The New Normal

As luxury shopping increasingly moves online, MatchesFashion.com is spearheading a strategy that makes people the priority (and must-have fashion paramount)

- Genevra Leek

I’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’s international 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 Laurent, Attico and Vetements, that is) and almost always champion a designer or brand.