Funnily enough, I never planned on working in fashion. I studied film and art history at uni and when I left, I ended up doing a Cordon Bleu diploma. Once I qualified, I started working as a chef at the River Café and The Savoy. I quickly realised I couldn’t handle the pressure of working in a restaurant so became a food stylist for shows like Masterchef and the Great British Menu and on shoots assisting people like Gizzie Erskine. It’s through food styling that I landed a gig on the film, The Dark Knight. I fell in love with being on set so much that after filming wrapped, I was determined to get an internship on as many films in the UK as possible. I tried and didn’t get anywhere in films but managed to get a placement for a production company called Plum Pictures in New York. I remember begging them on the phone for weeks before they finally gave in. I flew out to New York shortly afterwards and was there for six months. I worked in production on New York, I Love You starring Natalie Portman, Orlando Bloom and Scarlett Johansson. It was without doubt one of the most exciting things I’ve ever done and I met so many amazing people. Fashion was something I grew up in. My mum and dad have a manufacturing company so I was always in the office asking if I could cut samples and was always going on comp trips with my mum so I was always surrounded by incredible brands.
We faced so many obstacles along the way and we did make mistakes but we overcame them and that made us stronger and more determined to make it work.
It was during my time in New York that I came up with the idea for my boutique, Oxygen. When I was working on Dark Knight, I could see that there was a massive market to bring all of the cool, contemporary American brands to London. At the time, Harvey Nichols didn’t have their 4th floor dedicated to contemporary brands and there just wasn’t anything that oozed the coolness of New York’s boutiques and independent stores. I loved Intermix and Scoop but nothing like that existed in London. I came home after my six-month stint being surrounded by these incredible stores and knew I needed to do something. So many people I knew would go to New York just to shop for those brands so it felt like a no brainer to bring them brands to London. My whole mission with Oxygen Boutique was to create a cool, exciting place for shoppers to buy clothes that they would not see 3,000 other people wearing.
My parents’ existing business had a frontage that was a redundant space so when I discussed the possibility of opening Oxygen Boutique with my mother, we both agreed that it would make sense to convert the frontage of the business into the boutique rather than taking the risks and extra costs of renting somewhere. Eastcastle Street was a very quiet road at the time but now it’s brimming with cool art galleries, cafes, bars and restaurants. We didn’t want investors. We wanted it to be a family business so my family invested to buy stock so I was extremely fortunate that I had that as an option. My mother and I chose all of the brand and products ourselves. A friend of mine who works as a merchandiser helped me with all our pricing. At the time, I was the only employee – I was in the store seven days a week, working all hours trying to get it off the ground.
When we opened our doors for the first time in March 2009, I was very naïve and thought customers would flood in. They didn’t – in fact, they didn’t walk through for a while and it was the most heart wrenching process. Awareness was definitely the most challenging part of setting up.
As soon as we decided that Oxygen was happening, we started doing lots of research on brands and contacted all the designers we had spoken to who were really excited about the concept and the idea of being stocked in London. We really believe in all of the brands we carry. Sea NY and Alice + Olivia are brands we’ve stocked for nearly six years so it’s been so nice for us to see just how much they’ve grown over the years. In the beginning we did have a few high-end designers but we struggled to sell them so we decided to focus purely on contemporary brands. I feel that customers will go to Harrods or Selfridges if they want high-end labels. That’s why we wanted to make sure we were offering people with labels that are accessible for everyone. We always try and make sure we have a mix of both known and up and coming brands. Having labels like Carven and Giuseppe Zanotti draws customers in and then they’re able to discover unknown brands and see how great they are too.
When we opened our doors for the first time in March 2009, I was very naïve and thought customers would flood in. They didn’t – in fact, they didn’t walk through for a while and it was the most heart wrenching process. Awareness was definitely the most challenging part of setting up. In the beginning, I think customers were reluctant to shop somewhere different and just by virtue of the fact that we were new, we were not seen as a trusted source but now our customers completely trust us, especially when we’re introducing them to new brands. We then decided to hire a PR agency and build the website and that’s when things really started to take off. The first year was definitely a struggle but now, we have a strong, loyal customers base who are all amazing and incredibly supportive of what we do. We faced so many obstacles along the way and we did make mistakes but we overcame them and that made us stronger and more determined to make it work.
Social media plays a huge roll in what we do. Our Instagram, Twitter and Facebook followers have grown so much over the past few years. Instagram has helped us with sales, bringing people to our online shop. We have customers coming in to the boutique with pictures on their phone, requesting pieces they’ve seen on Instagram. It really is an amazing tool and has definitely helped us grow.
We launched our in-house brand, Related back in 2013. We felt there was a big gap among our existing brands for more accessible prices, as the prices were starting to creep up. As our family business makes clothes for people like Zara, we had the production facilities to start our own line so it just made sense. It hasn’t been easy though. It is very time consuming and trying to balance Oxygen Boutique and Related has been very hard. Slowly, I’m getting there though!
Right now, I’m focused on growing our online boutique and I hope Related grows and that we have amazing stores stocking the brand. I am very driven and I never take no for an answer. Whenever I fail in something, I have to make it work. I’m really lucky to have a supportive boyfriend and friends who understand my last minute cancellations and stressful rants so that definitely helps. If you’re thinking about setting up on your own, make sure to have great people around you. I am so lucky that I have an amazing family that have helped me grow these businesses and without their advice and backing, I would have been able to do any of it.
Photography by Paul Whitfield for The Lifestyle Edit