JUDY Ip Harris used to be the total Chanel woman. From head to toe, she was a living advertisement for the famous Paris house, bearing its entwined Cs like a badge of honour. She even got married in a Chanel outfit.
How chief designer Karl Lagerfeld would have wept to see this once staunch fan as she breezed into one of Central's fashionable eateries the other day.
''My suit? Gucci,'' said the defector without a blush. ''I felt I needed a breather.'' Of course she is perfectly at liberty to wear what she pleases - at least since she decided the undercover life was for her and became managing director of Marguerite Lee. Her recent appointment was greeted with a huge sigh of relief at Hong Kong's biggest bra manufacturer, Top Form International, which bought the luxury lingerie chain for $32 million in 1991 and almost immediately went public.
For months, a successor to the real Marguerite Lee had been sought. Was there anyone out there who could follow in the footsteps of the glamorous Australian who had given her name to the shops famous for their undies? The ideal candidate would be someone not only stylish, but astute; an internationally seasoned fashion pro who knew Hong Kong backwards, was familiar with China, blessed with business acumen . . .
Just as hopes were fading, the paragon materialised. Little do her bosses know what they have snared.
''In my teens, I used to spend the summers with my dad in Vientiane and Saigon and often heard the rockets going off,'' reminisced the svelte figure. ''I don't remember being scared.'' The daughter of Eddie Ip scared? What a ridiculous notion. For as long as she can remember, life with father was one long adventure - that is, when he wasn't hurtling through the skies risking life, limb and often his freedom.