RETAIL SPOTLIGHT

Style Oasis

Laure Hériard Dubreuil,

Advertising and Marketing Communications ’01, created a designer boutique empire

Most kids play dressup for fun. But it’s how Laure Hériard Dubreuil, founder and CEO of luxury boutique The Webster, found her calling. “Since I was very little, I liked to dress my siblings—I enjoyed the process of putting looks together,” says the eldest of four, raised in Paris and part of the storied family that produces Rémy Martin cognac. She originally studied economics and Mandarin at the Paris Dauphine University but was drawn to the editing and curation aspects of fashion.

After graduating from FIT, Hériard Dubreuil worked in merchandising for Balenciaga and Yves Saint Laurent. During an autumn trip to New York, she took a last-minute jaunt to Art Basel Miami Beach with only winter clothes in her luggage— nothing appropriate for parties in balmy weather. Though the city was “bubbling,” the aughts shopping scene was “sleepy,” she says. “There was nothing fashion-forward or edgy.”