The Kooples RTW Spring 2021
Courtesy Photo
PARIS — MF Brands Group has named Marie Schott chief executive officer of The Kooples, recruiting a retail executive with extensive experience in the lingerie segment to succeed Romain Guinier, who has left the group.
“Her entrepreneurial background and product expertise are major assets,” said Thierry Guibert, president of MF Brands Group, which also owns Lacoste, Gant and Aigle.
Schott created the Undiz brand before becoming CEO of Etam, and last year founded lingerie label AnaShaf, designed to meet demand for comfortable and stylish pieces that fit a wide range of body types.
A graduate of the HEC business school in France, Schott started her career in management consulting.
The executive is charged with increasing the creativity and desirability of The Kooples and continuing with its digital and global development, according to a company statement.
The discrete, Switzerland-based family retail company, formerly known as Maus Frères, bought the contemporary French fashion brand in 2019, with the expectation that its urban rock positioning would fit well into the group.
Founded in 2008 by brothers Alexandre, Laurent and Raphaël Elicha, The Kooples was known for youthful rock-tinged looks for men and women, including suit jackets and miniskirts as well as short, airy, floral dresses.
In October, newly recruited artistic director Tom Van Dorpe offered a 1990s-flavored, minimalist collection for the label that included a focus on floral prints, and also introduced a range of pastels, offering the metal-tipped Emily bag in lavender, for example. Van Dorpe, who studied art and business in Belgium before working as a stylist for magazines in New York, brought the men’s and women’s collections even closer together in his debut collection.
MF Brands Group warmly thanked Guinier, previously CEO of Aigle, noting he left to pursue new professional projects.
