Jennifer Zuccarini, founder and CEO of Fleur du Mal, is a born entrepreneur. For beginners, entrepreneurship is carried out in her family because her father is a visionary who brought the first espresso machine to Canada in 1954. Zukarini and her two sisters, also entrepreneurs, heard the father repeat: “Why do you want to work? For someone? You should always work for yourself.”
The Torontoese has made fashion the focus of her career with her passion for building her own brand, as well as her passion for art history and fine arts. After graduating from Concordia University, Zuccarini moved to New York City, participated in fashion design at FIT, and co-founded her first lingerie startup Kiki de Montparnasse in 2005 after several fashion shows.
After the design director appeared in Victoria’s Secret in 2008, she demonstrated her company’s strength for three years and learned how a multi-billion dollar company works. But Zukarini once again felt the flame of entrepreneurs; this time, it prompted her to launch Fleur du Mal in 2012.
With celebrities including Bella Hadid, Victoria Beckham and Emma Roberts, Fleur du Mal has created a niche for himself as a cheeky, luxurious lingerie and swimwear brand. The shameless fashion electronics retailer has also expanded its product range to include the ready-to-wear collection as a separate category.
Although Fleur du Mal’s slogan “Encouraging Dressing and Undressing” seems to be obscene, Zuccarini recognizes the importance of using underwear as part of everyday wear, rather than what women wear on weekends or dates.
Zuccarini explained: “When I created this brand, I thought about how we really dressed our women from the inside out. It was also about the spirit and life of women. When I saw this industry, it was launched at the time. Before Fleur du Mal, I think most underwear brands are either very basic or super sexy, and there aren’t many talks with our “Hibiscus Woman”. She likes fashion, wears great works, and does a great job. And very powerful.”
As an online retailer, Zuccarini has an experiential pop-up as an important part of the Fleur du Mal strategy and has found a way to blend her passions: fashion and art. The most recent popular movie called The Peep Show features fresh, little-known artists and Fleur du Mal. Since then, it has become a permanent retail space in New York City (more pop-up opportunities are coming soon!), giving Fleur du Mal shoppers the opportunity to experience the IRL brand. All works of art exhibited in the exhibition are curated by Zuccarini, reflecting the essence of Fleur du Mal: powerful, provocative and feminine.
In addition to expanding its retail footprint through activation, Fleur du Mal recently launched the “Essentials” lingerie line with extended cup sizes and everyday essentials.
I talked to Zuccarini about how she turned from art to fashion, how women occupy seats on the table, and how she maintains balance as the founder.