Sunday Brunch Dress Shop

www.sundaybrunchdress.com

About Sunday Brunch Dress Shop

This is a fabulous online shop, run by the lovely Judy Kou, focusing on one of my favourite wardrobe staples: DRESSES.

The price range is around $300 – $500 for a dress, and it may seem high to some, there is a GUARANTEED awesome dress in here for you to buy and wear to any event.

I was drooling over all of the choices, wondering if I could justify a purchase (er..post-2010) to wear the dress somewhere wonderful.

Or just as a treat.

What are some things that define who you are as a person?

It has taken my 27 years on this earth trying to figure out the answer to that question.

Who am I?

Well I’d probably say shop owner is the least of who I am.

Who am I?

I live in NY just like I always dreamed of but every day I dream of the California beaches.

I am mother/slave to the most adorable English Bulldog named Munch who could melt even the iciest of hearts.

I am in love with a wonderful man.

I can’t drink much beer but I can drink good Scotch with the best of them.

I am a licensed Dietitian (from a past life) but I live for junk food.

I dream of traveling the world, but my favorite thing to do is to come home.

I love dresses, I am obsessed with them…the way they look the way they make me feel the way they are made…and I just happen to own a dress shop.

Tell me all about the Sunday Brunch Dress Shop

Sunday Brunch!

It’s an online (only) dress (only) shop.

At first, when SB was still in it’s embryonic stages, I thought it would be cardigans and dresses, my two favorite pieces of clothing.

But when the budgeting and buying started, I quickly realized that it would be best for myself and SB fans if I just stuck to the dresses.

I’m don’t really wear accessories, and I don’t know the latest and greatest in jeans (because I am short and have no legs to speak of) but I do know dresses so dresses it was natural to stick to what I know.

Tell me about a typical day

2 times a year it’s total madness.

Designers and Buyers alike come out of the wood works and gather at Fashion Week, Market Week and private appointments to decide what to buy for the coming season.

The strangest thing is really the idea of the “season” in fashion. In order to have enough time to complete orders and make garments, guying for Spring is done in the Fall.

Which means as I come out of summer, getting into the groove of the cooler weather (before Halloween even!), as a buyer I have to be in the mind set of buying clothing for spring.

It’s hard.

I haven’t even prepared myself for the harsh, bitter winter months of living in my down coat and I have to buy dresses for spring.

Who does that? Apparently I do.

Oh the things I do in the name of the dress.

So it’s twice a year that it’s a scramble to attend these shows and conventions and you look at as many designers as your brain and feet can possibly stand and then you make decisions.

Day to day operations are less frantic.

Some buying happens when I come across a line I really like or designers find me and we discuss collaborations.

It’s mostly customer service, helping them find their style and size and handling their orders.

Other on-going tasks include finding artists to participate in the store’s rotating gallery and PR/marketing. Oh, and keeping up with the blog.

Pick 4 dishes you could eat for the rest of your life

Easy!

1) My fiance’s magic crack-like Mac and Cheese

2) McDonald French Fries

3) My mom’s scrambled eggs

4) bacon, extra crispy please

Why did you only choose to stock dresses?

Why? Because I love them!

Like I mentioned, I am really terrible at accessorizing. Just never something I had a knack for.

I like things relatively clean.

If I have earrings and a necklace on, I feel pretty over accessorized.

A belt is a lot for me.

Pants? Well already touched on that.

Shoes? I like shoes, but they take up too much room and I rarely put on those heels that I swore I was going to when I bought them.

So in the end, I stuck with dresses. It was always about the dresses.

What’s not to love. You just slip into it and you’re done.

You don’t even have to bother with zipping up a second piece of clothing.

And you don’t have to think about how to match things.

It’s already done for you. And the best part is that you actually look dolled up!

It’s genius. I’m really just going along with the genius.

How did you decide that this was the career path for you?

Deciding one’s career is one of the hardest decisions in life.

You don’t want your career to define you, but it’s one of the first things people “see.” It’s like a second face.

I mean, when you meet someone what’s the first question they ask? Exactly.

And just because you want to do something it doesn’t always work that way.

Careers are tricky like that. I got very close to making the wrong decision for myself and that almost happened because I never actually bothered to make a decision. I just went with things.

I got good grades in school, I liked science, I liked cutting things open and seeing how things worked so ever since I was little I thought I wanted to be a doctor, to be a surgeon.

I was so busy with this straight shot trajectory (it all happens very fast, one test leads to the other you know?) that I never bothered to re-evaluate if this was the life I wanted. So yes I came very close to making the wrong decision/not making one at all.

But thankfully I did and I know I made the right one.

I’m not saving lives, but I’ve found the joy in little things, helping a woman find a dress she really loves.

I get the most wonderful emails from returning customers and people who found our store because they chased someone down on the street to find out where their dress is from.

No, I’m not saving lives but this is pretty darn good.

How do you choose designers?

It’s not so much the designer as it is about the individual dress.

People ask me who my favorite designer is and this is a very hard question because designers can make a dress that I go “YES” to but the next one they make might make me go “EH.”

Designing a dress, or anything, involves so many things.

Their mood, their inspiration, their everything that is going on at that moment of creation.

I will identify with it or I won’t.

What inspires you on a daily basis to keep motivated to do everything you need to get done?

I’m a generally motivated person and one of my greatest fears is failure, so it’s easy for me to get up and make sure everything is done.

It gives me the illusion that at least I am doing everything I need to do to make sure things don’t go down the proverbial toilet.

I have a mental TO DO list in my brain at all times and when that list exceeds 10 things that haven’t been crossed off, my brain starts to fritz.

What do you love the most about your work?

I love the idea that I am making connections with people all over the world (I had a lovely customer call me from Saudi Arabia for a dress she needed for an event), people whom I’ve never met and will never meet but have at least this store and the love of these dresses in common.

And what are the most difficult or challenging aspects of running a store?

The marketing aspect is hardest for me.

It is hard for me to talk about myself.

It has taken me a while to be comfortable enough to talk about my job and the store when people ask me that dreaded question “So what do you do?” I understand the question and the need to ask it, everybody does.

But I kind of hate that question.

I never ask that question when I meet someone.

If they want to tell me, they will.

How about any online challenges you’ve had to deal with that you may otherwise not have to if you had a physical location?

The lack of “foot traffic.”

Most brick and mortar stores I frequent I first discovered they even existed because I walked by it and just went in.

You don’t have that online.

You mostly have to rely on searches or word of mouth.

As an online store you also have to have make sure you’ve got a good handle on photos, sizing, and prompt customer service.

What do you envision for yourself and the business in the future?

I’ve got some things cooking in the oven.

I don’t quite know how things are going to turn out so I won’t spoil the surprise.

But it will involve more international traveling for myself.

And of course a brick and mortar shop is always in the back of my mind.

But the online thing will always be my first and foremost focus.

Name your personal 3 best purchases!

1) I did not purchase this, but one of my favorite favorite ultimate treasures was a gift: a classic Chanel quilt bag.

2) As old Dutch style copper kettle. I use it every day.

3) A very unique red dress from one of my favorite designers, Mel en Stel (yes we do have her on Sunday Brunch!).

It is my love’s favorite and I happened to be wearing it the day we got engaged in Paris.

Do you have anything on your personal Must-Buy list right now?

I’m kind of coveting an imaginary (imaginary because I haven’t found one that I like yet) pair of black lace up boots.

And I think for as long as I’ve been alive I’ve wanted an antique typewriter.

Just haven’t found the right one yet.

Can you offer any tips to aspiring business owners? Or to aspiring designers trying to get their work noticed?

To both: go for it! So many people will tell you that you are crazy or stupid or impractical.

Don’t listen! If you’ve got something good, share it with the world.

Many thanks to Judy for agreeing to do the interview and for having such an awesome online shop (that I am always drooling over)

Serena: And as for my favourite dress out of all?

It’s by none other than Mel en Stel: The cobalt blue ruffle dress.

Look at that deliciousness!!!!