Junior meets La Coqueta founder Celia Munoz
We talked to La Coqueta founder Celia Munoz about the new season and the opening of their second London store
If you live in North London then La Coqueta is most likely a home-from-home for you when it comes to dressing your children. The luxury Spanish-London based brand was born in 2012 and is fondly referred to as 'my sixth child' by founder Celia Munoz - who does indeed have 5 children.
The first La Coqueta store is nestled in Celia's own neighbourhood of Hampstead so we caught up with her as she sets about opening her second boutique in Notting Hill, west London, how she finds her inspiration and what's in store for next season.
Hello Celia, please tell us about yourself and your family?
Well I'm half Spanish and half French as well as a very proud mother of five children Flavia (9), Lucas (8), Siena (7), Bosco (6) and Hugo (5). We live in Hampstead, a beautiful neighbourhood in North London full of history.
I love spending time with my family, I love adventurous holidays with my brood, I have a big magnet for XVIII century French antiques and when I’m not doing this, I’m at work which is a real passion I have.
Tell us about La Coqueta and how you came to create your label
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La Coqueta is a UK based childrenswear brand that designs, manufactures and sells traditional clothes with an added modern twist for children from 0 to 10 years.
We have two shops (in Hampstead and Notting Hill - more on this below) and sell our clothes online worldwide from Iceland to South Africa and South Korea to California. Our customers can also find us in Liberty and Harrods too.
I started La Coqueta because I felt there was a gap in the market when looking for traditional clothes that were of very high quality and sold at a reasonable price. I was having children at the time and it thought it would be the perfect opportunity for me to do something different.
I always wanted to have my own business so this was my chance. After doing thorough research of the market for two years I decided to open a physical shop very close to my home as well as an online shop. This happened four and a half years ago and professionally it is the best decision I ever took. We are now a much bigger business and I feel very proud to be surrounded by a great team.
What’s the inspiration behind La Coqueta and where do you find your ideas each season
I have two main sources of inspiration: my customers and my children. La Coqueta started when I had five children under the age of five and as I use them as models to try my clothes on, I had the perfect demographics at home to know what fits best and work out what shapes would adapt best to children’s bodies.
My customers dictate most of what I do. I am very aware of what does well if I meet my customers’ demands so, inevitably they are great source of inspiration. We listen to them daily by writing down all their comments and I incorporate most of those when I design a new collection.
What also helps is the fact that I love fashion and my customers relate to it through the imagery we create which tends to be quite editorial but still quite an accurate reflection of their children’s life.
You’ve just opened your second store – tell us about this and why you choose this location
Indeed! We are thrilled with the opening of our second store in Notting Hill. We have a very big customer base in West London and felt we needed to be closer to them. Notting Hill is a place I love visiting and has become a destination when it comes to children’s fashion so for me, it was an obvious next step for the brand.
What can we expect to see next from La Coqueta -more collaborations/more stores/next season?
We have great plans for the near and long term future. As we grow we feel incredibly proud with the fact that we manage to attract new people to collaborate with who we feel are talented in very different ways. La Coqueta has a small but highly productive, creative and ambitious team. There’s always something on the horizon and our customers love to be surprised so watch this space.