Not only has Ingie Chalhoub brought many high fashion brands to the region as head of the highly successful Etoile group, she's also been a key opinion-leader and now the creator of her own highly acclaimed line, Ingie Paris.
Mention Dubai and fashion, and there is no doubt that the sentence will also contain the name Ingie Chalhoub, president and managing director of Etoile Group. Synonymous with every aspect of fashion, this businesswoman extraordinaire has a mind-blowing list of achievements under her fashionable belt.
The accolades won in the last three years alone would make any high-flier proud: in 2008 Chalhoub was voted Business Woman of the Year by Dubai’s Emirates Woman; in 2009 she won the inaugural crown of Business Woman of the Year launched by the local version of the French fashion magazine, L’Officiel, and in 2010 she deviated slightly from her business background by tapping into her inner artist to launch her very own prêt-a-porter design label, Ingie Paris. This was also the year that Bespoke tipped its hat her way.
In her role as fashion expert, Ingie Chalhoub has partnered a number of leading fashion events including DSF Fashion Week which she has been involved with since its inception in 2006 and Dubai International Fashion Week for which she is presently a member of the advisory board. Since 2006, Chalhoub has also been a member of the panel for Mission Fashion on LBC1 and was part of Project Fashion on Future TV in 2007.
Add this to the fact that for the past 20 years Ingie Chalhoub has been running her highly successful Etoile fashion empire, now incorporating 50 stores in six countries across the region, representing some 65 high-end labels such as Chanel, Dior and Valentino, plus running the iconic Etoile La Boutique, the retail arm of the group, it’s a wonder the woman even has time to think.
But think she does, and fashion has been at the forefront of her world since she was a girl. She recalls: “It was my creative talent that first drew me to fashion – my sketching and drawings as a young girl were really good and I won several prizes when I was 14 or 15 years old. I was very good at maths as well though, and my parents insisted that I pursued my schooling – they were terrified that I would drop out to become ‘an artist’! So I wanted to work in an industry that could combine both.”
Doing her parents proud by studying Business at Paris’ Sorbonne University, there was no getting away from fashion: “When I was at university in Paris, I was living in the middle of the vibrant cultural and intellectual Quartier Latin in Saint Germain. The area was full of youth, cafes and fashion. Whenever I walked down the fashion boulevards and passed by the shops, I would stand in front of the windows and tell myself, 'I will open my own boutique one day'. It all started as a dream.”
“It was always my aim to have a boutique for the latest fashion, not necessarily expensive fashion, but what was on trend and fashion forward. After I graduated and got my business degree from La Sorbonne, I moved to Kuwait with my family and the dream travelled with me. The business of retail was in my family since my mother had a children’s wear store. Then, when I shared my dream idea with my husband, he was very supportive and encouraged me to go for it.”
“I wanted to bring something to Kuwait to match the taste of the locals so I went for high-end fashion. The success really started when I brought Chanel to the region followed by Christian Lacroix, Valentino, Alaia and many others. I have always wanted to represent French brands in this market since I have been personally connected with the best French brands for over 20 years. Etoile La Boutique was the pioneer, bringing the French labels to this part of the world.”
Having succeeded with the business side of her ambitions it was a few years back that Chalhoub felt the itch to create again. But creating a label, a brand, is not as straightforward as the uninitiated may think, so Chalhoub enlisted some highbrow help in the form of Jean Jacques Picard, formerly partner of Lacroix and a consultant at LVMH. Getting Chalhoub to think about herself, digging deep and finding out what it was she wanted to express took some months ‘holed up’ in St. Tropez. During that time, Chalhoub created some 250 mood-boards expressing her innermost thoughts, desires and identity. She recalls, “It was hard! You should go into yourself before you put out your brand identity. After you have found what is inside you, this is when you put it out into your collection.”
After one-and-a-half years Chalhoub was finally ready to show the world what she had created in her Paris studio and unveiled a romantic, dramatic and very up-to-date collection of clothes that were lapped up by regional as well as international fashionistas. Already her designs are in many a coveted wardrobe and reportedly French singer and actress Arielle Dombasle wore one of Ingie Chalhoub’s designs to a party thrown by former French president Jacques Chirac's wife Bernadette.
Running a business empire, designing her line’s new looks, even attending a styling course at Dubai's French fashion university Esmod, Chalhoub is clearly a multi-tasker. But modestly, she thinks it’s what women do best: “I believe a woman should multi-task. If she's a mother, a wife, a friend or if she is a career woman, she has to wear different caps in different times. She needs to be in touch with the different sides of herself and her different roles, which can be very challenging, although women are known to have this ability. So, as Ingie, I wear different caps for different situations.” What’s next for Chalhoub? “I am looking to bring out Ingie Paris into a higher level, and to maintain the quality of the brand with regard to the look and material used.”
