Style statement

Friday talks to Isabelle Cheron, Kipling vice-president of marketing. These are her words:

I miss my childhood.

I was born in Sukwa, a small village about 150km away from Paris.

I was a good student who loved talking a lot. (I still do that.) I have
an elder sister and brother. I have faint memories of my brother taking me along on long cycling excursions in the countryside. We are very close and live close to each other even now.

I think I am a born fashion designer.

I still have a dress I designed when I was 16. I recently wore it to a function as a vintage dress. It was my first party dress and I am proud to say that it still fits me. I enjoy designing clothes for myself. I guess I have always been ahead of my times. For instance, before mini skirts became trendy, I was already wearing them. Since we lived in a little village and the town nearby didn’t have many shops, I used to go to the local market place where they sold old stock. I would buy wigs and different fabrics to mix and match and create new outfits.

I was good at mathematics but I wanted to become an artist or a fashion designer.

However, since no one in my family was in that field it was not easy to enter fashion- or art-related fields. I had no idea how to go about realising my dreams. So I graduated in mathematics and went on to study economics. However, my heart was
set on fashion.

After graduating from Louis-le-Grand in Paris, I chose to study further in Paris Lyon and then at a business school in Italy. All in all, I studied economics and business for around six years. But the entire time my passion for fashion continued to burn brightly. So when I finished my studies, I decided to change my direction.

Luckily, I got a job in the fashion industry and started working with Premier Vision, a textiles and fashion fair that focused on trends. Designers from almost all over the world looked to them for inspiration and to find new fabrics for their creations.
Shortly thereafter, I joined Chanel working in their buying department. I spent a lot of time shuttling between the creative and production departments. It was a wonderful experience for me. I was shy to try my hand at new things but the desire to learn kept me inspired. Thanks to my knowledge of the markets, I earned a string of accolades. I moved slowly yet steadily towards success. I learnt a lot from the creative members of the team.

My growth at Kipling has been tremendous.

When I joined Kipling four years ago, the company was overseeing only one product. Today, in my capacity as the vice-president, I am in charge of everything – from managing the company image and brand positioning to designing the products to the advertising campaigns, as well as price positioning and new retailing concepts. I have been able to provide more choices and a lifestyle approach to
the way women buy bags. I think I have done a pretty good job and best of all, it has been fun doing it.

I think I made the right choice by studying mathematics and business because the knowledge I gained is coming in handy now.

I think it has made me a more alert and quick-thinking person. While  this business requires me to be creative, I cannot afford to forget that eventually, I’ve to rake in the revenue. I have to make sure that the bags are sold. As a result, even when I am designing, I am simultaneously thinking about prices and subsequent profits. Statistics show that we have doubled our turnover over these years.

My bags are for all kinds of women.

 I have been working for luxury brands for many years now. I like to buy
and wear luxury clothing but I learnt something very important from my country upbringing: to be realistic. I would like to create bags for every type of woman – from career women to full-time moms. I am very sensitive about detailing and maintaining the highest quality in the bags I design. At the same time, I want the bags to give joy to the women who use them. When I mix creativity and quality with affordability, it becomes a win-win situation. The primary things one should look for when buying a bag
is functionality and creativity. It is really difficult to find both qualities
in a single brand.

I believe style comes from within.

To me, one’s style is a very personal statement. Some say style is all about a woman’s attitude but it goes deeper than that for me – it has everything to do with her level of self-confidence.

I am a family person.

I have two sons – Virgil, 13, and Tristan, 10. My husband and I have known each other for almost 21 years. People often ask me what the secret of a successful marriage is. I tell them that it’s about respect and trust. These factors are very important in a relationship. Marriage is about sharing. When you stay together for a very long time, you evolve together. I travel a lot and so does my husband. Very often we don’t get to see each other for extended periods of time. But we always find time for each other and make up for lost time. We make sure we go on holidays together as often as is possible. We often visit Saint Barthélemy in the Caribbean and have also been to Egypt, Thailand, Morocco, Tunisia and Italy. During winters, the whole family heads to the Alps for a ski holiday.

My secret of success is to believe that everything is possible.

Don’t give up and don’t let people kill your dreams. Different people have different keys to success. To me, being successful means being happy in life. You need to believe in what you do, and do it with all your heart.
I believe that life is too short, hence want to enjoy it to the fullest. It’s vital to have a positive outlook towards life because you never know what might happen tomorrow.