Veronica Chou 曹颖惠

Veronica Chou fell in love with fashion at a very young age.  As the daughter of billionaire and fashion tycoon Silas Chou, investor in brands such as Tommy Hilfiger and Michael Kors, it would have been easy for her to rise through the ranks using her father’s name. However with a ‘work-hard-at-what-you-love’ attitude she was determined to make her own name for herself. At 14 she took her first job at a Tommy Hilfiger store in her native Hong Kong and spent time working at Elle magazine before studying communications at the University of Sothern California.  For more than 6 years, beginning in 2008 she was president of Iconix China a company bringing designer brands from the US to China.  Chou built bridges between Iconix and more than 12 brands throughout her time there and has made multiple Forbes Lists including ‘Asia’s Most Powerful Businesswomen to Watch’ and ’25 Influential Chinese in Global Fashion.’  Now pregnant, Chou will be changing her focus to motherhood, whilst working on minority investments in organic and environmentally friendly consumer products.

曹颖惠在很小的时候就爱上了时尚。她的父亲是香港亿万富豪、时装大亨曹其峰，投资过众多时尚品牌，如汤米·希尔费格、迈克·高仕等。对曹颖惠来说，在父亲的光环下，她似乎更能在时尚领域闯出一番天地。然而，凭借着“在所爱的领域努力奋斗”这样的信念，曹颖惠决心打响自己的名声。14岁那年，她在香港汤米·希尔费格门店从事人生第一份工作，后来为ELLE杂志社打工，此后她进入美国南加州大学攻读大众传播专业。2008年，曹颖惠成为艾康尼斯中国有限公司总裁，并为之工作6年多，在此期间，她将十几个美国设计品牌引入中国，也因此多次荣登福布斯排行榜，包括“亚洲最有影响力的商业女性”、“全球时尚界25位华人”等。现在，曹颖惠怀有身孕，将会把生活重心转移到家庭，但同时也会做一些有机产品和环保消费品方面的投资。

1. What kind of lifestyle defines better Veronica Chou?

I live the jet set life, flying all the time, mainly for work, but during holidays for pleasure as well. I balance my hectic lifestyle by doing yoga, meditating and spending quality time with my family.

2. How does your lifestyle contribute to your work?

My work contributes to my lifestyle, because I have work all over the world, I travel extensively for my work,

such as for deciding on where to open stores. Only for Karl Lagerfeld there already are stores in Paris, London, Munich, Berlin, Beijing, Shanghai, Wuhan, Nanjing, etc.

3. What are your long-term ambitions (life and work)?

I started my career by bringing Western fashion brands to china, and one day I hope to bring Chinese brands to the west.

4. Which places where you travel to work are the most impressive ones, and why?

Paris is always romantic and beautiful isn’t it? But the most impressive and most real are all the 2nd tier cities in China, which are growing and changing all the time, such as Qingdao, Dalian, Ningbo, Changchun, and even smaller places which you may not have heard of.

5. Can you talk about the work that you are involved in now?

I have launched 12 American mid-market fashion brands into the China market and more to come, and I have separately invested in a few Chinese fashion companies such as Ochirly and Mixblu, and now I am focused on the Karl Lagerfeld brand.

About China:

1. What is your view about China? Do you see a new culture rising regarding fashion and designs? Also, what do you think about the Chinese young designers that are coming up?

Chinese are free to express their individuality, and this freedom will bring upon more creativity. There are so many new young people becoming designers everyday and they serve to inspire each other and to push each other further. But they have to understand everything takes time, and time will also help mature these designers. Many exciting times ahead.

2. Which Asian designer do you admire?

Jason Wu, Philip Lim, HuiShan Zhang.

3. What do you think is the contribution of China to the fashion and design industry? How about the future?

In the past China’s biggest contribution to fashion is manufacturing, then it became China’s spending power and desire to consume, however in the future, Chinese people’s creatively coupled with dedication and hard work, will bring new ideas to fashion and design, and this is something already seen in the art world, fashion will eventually be next.

4. What do the Chinese people must learn from western fashion and design industry, and what do you think you can learn from the Chinese designers?

The whole world should learn about making sustainable fashion, using safer non-toxic and environmentally friendly materials and techniques, good for both people’s health and the world.

1.你的日常生活是怎么样的呢？

我的生活就是一直坐飞机，大部分是因为工作要到处出差，当然假期的时候也会飞去度假。忙碌之余，我会练练瑜伽，一个人沉思冥想，或和家人待在一起，以此来平衡工作与生活。

2.你的生活方式对工作有什么影响？

事实上，我的工作对生活方式的影响比较大，因为我的工作遍布全球，所以我必须到处出差，比如考察哪个国家哪个城市适合开门店。目前，仅“卡尔·拉格菲尔德”这一个品牌的门店就已经遍及巴黎、伦敦、慕尼黑、柏林、北京、上海、武汉和南京。

3.你（工作和生活上的）长期目标是什么？

过去，我把外国的时尚品牌引进到中国来。未来，我希望能够将中国自己的品牌带到全世界。

4.因为工作你去了很多地方，哪些城市给你留下的印象最深刻呢？为什么？

巴黎无疑是一座美丽的浪漫之都，但是对我来说最真实也让我印象最深刻的还是中国的二线城市，这些地方发展速度非常快成长空间也很大，比如青岛、大连、宁波、长春等，还有些你可能没有听说过的小城市。

5.你目前的工作重心在哪一块？能和我们聊聊吗？

我已经把12个美国时尚品牌引进到了中国市场，未来还会有更多这样的牌子入驻中国。我也投资了一些中国时装公司，比如欧时力、麦考林，现在我主要工作就是专心经营卡尔·拉格菲尔德。

关于中国：

1.您对中国文化有着怎样的看法呢？是否感受到新生代的中国设计师们正将中国与引领到一个新的领域之中？

中国人能自由表达自己的个性，这种自由带来了更多创造力。每天都有很多年轻人成为设计师，他们互相激发灵感，并推动彼此前进。但是，她们必须知道所有事情都需要经过时间的磨练，而时间能帮助设计师成长。未来还有更多令人兴奋的时刻。

2.您最欣赏的亚洲设计师是谁？

吴季刚、林能平、张卉山

3.你认为中国为时尚和设计领域所做的最大贡献是什么呢？这些贡献在未来将会如何发展与改变？

在过去，中国对时尚圈最大的贡献是制造业，接着中国成为了时尚领域消费主流力量。然而在未来，中国人的创造力与努力，将为时尚与设计带来更多新的灵感，这个现象已经在艺术圈中展现出来了，时尚圈将会是下一个。

4.中国应该向西方时尚与设计领域学习些什么呢？同样，您又会从中国同行身上学到什么呢？

整个行业都应该学习发展可持续型时尚，使用安全无毒以及生态环保的材料与科技，这也是对人类自身健康与世界的保护。