One day, fresh out of a year-long stint at Allure magazine, Eugenia Kim was shopping in Soho. Eugenia had recently shaved her head because of a bad haircut, and was wearing a red guinea-feathered cloche she had made in her millinery class at the Parsons School of Design. She had designed the hand-feathered hat with the intention of resembling hair in some abstract way and to keep her bald head warm.

Several store owners immediately took notice. By the end of the day, the jobless Eugenia now had appointments with two of the stores to see her collection. She didn't have a collection, so she just made two cloche styles in many different colours. The next week, her hand-feathered cloches, in vibrant colours like lavender and electric blue, were in the windows of Bond 07 in Noho and Selima Optique in Soho. At the end of the month, Barneys New York had placed their first order.

After a gruelling, year-long search, Eugenia soon found a live/work retail space and opened an eponymous retail store in the East Village in downtown New York, where she now sells her collection of women's and men's hats alongside her custom couture pieces and bridal headwear.

In 2004, Eugenia Kim launched a shoe line that doubled her business and won the CFDA Perry Ellis award for Accessories Design. Eugenia's hats can now be found at Barneys New York, Saks Fifth Avenue, Nordstrom, and Bloomingdales as well as over 100 specialty boutiques worldwide

She is a personal favourite of fashion editors and stylists, and counts Jennifer Lopez, Cameron Diaz, Madonna, Gwyneth Paltrow, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Alicia Keys, Eve, and Nicole Kidman among her devotees.

All images are used with expressed permission from Eugenia Kim

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