Look Good Feel Better supporter Chiara Rodoni of ºCoxyº shares her story

Look Good Feel Better® is proud to highlight one of the many
companies who support our program and help give confidence to women with
cancer. Designer handbag company ºCoxyº is a proud supporter of
the Look Good Feel Better program. Here is ºCoxyº founder Chiara Rodoni’s
story of why she supports the program, in her own words:

On the morning of February
22nd 2012, my Mom, Enrica, passed away after a long fight with cancer. The
journey I lived with her, her illness and her agony, has been the most painful
part of my life. But at the same time I received a wonderful gift.

I remember taking my mom to
the chemo treatments, putting healing music in her ears and reading her stories
while she underwent each treatment. I shaved her hair when she started losing
it, then took her to choose her wigs, trying the different ones myself and
putting on a show in the wig store to make her laugh. I took her to beauty and
makeup classes and special healing programs dedicated to women with cancer. I
massaged her body with essential oils and did her nails and makeup, even when
she was stuck in a bed and couldn’t get up anymore because of her illness. I
talked to every doctor I could because I wanted to find the best way to cure
her and make her feel that she would never be alone in her fight. I knew that
the disease was burning her from the inside. But I also knew that everything I
was doing was making her feel happy, beautiful and loved.

The ºCoxyº project wouldn’t
exist today without the help of my mom. She was my greatest fan. She taught me
to put love in everything I do, to believe in myself and pursue my passion and
my dreams. Her life was one of the most wonderful gifts of love I’ve ever had and now, I want to give this love
back.

When I started picturing
and designing one handbag, there was a deep inner voice that was telling me
that I had to reconnect with myself as a woman. I started thinking about all
the women I’ve
met in my life, beginning with the one that I loved the most, my Mom. I wanted
to make a difference, I wanted to create a bag that could talk about the beauty
of being a woman.

That was a big challenge; how could I possibly put all those things into a handbag? So, I asked myself:
what is the most beautiful thing about a woman? Suddenly I had a clear answer.

Yves Saint Laurent once
said: “Rien n’est plus beau qu’un corp nu, le
plus beau vêtement que puisse habiller une femme ce sont les bras de l’homme
qu’elle aime.”
(“Nothing is more beautiful than a naked body. The most beautiful dress a woman
can wear are the arms of the man she loves.”)

That was it! My bag had to
be that body: beautiful and sensual, confident and charismatic. I grabbed my
colors immediately and started tracing the shapes of the ºCoxyº bag, a handbag
that evokes the powerful shape of a woman’s body.

Every time a handbag is
purchased from ºCoxyº, a contribution is made to Look Good Feel Better to benefit women
diagnosed with cancer, helping them to take back their lives, their power and
their beauty, during and after their illness.

BIO

Chiara Rodoni was born in
Milan and raised in Milan and Paris. She began working in the fashion industry
when she was still in high school, and in 2003, she graduated in Fashion Design
at the Istituto Europeo di Design in Milan. Her graduation project, inspired by
Yves Saint Laurent’s
couture, immediately caught the attention of top designers. She began her
fashion career working as a designer for international luxury brands, including
Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana, Gianfranco Ferré, Missoni, Roberto Cavalli, Prada
and Ralph Lauren. Gianfranco Ferré mentored Chiara himself, inspiring her with
his ability to create unique collections that mix fashion with architecture and
design. She has designed ‘ready to wear’,
accessories, handbags and footwear. In 2013 Chiara moved to the USA, creating
and launching her ºCoxyº brand.  She currently lives and works as a designer
and creative consultant in Los Angeles.