Eileen Bygrave

Last week we got an opportunity to meet Eileen Bygrave, Europe’s first Asian retail director for Italian luxury giant Salvatore Ferragamo. It was a great pleasure to meet with her and share her experiences in the Fashion Industry. Eileen started off as a shoe retailer in a small town in England. She also opened the first Elizabeth Arden Red Door spa and salon in China. Eileen started her own brand called ‘Coppelia’ where she began to discover a love to shoes and fashion. She would go to London to order from the Bally Swiss shop and far many heads turnover upon watching a Chinese girl coming in to place orders. She faced a lot of racism in her early days, coming from China, people in the West looked down to her and she was always the last one to be served.

When Mrs.Bygrave ran into her old friends Bablina Wong while walking her dogs is when she ventured her self into the world of Salvatore Ferragamo. During our talk she mentioned to help us getting an internship at the headquarters in Italy. I showed interest as a fashion student and followed up with her over email to find out more information about the internship.

Later this year, I eventually did apply for a marketing internship at the headquarters and my application was passed on to the daughter of Mr. Ferragamo as mentioned to me by Mrs.Bygrave. The application then went ahead to the HR department of Ferragamo and is still under process. I hope to hear a good news from them very soon. Meeting her opened my eyes to several boundaries which I can achieve in my career. Throughout the process of my application I learnt a lot about what kind of images should be used in portfolios and how the letters are to be framed.