1978

A middle child born in Toronto, Canada to a Japanese mother Kazuyo who is a textile fine artist and her Canadian father Robert who is a lawyer. The family moved to Hong Kong, Japan and China throughout Zoe’s childhood. Zoe spent the majority of her teenage years and onwards in the UK and Europe.

 

2002

Zoe graduated from Central St Martins College of Art London with a 1st Class Honor in Fashion Womenswear and Print. During her 5 years at St Martins Zoe took a year off to work full time at Alexander McQueen. Many of the materials for her final degree collection were sponsored by the McQueen studio. Zoe also worked at Jessica Ogden, Hussein Chalayan, and others during her time as a student at St Martins.

 

2004

Zoe graduated from the Royal College of Art London MA Fashion Womenswear specialising in Footwear. Zoe went straight from the RCA to Vivienne Westwood where she spent 3 years designing footwear, bags and accessories for both the Italian and Japanese  collections.

 

2007–2012

Zoe worked as a consultant for a variation of British designers such as, Betty Jackson, Erdem, Basso and Brooke, Toast, Te Casan and French Connection all the while gaining experience working with factories in Italy, Spain, India, and Istanbul.

 

2011

Zoe Lee Ltd started in May 2011 and presented it's first collection during London fashion week September 2011 (AW12). The event was held at Blacks in Dean street Soho and was hosted by Jade Parfitt and Jasmine Guinness.

 

2013

Zoe moved to Paris and opened the first Zoe Lee shop in the Marais. (19 Rue du Parc Royal, Paris 75003) and a studio in the 18th arrondissement of Paris.

 

2013 -2020

Zoe has continued working mainly on her own brand but has also collaborated and consulted for several other brands along the way.... Nehera, Hyun mi Nielsen, Phosphoro to name a few...and also to be in the shop as much as possible...!