Julia’s first position was at Givenchy — the beginning of a thirty-year career that took her from Paris to Johannesburg to Munich, and back to Paris again.

After Givenchy she worked at Fouks in Paris, then spent two years in Johannesburg at Peter Jay, where she was responsible for creating and presenting collections. Returning to Europe, she joined Queisser Modelle in Munich — a Ted Lapidus licensee — as Director of Style.

In 1973 she moved back to Paris to join Ted Lapidus Diffusion directly, where she ran the style studio for nearly a decade. She led a team of 25, worked under Ted Lapidus himself, and presented collections to the French and international press, with exhibitions in the USA, UK, and Germany.

From 1982 she took on the role of Product Director for YSL Variation at Mendes, part of the Groupe Cligman — a company that produced ready-to-wear for Yves Saint Laurent, Lanvin, and Cerruti. She defined the YSL Variation line from its launch, working in close collaboration with the house of Yves Saint Laurent on everything from trend direction and fabric selection to the final prototypes.

In 1987, Julia joined Pierre Balmain as Director of Women’s Ready-to-Wear, coordinating the boutique collection and developing its diffusion line. She then spent two years at Caroline Rohmer, overseeing artistic and organisational direction across a production of 350,000 pieces a year.

In 1990, she returned to Balmain — this time as Directrice des Collections. She led the Prêt-à-Porter Femme studio, directed the „Ivoire“ collection originally created by Oscar de la Renta, and created fifteen different collections for twenty-five licensees. It was the culmination of a career built on translating creative vision into clothes that people actually wore.