A Modern Fairy Tale
She fell out of love and into an exciting life in fashion. There, Carol Chen found her true soulmate at long last
ot all love stories have a happy ending. but Carol Chen found hers, just not the type you watch in most romantic comedies. Although the relationship she crossed oceans for last year didn’t last, Carol’s love for Singapore did. She stayed and turned heartbreak into career fuel. Since then, her company, Covetella, an online retail business that sells and buys new and pre-loved dresses has taken flight. She confesses that fashion wasn’t always in her blood. “I felt like an ugly duckling growing up. I was such a tomboy.” If there was an ugly duckling in her showroom where she showed me gown after gown from known names like Marchesa and Christopher Kane, to rising designers such as Phuong My, it wasn’t her. Always immaculately made up, she says, “I hate wearing the same things over and over again.” With her “unpredictable, exciting, rewarding and fun” job, it’s hard to even if she didn’t. A start-up life with a lean team means no sleep, nor two days’ outfits that are the same. And while she may bike to work in leggings and sneakers, grunge she is not. “Because I’m quite binary —super casual or ultra glam—i either wear very simple, comfortable basics or I’m decked out to the nines,” she explains. Describing herself as fancy and fabulous when she goes out, she’ll never be caught in a run-off-the-mill gown on a special night either. She decrees, “I’m not afraid to push boundaries. I always go for distinct.” We clinked our glasses to that.
I’m from Texas. I will probably always love big and bling things