CITY - Issue 61 - (Page 57)

CITIZENS: Sung-Joo Kim Luxe be a Lady Sung-Joo Kim may be one of the most powerful women in Korea, but it’s her personal relationship with life’s necessary luxuries and her passion for women’s rights that make her one of the world’s most fascinating business people. By Meredith Fisher S ung-Joo Kim sits in the back corner of the VIP lounge at her hotel in New o k City — not The Ritz-Ca lton o the Fou Seasons, but the She aton nea Times Squa e. But he decision to downg ade he accommodations has nothing to do with the success of he company Sungjoo Holdings o he ecent pu chase of the Ge man luxu y b and MCM — it is fa mo e pe sonal. “I told my employees that we needed to sta t making mo e p actical decisions,” says Kim, who is p oud to say that he own oﬃce is one of the smallest in he company, a cue she took f om he fo me boss and mento Ma vin T aub, whom she wo ked fo at Bloomingdales. “When I ﬁ st sta ted wo king the e I asked him why his oﬃce was so small, and he looked at me and said ‘how does the squa e footage aﬀect my eﬃciency?’” she ecalls. “He taught me to invest mo e in the f ont than in the back . . . I am not ashamed to stay in a humble hotel.” He hotel oom might not have F ette linens and a view of Cent al Pa k, but Sung-Joo is no st ange to luxu y, having g own up as the daughte of Kim Sookeon, the founde of Daesung Indust ial Co po ation, the Ko ean ene gy conglome ate. But it was he willingness to give it all up to make a name fo he self in business that makes he elationship with the ﬁ ne things in life a ve y pe sonal jou ney. She doesn’t deny how she was aised (“like a little p incess in a big palace”), but at that time in Ko ea, all the money in the wo ld couldn’t buy he what she eally wanted – independence. “In Ko ea, boys inhe ited the business, and gi ls we e supposed to wait fo thei white ho se.” He st uggle with this pat ia chal t adition was evident to he pa ents at an ea ly age, “they we e wo ied because they thought not only was I too sma t, but I was also too tall.” She saw education as he ticket out of immediate ma iage, but when she mentioned a fa oﬀ place known as mhe st in the U.S., he pa ents didn’t even listen. Undete ed, Sung-Joo made it he mission to attend mhe st, and how she convinced he pa ents is one of he most favo ite sto ies. “I ounded up the most p estigious mhe st g aduates in Seoul, many who we e p ominent membe s of the inte national community, including the Japanese ambassado to Ko ea,” she ecalls. “I invited them ove fo a big banquet and when I told my fathe , he laughed at me, saying ‘big men won’t listen to a little gi l’s invitation,’ but he was w ong. They all came, and by the end of the night my jou ney to mhe st had sta ted.” Despite he educational achievements, ﬁ st at mhe st and then at London School of Economics, when she etu ned to Ko ea he pa ents still t ied to ma y he oﬀ, and even hid he passpo t to p event he f om leaving. It was at that point, that Sung-Joo decided she needed to leave Ko ea. She moved to Camb idge, Massachusetts and soon a e got ma ied, and much to he pa ent’s dismay, to a F ench Canadian. He wedding budget was . It was , ight befo e the Seoul Olympics and the e was a lot of cu iosity about Ko ea. The me ican inte est in he home count y helped he land a job at Bloomingdales unde M . T aub, despite having no fashion t aining. PORTR AITS BY BOGDAN TESL AR KWIATKOWSKI “Selling luxury isn’t just about exploiting women and getting money out of their purses, it’s about making a connection and giving women what they want.” She desc ibes T aub as he lifelong teache and he yea s at Bloomingdales as the toughest t aining she eve had. Living in Batte y Pa k City at the time, she took on two othe jobs (as a w ite fo the Ko ean Economic Times and as a f eelance consultant) just to be able to aﬀo d a thi d-hand ca . But the nonstop wo king took its toll on he health, and then she became p egnant. She decided it was time to go back to Ko ea. Things the e had changed — the luxu y impo t ma ket had been libe alized and he fathe ﬁ nally sta ted letting he wo k. “He was wo king on a deal with a big automotive company and I went along on a meeting as a t anslato ,” she says. But at the end of the meeting, she ealized the two fo eign companies we e not seeing eye-to-eye, so she asked he fathe if she could inte ject. He pa ticipation saved the pa tne ship, but the company had one equi ement — that Sung-Joo sit on the boa d. “This was the ﬁ st time that I was oﬃcially allowed in my fathe ’s oﬃce,” she ecalls, “he wanted to ewa d me fo my help, so to his su p ise I asked fo money to sta t my own company.” With he backg ound in fashion etailing Sung Joo began he oﬃcial fo ay into the luxu y ma ket, and by had secu ed the f anchise deal fo Gucci. Sonia Rykiel, SL, and MCM soon followed, and by she had also added Ma ks & Spence to he g oup (a company she still wo ks with today). Then the sian Financial C isis happened, and she was fo ced to shut th ee sto es. This p epa ed Kim fo the cu ent economic state, as she is again t ying to make anothe ma k on the luxu y ma ket with MCM. “We had done so well with MCM just in Ko ea, that I thought — why don’t we just buy the company,” which is what she did. She lu ed Michael Michalsky of didas to become the c eative di ecto and emba ked on e-launching the b and at a luxu y level, but one that is aﬀo dable. They opened a ﬂagship sto e on Sloane St eet in London last p il, and anothe at the new shops at the Plaza in New o k opened this Novembe . So fa he instincts have p oven ight, and MCM has eco ded a p omising numbe in sales so fa in . But she doesn’t fo get the lessons of he past, “we a e al eady in count ies and in sto es a ound the wo ld, so we a e g owing — but cautiously.” But in addition to he goals fo the futu e, he accessible app oach to luxu y is fueled by one of he othe passions — women’s empowe ment. “Selling luxu y isn’t just about exploiting women and getting money out of thei pu ses, it’s about making a connection and giving women what they want.”

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of CITY - Issue 61

CITY - Issue 61 Contents Our Friends Action Wanted City Moment Luscious Life Fast Food Inrogue Temporary Contemporary Diary Savania Davies-Keller & Roberto Crivello Pamela Love Sung-Joo Kim Jerome Berard Destination Dealerships Overly Opulent Inside Out Like a Clock in the Heart Qatar’s Crown Jewel BLING Urge to Splurge Just a Splash Luxe Life Solitaire Equus Where to Buy It Cityscape

CITY - Issue 61

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