Women built this brand.
I opened Joy on Coldharbour Lane in Brixton, South London, a few weeks before Christmas in 1999.
Brixton wasn't what it's like now. The street was a long way from polished. The police were a little alarmed that I was opening up and running the shop on my own. It wasn't always easy, and it wasn't always quiet. But I was determined it would work.
And something else was happening too.
Women came in
They thanked me for opening. They told me what they wanted to see on the rails. They told me what they loved, and what they didn't. They shared their stories, their days, their lives.
They became my eyes and ears. They shaped Joy in ways I couldn't have done alone.
Without those women, their honesty, warmth, and support, there simply wouldn't be Joy today.
Still shaped by women
The same spirit still guides what I design now. Our latest new-in pieces reflect that. Unique fabrications, silhouettes fitted on real women. Nothing overdone. Just clothes that make you feel yourself, on your best day.
This brand was built not just by me, but by a community of women who believed in it.
— Maureen
