Fiona Kotur MARIN

From old vintage brocade, Fiona Kotur Marin created a handbag line favoured by insiders. In Hong Kong where she lives, she gives Blue Carreon a peek at her stylish life.

Photographed by William Furniss and Jason To

From Fiona Kotur Marin’s living room you can see most of Hong Kong. The financial district with its soaring skyscrapers; the harbour dotted with ferries; container ships and luxury yachts; the madness that is Kowloon, and the mountains beyond are all framed together by the apartment’s sweeping windows. “Apartments” is the more appropriate term, as she and her husband Todd combined two three-bedroom apartments to form a single living space with the best 180-degree view of the island. Located at The Peak, the city’s most desirable address, it has been home to the Marins for a little over eight years. It also served as the very first office of Kotur, Fiona’s handbag line that is now sold in major department stores and boutiques worldwide.

Prior to moving to Asia because of her husband’s job, Fiona was a social fixture in New York. She grew up on the Upper East Side and in Connecticut, and graduated from elite schools Chapin and Wellesley College, much like the characters on Gossip Girl who have been spotted toting her designs. Her first professional foray into the fashion industry was at Ralph Lauren overseeing bag and jewellery design. After her stint at Polo, she moved to the Gap to head the design department at Old Navy. She also helped her friend Tory Burch, whom she met at Ralph Lauren, launch her now multi-million dollar clothing line.

In 2004, Fiona decided to create her own handbag line. “I discovered a remarkable trove of vintage brocades made at a small mill owned by a 90-year-old man, an extraordinary craftsman. This treasure trove and the remnants I acquired when the man retired, eventually inspired my business,” says Fiona. Kotur started with simple evening bags crafted from the aforementioned vintage fabrics as well as a couple of styles of minaudières, which were instantly picked up by Bergdorf Goodman and Harvey Nichols. Her product line eventually grew to include day bags in a wonderful assortment of materials like shagreen, python, shells, feathers, cracked mirrors and ikat – which she sources all over Asia. “Most of the time, I am inspired by travel – urban travel, in cities with buzz and a lot going on. It inspires me to be immersed with ideas and controversies in different parts of the world, about recent art exhibits, movies, auctions, restaurants, books, politics.” Her bags combine both Asian and contemporary influences seamlessly much like her home, which is decorated with linear furniture consisting of chinoiserie and Art Deco elements.

For this season, Fiona has several totes and satchels in leopard print, evening bags in chainmail, as well as stunning clutches in deep-hued silk with scattered beading. “I was already thinking about the 1940s because so many references have been surfacing in fashion circles among designers, photographers and stylists…nuance and shadings, the textures in black-and-white film noir are the launching points of my collection this season,” says the designer. In her press pack are wonderful illustrations of the bags on women dressed like film noir femme fatales created by her mother Sheila Camera Kotur, a renowned interior decorator in New York who was once in the design team of Christian Dior.

“It’s hard to believe that the business has grown so much considering I started it in my living room,” says Fiona, taking a seat in her family’s breakfast room, which is completely tented in zebra print fabric. But what’s harder to believe is that she is able to run and manage a successful business and still be a hands-on mother to four boys. “I am very involved in my boys’ lives. I go to all their school functions, bring them to school, have dinner with them and see them to sleep. On the weekends we go for a hike behind our house in the rainforest, or take a junk out into the South China Sea for the day.” She is also a supporter of several charitable organizations in Hong Kong. Like her friends Burch and Aerin Lauder – working moms slash glamour girls slash philanthropists – she seems to be able to do it all with the least amount of effort and with huge doses of style.

In 2008, Fiona was inducted into the International Best Dressed List, proving her worth in society’s circles. Opening up her closet, she reveals her collection of accessories which include vintage pieces from Yves Saint Laurent, a double-looped necklace with a bejeweled bug specially created for her by Iradj Moini, statement cuffs from Verdura and Kenneth Jay Lane, vintage watches from Audemars Piguet and Rolex. Adjacent to the accessories-filled drawers as a closet brimming with bags and shoes.

Fiona is currently obsessed with Phoebe Philo’s take on the Céline woman, and she has stocked up a rack full of Céline outfits. “I think what she is doing is really quite amazing and modern. I still wear her old Chloé pieces, and supplement them with her current Céline designs. My go-to look is one of her blouses, and pants with heels. I personally relate to her sensibilities, and her style works for me. I respect her creativity for truly original design that has an intellectual element to it as well.” She also favours Marni separates. But it is not all designer ware for Fiona, who professes to mix high-street pieces with her luxury brands. “I love high-low. I think that this is how best to shop and dress.”

Fiona also collects design books – most of them rare and out of print which she finds online. Her sister Alexandra Kotur’s book on fashion designer Carolina Herrera takes pride of place on her bookshelf. Her art collection consists of a Slim Aarons print of Babe Paley, a candid black-and-white photograph of Madonna by portraitist Jonathan Becker, and her most recent acquisition from the Hong Kong Art Fair, a stunning 200 x 246 cm photograph of an old library by Candida Hofer entitled Biblioteca dei Girolamini Napoli. “I really like her work and I was instantly drawn to this image,” she says. This large photograph is the centerpiece in the living space.

“I would call the style of the apartment ‘Marin style,’ because the interior takes all family members into consideration. Left to my own devices, I might have more antiques. It would be more eclectic and with less open space, but with my husband and four boys rubbing around, the look has been adapted. We all live [here], and it needs to work for our family, and be comfortable. I use subtle colors to create harmony, punctuated with statement pieces like art, the Art Deco lacquer bar, oversized mirrors, giant fossils.”

In her home office, which has two huge Lucite desks with stacks of Hermès notebooks which she has to specially order as they are no longer in production, is a wall covered with thank you and congratulatory notes from numerous boldfaced names in fashion who have all had the pleasure of meeting Fiona and experiencing her bags.

Despite all the trappings of such a gilded and fashionable life, Fiona has none of the airs and haughtiness one would expect from someone of her background and stature. She is simple, unaffected and, to use a much abused term, grounded – which makes her all the more admirable. What’s not to love?