BAG DESIGNER AND VANITY FAIR INTERNATIONAL BEST-DRESSED LIST MEMBER FIONA KOTUR MARIN INHERITED THE CREATIVE GENE FROM HER MOTHER. NOW WITH FOUR BOYS OF HER OWN, SHE WONDERS WHETHER THEY TOO WILL TAKE TO THE CREATIVE FIELD

Part Auntie Mame, part Coco Chanel, and with a dash of Lucille Ball is how I like to describe my mother, Sheila Camera Kotur. She has always been larger than life with a quick and clever wit, creative beyond belief, and undeniably chic, which is why she is such an inspiration to me.
As a visual perfectionist, she is always “dressed,” and ever the epitome of a true individual. I can picture her signature sharp brunette bob, red nails and British accent so clearly throughout my childhood growing up in New York. Her style repertoire ranged from Chanel to Ossie Clark to vintage dresses from the 1920s and of course her Yves Saint Laurent brown leather pantsuit from the 1970s. A quintessential illustration of my mother, which the family still laughs about to this day, is her collection of Pucci dresses that she wore for gardening every weekend.
Being cut from the creative cloth, she often wore her own designs – as she opted to construct her own couture that was meticulous and always inspired. Clothing and decoration resulted more from the act of creative expression than from retail therapy. Her professional background started as a dress designer in Paris for Christian Dior. Then it evolved into a career in fashion illustration. It allowed for flexible hours while my sister and I were young. She later launched her interior design business and throughout, she has always pursued her love of art.
Naturally my sister and I took a similar path towards design and fashion. My sister Alexandra has been an editor at American Vogue for 12 years. I landed my first job with Ralph Lauren in the accessory design department after university, and followed a road that would ultimately lead to the launch of my own handbag label, Kotur, five years ago.
My life before marriage was like a movie aimed toward a female viewer – girlfriends and fashion, light on sports, heavy on high heels – so it seemed likely that I would carry on the tradition with my own family. I started collecting liberty prints and little smocked dresses during my trips to Europe, and I was surprised when my first child arrived – a beautiful so, followed by another son a year later, and then twins boys. Four boys whom I adore, but who at the time of their infancy were completely foreign to me. Despite my attempts to introduce “genderless play,” every inanimate object became a car or truck… I was bewildered.
My lovely late father was also a huge influence in my life. He was a calming balance, wise, reasonable, always a supportive true friend and a real gentleman. Although his athletic interests were usually explored without us, we had our weekly game of family tennis. My dad and husband enthusiastically shared their views on raising this brood, and together with my library of books, including Raising Cain and Raising Boys, began my education. I was guided by my husband and the values that both my parents had instilled in me, yet it was my mother who cleared the fog by her own example.
It was her own independent spirit and humor that showed me the way; and she nurtured it within my own children, encouraged their quirks and idiosyncrasies, and allowed them to express themselves as was natural to them. She exposed them to art and music; she took one painting, the other one swimming, and the other dancing. They had trips to see the armor at the Met and the dinosaurs at the Natural History Museum. They caught frogs in the pond and made chalk drawing in the park. Of course, she looked chic all the while. What is remarkable is that she never expected them to follow her own vision as much as she demanded they follow their own.
And as my four little boys evolved into my four little buddies, I celebrate their four big, and very individual personalities… and wonder if, perhaps one will grow up to be a designer after all…