Forbes Asia - June 2018

brands that are unique and are planning

[new] store concepts.”

he Simone umbrella also includes

Simone Investment Co., which says it

manages nearly $1 billion in assets for

Park and other investors—mostly prized

real estate such as the De Rotterdam, a

development of oices, apartments and

a hotel in the Netherlands; the Wash-

ington Harbour complex, which sits on

the Potomac River in the Georgetown

section of Washington, D.C.; and the

Westin Hotel in Union Square, San

Francisco.

For now Park has no plans to take his

company public, but he hints at a vague

possibility. “I never imagined getting

this far. When we celebrated our 30th

anniversary last year. I asked my busi-

ness partners, What was the best part of

working with Simone? Almost everyone

said predictability and consistency.”

for luxury goods, with mainland sales

totaling $23 billion last year, according

to a Bain & Co. report.

Aer 38 years of making bags for

some of the world’s most popular

brands, Park is thinking of slowing

down. “I’ve been running like a truck

without brakes. Now I am trying to have

more balance and reassess the priorities

in my life. I am trying to have more time

for myself and my family.”

he seeds have already been sown.

he older of his two daughters, Joowon,

31, heads a subsidiary, Simone Fashion

Co., that opened in 2015 and runs four

luxury-accessory stores—two for Ger-

man designer Karl Lagerfeld and two

called 0914 that sell mostly Simone’s

own brand, 0914. he 0914 lagship is

across from Dosan Park in the Gangnam

district of Seoul; on the next street are

Hermès and Cartier shops. he brand is

named aer the day in 1984 when Park

and his college sweetheart ran into each

other in a cafe. hey had broken up six

years earlier and hadn’t seen each other

since, but the café was a place they used

to frequent. “Next May we got married,”

he says.

Joowon, who did a stint at Morgan

Stanley with its consumer retail group in

Manhattan, speaks with Forbes Asia over

the phone from Paris. “My father really

respects my autonomy,” she says. he

brand is aimed at consumers who are

typically 30 to 50 years old, and it has

a simple and understated feel, with the

handbags averaging around $700.

Simone Fashion also is building a

business serving as the local retailer for

niche labels from Europe and Japan.

“Our customers are really well-versed in

designer labels and are the experimental

type,” she says. “We are working with

JUNE 2018 FORBES ASIA | 69

SFL TRAVEL / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO F

500 YEARS OF HANDBAGS

There’s a museum for everything, and since 2012 Seoul has boasted a museum

of handbags. Housed in a building shaped like a handbag, with two “straps” for

a “handle” on the roof, the Simone Handbag Museum features a gallery of 350

accessories. It’s the passion of Simone Accessory founder Kenny Park, whose re-

search into the history of bags and purses inspired him—he says almost obligated

him—to start the project. “Simone knows more about the design and history than

any other company,” he says. “It was important to maintain and preserve this

heritage.”

The exhibits range from a 16th-century Italian silk and metal purse to a 1970s

plastic handbag that resembles a vintage telephone and a $46,000 Hermès

Birkin. Rarities from Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Alexander McQueen and others fill the

showcases on one floor in a bright and airy space. Another floor displays acces-

sories worn by the likes of turn-of-the-last-century Argentine socialite María Luisa

Unzué de Aldao. Temporary exhibits with themes such as Bag Is Rhythm, Bag Is

Media and Bag Is Literature are mounted once or twice a year.

The museum draws fashion-design students, foreign tourists and locals, some

4,000 people a year. The admission fee is around $5. It’s in a ten-story building

called Bagstage on a tree-lined street of boutiques and cafes in Sinsa-dong, a

trendy part of Gangnam. Bagstage also hosts handbag-making classes led by

Simone’s leather craftsmen—Park calls them meisters, the German word for mas-

ters. New employees often attend to learn about the heart of the business.

This isn’t the only handbag museum in the world. It isn’t even the only one in

Asia—there’s another in Bali—and there are others in Amsterdam and the U.S. But

Park insists there is no comparison. “The handbag museum tells the history of the

fashion cycle and the shifting experiences of women’s lives,” he says. —G.C.

Accessorizing on a massive scale: Kenny Park’s

museum in Seoul is shaped like a handbag.