Top honour for fashion pioneer
JOYCE Ma's determination to bring Italian style and design to the forefront of Asian fashion was rewarded with the ultimate accolade this year.
The boutique wizard, who has introduced the region to such designer labels as Giorgio Armani, Missoni, Prada, Fendi and Versace, became the first Asian to be inducted into Italy's Hall of Fame.
The Hall of Fame recognises outstanding international contributions to the Italian fashion cause and, when Italy's Consul-General in Hong Kong, Folco de Luca, presented the award at a glittering gala dinner, he said: 'Ms Ma has transcended the sphere of retailing and demonstrated a profound understanding of the culture and soul of Italian design and lifestyle.' Largely due to the proliferation of JOYCE boutiques, the consul-general also noted: 'Hong Kong is today among the world's most receptive markets for Italian fashion and lifestyle products.' Shanghai-born Ms Ma, who was educated in Australia and Hong Kong, has come a long way since opening her first boutique in 1969 in a corner of the Wing On department store.
Two years later, she opened her first 'free-standing' JOYCE boutique at the Mandarin Hotel. In 1981, she opened her first single-label boutique with a collection by Fendi. In the same year, she brought the magic name of Giorgio Armani to Hong Kong.
Since then, JOYCE has been flying into the boutique equivalent of hyper-space and is one of the world's top buyers of ready-to-wear apparel with a staff of 600 in Hong Kong and a network of agents in Florence and Milan as well as London, New York, Paris and Tokyo.
Listed on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong in 1990 and overseen by managing director Roberto Dominici, the empire just grows and grows.
Today JOYCE operates 30 boutiques in Hong Kong, China, the Philippines, Taiwan and Thailand, with new ones often opening. Even in recent months, while the rest of the regional retail industry has taken a pause for breath, expansion at JOYCE has been dramatic.
March was frantic, with the opening of three shops in Central (Jill Sander, Prada and Dolce & Gabbana) and another two in Causeway Bay (Emporio Armani and DKNY - Donna Karen New York).
At the same time, JOYCE has been expanding through the region. Philippines First Lady Amelita Ramos performed the ribbon-cutting ceremony for Emporio Armani in Manila's Makati financial district.
Following hot on the heels of the opening of a similar emporium in Bangkok, it is the largest designer label boutique in the country. Mr Dominici described it as a 'watershed' for the Filipino retailing industry.
'It marks more clearly than any other recent development the coming-of-age of the country's middle-to-upper-income consumer class and symbolises international confidence in the national and municipal economies,' he said.
A week later, Joyce opened a DKNY outlet in the capital. In April, the group opened a third store for the trendy Italian designers, Prada.
Taipei was also a target for JOYCE with two openings - another DKNY outlet and the Freelance shoe store. Last month, a Prada boutique opened in Kuala Lumpur and another is planned for Indonesia later this year.
Mr Dominici commented with some understatement: 'We are looking at the market very positively.' Growth in Hong Kong, the nerve-centre of the operation, 'continues to be double-digit, so we are quite satisfied'.
Seven of the top 15 labels represented by JOYCE in Asia today are Italian. The company's wholly-owned subsidiary, FIDAT, also distributes Italian fashions and accessories on a wholesale basis throughout Southeast Asia.
The Italian fashion industry continues to be eternally grateful for her support, which represents a sizeable slice of Italy's $2.5-billion-a-year worth of fashion exports to Hong Kong, the second-biggest exporter of clothes to the territory after China.
The consul-general added: 'Its status here is in no small part due to the vision and creativity of Ms Ma herself.' Ms Ma clearly has dress sense as well as shrewd business acumen. In 1993 and 1994, she was named as one of the world's 10 best-dressed women in the annual Eleanor Lambert poll.
Meanwhile, her 'riches from rag trade' corporation is on a roll. Profits from the first six months of the 1994-95 financial year were $31.4 million on a turnover of $424 million, representing an increase of 33 per cent in earnings per share.
