FASHIONABLE FRIENDS
MatchesFashion.com founders
Tom and Ruth Chapman (right);
model Maryna Linchuk and designer
Roksanda Ilincic chat with Ruth
before dinner at Le Turtle, NYCI
’m going to tell you a funny story about Adam
Lippes,” says Tom Chapman in the kind of
conspiratorial tone that makes you lean in close.
The dapper co-founder and joint chairman of
MatchesFashion.com is in Hong Kong to speak at the
Fashion Asia forum, an event aimed at addressing
the challenges within the changing fashion landscape,
and with on-stage duties out of the way, he’s now
kicking back with a vodka and soda 49 levels above the
city in Cafe Gray Bar at luxury hotel The Upper House.
“It’s my wife’s birthday on Friday,” he starts,
referring to his partner in business and life, Ruth
Chapman. “We’re having a big party for her so I invited
[fashion journalist] Sarah Harris. I said, ‘Come to
dinner, it’s Ruth’s birthday,’ and she said, ‘Oh God,
I can’t. I’ve got this event with Adam Lippes, he asked
me to hold the day.’ And I said, ‘Oh shit, I didn’t even
know Adam was in town. Let me email him because
I should tell him to change his event and come to dinner
with us.’” Tom’s eyes shine as he pauses before
laughingly delivering the punchline. “Of course, it was
[a MatchesFashion.com] event that Adam was hosting!”
One could hardly blame Tom for not realising the
clash. In the 10 years since launching the company’sinternational website, MatchesFashion.com dinners have
gained in frequency and notoriety to the point where
they’re the hot ticket on the fashion calendar. The
intimate evenings, held all over the world for a select
group of international press and VIP clients in the most
in-demand restaurants and private residences, have
a unique family feel (if your family consisted exclusively
of well-shod people wearing the latest from Saint
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always champion a designer or brand.
“It comes from actually being a bricks-and-mortar
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store in 1987. “When we started, we had a tiny shop in
Wimbledon Village and we were selling things like
Gianni Versace. And believe me, when
you’re selling luxurybrands in Wimbledon
Village, you’ve got to learn to love your
customer because not many of them are
on the streets. You’ve got to take care
of people. And then building the
relationship with brands, with the press,
all these sorts of things, is incredibly
important. Business is built on
relationships and we have to be very
protective of that.”
After 30 years of fostering said
relationships, Tom and Ruth have
successfully transformed their store into
a global luxury business. The strategy?
Immersing the customer, creating a digital experience
that’s as close as possible to the physical and allowing
customers to choose how they interact with the brand.
That means a fully responsive site designed to bridge
the divide between content and commerce (including
a weekly digital Style Report, engaging features and
fully shoppable video content, regardless of device),
digital trunk shows with hot-right-now designers such
as JW Anderson, Simone
Rocha and Nicholas
Kirkwood, and shoppable
Instagram. Then there
are the stores, three in
addition to the originalTHE NEW
NORMAL
As luxury shopping increasingly
moves online,MatchesFashion.com
is spearheading a strategy that
makespeoplethepriority(and
must-have fashion paramount)42 ELLE AUSTRALIA