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Luxury

From luxury fashion buyer to wedding brand owner: Jacqueline Au worked for Celine, Givenchy and Lane Crawford, then founded bridal boutique Loft in Hong Kong

STORYTracey Furniss
Jacqueline Au, owner of bridal shop Loft, at her store in Sheung Wan. Photo: Xiaomei Chen
Jacqueline Au, owner of bridal shop Loft, at her store in Sheung Wan. Photo: Xiaomei Chen
XXIV 2021

  • Au’s eye for style means she can find one-of-a-kind gowns from design houses such as Alex Perry, Vivienne Westwood Bridal and Toni Maticevski
  • She uses a Cire Trudon x Giambattista Valli Positano fragrance in her new Hollywood Road studio – and prizes her Vintage Patek Philippe Ellipse 3582G

Former fashion buyer for Givenchy, Celine and Lane Crawford, Jacqueline Au founded bridal boutique Loft (Lab of Fairy Tales) in Hong Kong four years ago, when she couldn’t find a wedding dress she liked for her own big day. She now sources and offers exceptional one-of-a-kind gowns from design houses such as Alex Perry, Vivienne Westwood Bridal and Toni Maticevski to create fashion moments for brides looking for a statement piece.

In 2021, Loft recently moved to a new 1,600 sq ft space on Hollywood Road, which Au describes as “a minimalist approach with maximum expression”.

Bridal shop owner Jacqueline Au photographed at her shop in Sheung Wan. Photo: SCMP
Bridal shop owner Jacqueline Au photographed at her shop in Sheung Wan. Photo: SCMP
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“I am at the tail end of fine tuning and unveiling a new space for Loft. It has been quite the journey: the transformation, renovation plus move, from concept to completion, took around six months,” says Au, who also had her second child in February. “I think that in the post-pandemic world, there’s still something irreplaceably powerful about a physical store. It was really important for us that when you walk into our store it wasn’t about clothes being shoved in your face. It was about the experience of walking in, taking in the space, being able to slowly introduce yourself to our signature Cire Trudon x Giambattista Valli Positano scent, and walking through the collections in a space that’s calm and minimal. All created for private one-on-one appointments.”

Loft Bridal has been called “the style maven for modern brides”. Photo: @theloftbridal/Instagram
Loft Bridal has been called “the style maven for modern brides”. Photo: @theloftbridal/Instagram
With the busyness of a move and staying on top of fashion trends, Au still spends daily quality time with her daughter, Avery. “I spend a good hour or two of my morning to have a long breakfast with my daughter,” she says. “I get into the studio by 10am. We work around the fashion calendar – during fashion weeks, we’re obviously much busier looking at all the collections, doing virtual appointments and calls, and going from brand to brand to curate things we really love. These are my favourite times of the year,” she continues. “I love newness, I love scouring the globe for beautiful things and bringing in a curation that you cannot find everywhere. I think that’s what drives me.”

When it’s not a fashion week, she spends time creating content for their social channels and working with clients on their wedding wardrobes. Au works six days a week.

Jacqueline Au at work at Loft. Photo: @aujackie/Instagram
Jacqueline Au at work at Loft. Photo: @aujackie/Instagram

“Monday is a day when I work while the studio is closed. It’s when I take a minute to look back at the week prior, and set an intention for the upcoming week and look at whether everything I have planned is aligned with what I want to accomplish,” she says. “Monday really is my day to get ahead on life.