Perched gracefully on a designer chair in her immaculately clean and colourful living room, Augustine founder Kelly Coe is the epitome of cool, calm and collected. With cleaners buzzing around her, business emails flowing in, a make-up artist working away on her signature curls and her husband due home any minute, you could easily forgive the 33-year-old mother-of-two for being distracted as we prep for our exclusive Woman’s Day shoot.
But as she answers questions on everything from her design aesthetic to childcare, Kelly couldn’t seem more at ease. “This is how it has always been for us,” she says of life with her longtime love and business partner Nathan Coe, with whom she started clothing label Augustine from their Auckland garage back in 2008. “It’s a bit of a whirlwind and people think we’re kind of crazy, but we love it. We just go 100 miles an hour and get it done. There were times in the beginning when I was like, ‘Nope, I can’t handle this,’ when the label wasn’t making money so we couldn’t employ people and we didn’t have a nanny, but now everything is a lot easier.”
Indeed, with their super-successful business – which boasts three stand-alone retail stores and 70 extra shops selling the line – enjoying a period of massive growth, and their gorgeous girls, Indiana, five, and Demi, four, now in school and kindergarten, Kelly and Nathan have decided it’s time to make some big changes. Not only will 2016 see them embark on building their dream home, open their first-ever store in Australia and launch a much- anticipated plus-sized range, but they’ll also be welcoming a new addition to their brood.
Kelly’s husband Nathan lives and breathes fashion too.
Sew amazing!
“I’m about 12 weeks along now,” Kelly grins, “but my bump already feels really big! We found out three weeks in, so it feels like we’ve known for ages. The little one isn’t due until September, which feels like a lifetime away!”
However, if you’re thinking the impending arrival of baby number three would have Kelly considering a step back from her many commitments, you’d be mistaken. “I’ll probably work right through, to be honest,” she laughs. “I’ve never had any sort of maternity leave or relaxing baby period. I’ve just kept going. “With Indi, we took her everywhere with us. She was at fashion shows, dinners and on trips to China. And then with Demi, I had a newborn and a one-year-old, so that obviously wasn’t super-relaxing. This will probably be my most relaxing baby experience yet!”
But despite the busy year ahead, Kelly insists she won’t be resting on her laurels when it comes to her style – something that is not hard to believe as she slips in and out of an array of glitzy and glamorous outfits.
“Mums often say to me, ‘You’re really dressed up for the school run,’ but I think it’s important not to forget about putting the effort in after you’ve had kids. A lot of mums get in that rut where they give up on themselves and it’s sad for their own self-esteem. “That was the whole point of starting Charlo, my second line – to get mums out of dressing in jeans, T-shirts and running shoes. It’s for everyday mums who live in the suburbs with their kids, just like me.”
While she and Nathan, who is also a property developer, once oversaw everything from design through to distribution for Augustine, they now have 16 staff, allowing Kelly to primarily focus on design and marketing.
Shop secrets
But she insists there’s nothing she loves more than connecting with her customers in her “incredibly busy” shops and on social media. “I try to go into one of the stores every Friday and work in there for the day. Just so I can see what people love and what’s working first-hand. And I also do the Facebook page myself. That’s something I’ll never want to hand over to anyone else. I write all the posts and respond to the comments.”
But while the stunning brunette makes it all look easy, she insists her success hasn’t come without blood, sweat and tears. “It’s been baby steps for sure. We were flying blind in the beginning. We launched the label just before we got married. A year later, we had our eldest, then Demi not long after that. The time has flown.
“I’m so lucky that Nathan and I are totally on the same page, and have been since day one. People say to us, ‘How do you work together, live together and have kids together?’ But it’s honestly never been a problem. It’s awesome. Thankfully, we both love a fast-paced lifestyle!”
Kelly is a busy mother to Demi (left) and Indiana.
