· By Scarlett Poppies
3 Women and Their Inspiration
We celebrate women!
We are a brand created and run by women, for women, and supporting women of all ages, ethnicities, and cultural backgrounds.
Our key partners in the supply chain are headed up by strong female entrepreneurs; like-minded, passionate, and with an infinite business mindset - determined to make a difference for the future.
We are equally proud to be teamed up with many inspirational retail partners, carefully selected to represent Scarlett Poppies. Today, we feature three of them here by sharing their journeys and what inspires them to do what they do.
Kim - Maison K – Santa Barbara (CA)
Maison K is an ever-changing, artful collection of beautiful clothing and accessories from around the world. The business was founded in 2002 by Kimberly Phillips Hayes following a career in merchandising, buying and sourcing for both corporate and boutique retailers. She realized that many of the extraordinary things she saw overseas were not available in the US and was inspired to start her own business to showcase these discoveries.
Kimberly’s love of art history, textiles, and world cultures is evident in the exquisite things she finds on her travels. She attends trade shows in Paris and Milan, and works with numerous small family companies to create unique collections for the boutique.
She hand selects textiles to be made into clothing in Istanbul, works with hat makers in Florence, cashmere producers in Perugia, tailors in Torino, dressmakers in Positano and numerous other sources to bring a refined global aesthetic to Santa Barbara.
Everything is beautifully showcased in-store and online to inspire and please her discerning clientele. There is a certain serene and harmonious energy with this mix of goods that customers always comment on.
https://www.instagram.com/maisonkstyle/
Katrin - Boutique Nomads – Dubai & Abu Dhabi (UAE)
Boutique Nomads is a playfully vibrant concept store celebrating all things cheerful, bright, and fun. Attracting a style-savvy clientele with its cherry-picked selection of bohemian-inspired fashion, lifestyle novelties, and fun beach accessories, the store’s mission is to infuse sunny moments into everyone’s every day. Boutique Nomads first opened its doors at Kitebeach in Dubai in 2017 and can now be found at 5 luxurious locations including the Mandarin Oriental Jumeira, Address Beach Resort at JBR or the prestigious Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi.
Boutique Nomads’ founder is Katrin Strunz. Her windy path to becoming an entrepreneur in the UAE took her from organizing large-scale music events in Germany to a corporate career in luxury Marketing travelling the world. Never shying away from taking on a little risk to jump into a new chapter, she turned her passion for all things pretty into a successful business.
“We source our unique collection from across the globe and curate our stores with loads of love and attention to detail. Our concept is all about creating a one-stop-shopping experience that invites visitors to truly enjoy browsing and discovering. Imagine the excitement when going on a treasure-hunt – that’s the kind of buzz we’d love our customers to feel when entering our spaces.“
Asked about her inspiration, Strunz finds it hard to pinpoint it to any source in particular. “Anything can be inspirational. Part of our logo is a little cat icon, so maybe one can describe it as a mindset when roaming around the streets: not shying away to explore every little corner, especially the small things that tend to get overlooked if you just run past.“
Quality, novelty and sophistication are Boutique Nomads’ guiding principles. Apart from artisan products, the stores stock a variety of local and internationally renown labels.
“I am truly delighted that ethical and sustainable standards have become a factor, that people actually pay attention to. Every little step counts. I am grateful for every person hopping off the fast fashion train to shop at a small boutique, that care. “
https://www.instagram.com/boutiquenomads/
Elisabeth – Coco Indigo – Winter Park (FL)
Image by Rooted Love Photography
Coco Indigo’s owner Elisabeth Dupee aims to bring Mediterranean vibes to Winter Park with her elegant collection of clothing and home décor. Her team even includes talented dressmakers who worked for Valentino, an Italian luxury fashion house, for 20 years and have “amazing experience with incredible attention to detail.”
“I was inspired by the luminescent and seductive shades of the Mediterranean Sea and the playful elegance of the 1950s Riviera life along the Côte d’Azur,” Dupee said. “It was all about impeccable manners and style, along with irresistible charm and romance. So, I wanted to recreate the same alluringly elegant lifestyle feel, offering both home and fashion in a Mediterranean palette of deep rich blues, crisp whites, and sandy neutrals.”
Coco Indigo’s private label features unique fashion and accessories, including exotic baroque pearl jewelry sourced from the South Seas and handmade by Italian artisans, along with woven hats, bags, sandals, scarves, and cashmere. Coco Indigo also offers one-of-a-kind home décor, including table lamps, picture frames, knit throws, and more, that evokes the “blended aesthetic of relaxed elegance, timeless sophistication, and free-spirited bohemian.”
Image by Rooted Love Photography
After living in London for the past five years, Dupee found herself on the other side of the Atlantic when COVID-19 hit. In the months following, she fell in love with Winter Park after her husband’s company moved its headquarters to Orlando. Dupee, who had worked for a decade as a partner-owner at Coco Blanca, a similar concept located in Washington D.C., Maryland, and Virginia, was then inspired to open a shop in the area.
“After moving to London, I missed Coco Blanca tremendously, and my passion for starting another lifestyle business kept growing,” Dupee said. “So, when 2021 rolled in, I decided to start fresh and immediately went to work designing my own label and business plan for Coco Indigo.”
“Winter Park reminds me of where I grew up on Skaneateles Lake in upstate New York, as well as where my mother grew up in Lucerne, Switzerland. It’s such a happy place where people are incredibly friendly, helpful, knowledgeable, and genuine.”
Images by Rooted Love Photography
She is on a mission to get the world to look and feel fabulous again, ushering away the fashion laziness born out of the killjoy pandemic. She wants to elevate the everyday look and bring back the joy and spirit of living beautifully.
“My muse is a strong, confident, cultured, free-spirited globetrotter ready to say yes and embrace all that life offers ... effortlessly and elegantly.”