She never set out to be a designer.
While on a pre-med track at Dartmouth, a playful sled ride turned hospital stay shifted her trajectory. After graduating, she traded the lab for a loft—joining Allure magazine by day, and studying millinery at Parsons by night.
In 1998, a self-made feathered cloche—crafted to disguise a bad haircut—caught the eye of downtown boutiques. When Barneys New York placed its first order, the EUGENIA KIM brand was born.
From her East Village apartment, Eugenia built a label rooted in ingenuity and instinct, designing by intuition long before it became a business plan.