W
hen Rue Madame
founder Ariane Zagury
stepped behind the
counter the day her
boutique opened, she’d never before
worked in retail. The former banker
had arrived heavily pregnant to Hong
Kong with her husband and then, post-
baby, she couldn’t envision returning to
finance.
It was about that time she spotted a
niche in the market for more affordable
clothes in Hong Kong’s retail scene and,
in 2010, she opened Rue Madame, a
boutique filled with fabulous French
brands, most never before seen here.
The venture has been an amazing
success. That first branch, at Causeway
Bay’s Lee Gardens, paved the way
for another at IFC, and then in Tsim
Sha Tsui’s Silvercord mall. Ariane also
brought the American Vintage brand,
with its luxury take on basics, to Hong
Kong, and has since launched the Rue
Madame Fashion Group to manage her
growing catalogue of boutiques and
brands. Her latest launch, with the British
brand Phase Eight, opened at IFC late
in 2014.
Fashion
in
the
family
With a career in finance behind her, this mum of
two is now focusing on fashion, writes
Elle Kwan
.
The boutiques, she says, have
become the fifth member of the family,
and everyone’s involved in their care,
both young and old. “From the first day
it opened, it has been ‘our’ thing. My
husband and the girls are always at the
shops,” she says.
This eases the guilt she has sometimes
felt at not being able to fulfil the vision
she has of a “traditional” mother. “I think
you have to lose the idea of perfection,”
she says, philosophically. “You can do
many things well, but you cannot do
them all perfectly,” she says. The role
model she hopes she provides is instead
of a mother who has made a success
of being creative and determined.
“When I was young, I had family in the
garments industry, and I would go and
feel the fabrics and touch the cloths. I
hope the shops provide my children this
sense of feeling too,” she says.
Her girls are fiercely proud of the
boutiques and adore spending time in
them, she says – although it’s a little too
early to tell whether they will grow up to
be fashionistas too. “One is just two, and
the other who is five only likes to wear
pink!” says Ariane.
February 2015
65
