Catherine Ku of Schiaparelli, the brand behind Zendaya’s headline-making ‘lobster dress’, shares with Tatler her style icons, fashion journey, and learning ‘fast and from the best’ at Occasions
In 1927, the late Elsa Schiaparelli founded her eponymous Italian fashion label, bringing surrealism and imaginative fashion to the mainstream. Pushing the boundaries of style, Schiaparelli challenged the norms of fashion. From her first handknit sweater with a trompe l’oeil bow motif to her collaboration with the Russian French writer Elsa Triolet to create the Aspirin Necklace, which used porcelain beads reminiscent of the pain-relieving tablets, the brand wittily merged art and fashion. And who could forget the 1937 Lobster Dress, created with artist Salvador Dalí, which melded bold colours, striking silhouettes and theatricality?
Today, Catherine Ku is leading the brand’s expansion across Asia as Schiaparelli’s new regional brand manager. After graduating from the Cesar Ritz Colleges Switzerland hospitality school in 1996, Ku shifted gears to work in advertising, creating ad campaigns for brands like Smartone that featured stars like Tony Leung, Chow Yun-fat and Jackie Cheung. Ku also worked with film directors David Tsui and Louis Ng and production designer William Chang. “I was very lucky,” she says. “I learnt how to create great production designs for TV commercials and how to create moods and convey key messages. The experience shaped my aesthetic.”
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In 2003, Ku joined Pansy Ho’s luxury communications agency Occasions, working with global brands like Prada for its opening at Alexandra House in Central; Christian Dior on its flagship boutique opening at The Landmark; and Louis Vuitton’s 150th anniversary party at Tamar, all in 2004. “It was a real eye-opener to work with these brands to create the most memorable event experiences,” she says. It was like going to the Shaolin Temple—it’s tough, but you learn fast and from the best.”
In 2006, Ku became the head of marketing and communications for Roger Vivier Asia Pacific, a career move that she says developed her love for European culture. “It was love at first sight—it’s amazing how [Europeans] take the time to appreciate the little things in life.”
A child of the 1980s—Hong Kong’s “golden era”, when “fashion, parties and disco were big” and people were daring with their sartorial choices—Ku credits her upbringing for her long-time love of fashion. “I grew up in an era where people really dressed up,” she says. “When I was a kid, people dressed up not only for weddings, Christmas and Chinese New Year, but for the cinema, concerts and when travelling abroad,” she says, counting actors Maggie Cheung and Cherie Chung as her childhood style icons.
