KOTUR | Handbags

about

Although I am in every sense a New Yorker, born, raised and educated in Manhattan, I love to travel away from the city. I am so grateful that my career in fashion has led me around the world and that seven years ago, in Hong Kong, I discovered a remarkable trove of vintage brocades made at a small mill owned by an 90-year-old man, an extraordinary craftsman.

This treasured trove, and the remnants I acquired when the man retired, eventually inspired my business, which I call KOTUR, my maiden name. My first collection in 2004 – a kind of retro glamour combined with various exotic elements in a limited edition of brocade clutches – to my surprise and delight was picked up almost immediately by such international retailers as Bergdorf Goodman and Scoop in New York, Harvey Nichols in Hong Kong, and Browns in London.

Always wanting to bridge the gap between modern technique and traditional craftsmanship, the collection is continuously expanding. There are minaudieres and clutches; metallics, Swarovski crystals, treated exotic skins. We have developed our day bag collection with the popular Wallace style, totes and shoulder bags. In our Fall 2009 collection, we really emphasized our “transition” bags that went everywhere on your night out on the town, for any setting, with any outfit.

I love high-low. I think that this is how best to shop and dress nowadays, and also how to structure your life and live it to the fullest. So I believe in offering bags in every collection in a wide range of prices, from about $300 to $3000 so we’re suggesting a select variety of styles with a KOTUR point of view for our customers’ chic, modern lifestyle.

I grew up in a household in which beauty and creativity were revered. My mother is a painter, a wonderful fashion illustrator, a noted interior decorator based in Manhattan and, in the 1960s, she designed for a Paris couture house. My sister is a senior editor for a fashion magazine, also based in New York. My love affair with accessories was sparked by my mother’s almost ceremonial way of taking care of her shoes, jewelry and bags, even illustrating the tags on each box to show what was inside.

I graduated from Wellesley College and studied at Yale, then later at Parsons School of Design. My first job was at Ralph Lauren, overseeing product design of handbags, luggage, hats and jewelry. Next, in 1995, I went to work for the Gap Inc, specifically in their Old Navy division as the Senior Director of women’s accessories design and product development.

By the end of my seven years with the company, I was vice president of the children’s and baby divisions, overseeing the divisional directors and the design teams. (And making me quite opinionated on the topic of baby and kids clothes, especially now that I am the mother of four young boys!) Then there was my time co-founding Tory Burch, focusing mainly on Tory’s development, sourcing and manufacturing in the Far East, which gave me a reason to explore and discover so many creative, exciting, off-the-beaten path sources in Asia.

So much of what I do, and what KOTUR is about, grows out of that sense of discovery, and our relationships with creative sources and with our inspiring customers, all of whom endlessly surprise us and tell us not just what they need, but what they fancy.

fiona

kotur