines (including NYLON and Elite Traveler – disparate choices, to be fair) and in e-commerce (Vivre), but the other shoe really dropped when I decided to start a personal shopping service with my former business partner and friend Amanda Sheppard. Shopping in New York City is unlike anywhere else in the world, with its sample sales, private ateliers, and everything from the hundreds of indie boutiques to quintessential department stores – it's a daunting retail landscape even for the worldly. So often did both tourists and locals alike asked us for our advice and opinions, we finally resolved to make it our business.
Our firm, Coup de Coeur Shopping Concierge, ran for almost six years. Instead of going to a client’s home for the typical closet clean, we designed a customised itinerary that took them directly to the stores, designers and showrooms they craved and lusted after. Combining this insider access with exclusive perks (discounts, extended hours, designer meet-and-greets, custom orders, etc.) and our expert styling advice allowed us to offer something very personal and truly special. We glammed up the day with car services, beauty consultations and champagne breaks, giving our clients an even more luxurious experience. As young entrepreneurs (at launch we were 24 and 26, respectively), we learned by trial, error and ego – and it paid off.
A partnership with Harper’s Bazaar Personal Stylists was the turning point for our small company. This platform used our business model and personalities as the launchpad for an integrated value added program covering a variety of advertising clients, from drugstore beauty brands to retail veterans. The new attention and corporate collaboration experience got us thinking about where to take our work. We decided to open a dialog to Internet retailers about bringing our high-touch approach and intimate knowledge of high-end client relations to e-commerce. In 2013, we joined Moda Operandi as the Senior Stylists, and conceptualised Salon Moda, a physical place in which we could see the site's most loyal clients one-on-one. M’O was like finishing school, where my styling skills were polished to perfection.
As great of a gig as it was, love got in the way. Vishal (my husband) and I originally met in New York (the city in which I lived for 13 years) quite a while back, but it was at a wedding in Marrakech in late 2012 where we truly connected. After the festivities, we kept in touch, and before we knew it, we were beyond long distance dating. Needless to say, living in different hemispheres and opposite time zones is not a long-term plan. Therefore one of us had to make a move – and, you guessed it, in late 2013 the daring romantic was me.
Vishal has now forfeited most of his closet space to me and we were married in November, right here in Hong Kong. In addition to various fashion and travel writing assignments – including this style column for Hong Kong Tatler – I’m going to get back to working one-on-one with clients to enhance their personal style, to turn them on to new designers, and to coordinate on-point outfits. My by-invitation only personal styling service, PAIR Hong Kong, is launching this spring with a private membership maximum of 100 ladies. At PAIR, we will host seasonal events featuring emerging international designers and brands, we will create unique and dynamic experiences for our clients to interact with local retailers, and through my partners Threads Club, assist members with global personal shopping needs. Get ready, Hong Kong, fresh style is coming your way soon.
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