Fashion empire founder Simone Zimmermann buys $6.3m digs in Palm Beach

Expect to see Simone Zimmermann join the Palm Beach set this summer following her purchase of a hilltop getaway for $6.3 million.

The four-bedroom house overlooking Pittwater went to auction recently through LJ Hooker Palm Beach’s father and son team David and BJ Edwards, who managed to keep the mystery buyer a well-kept secret until updated settlement records this week revealed Zimmermann’s purchase in a company name.

Zimmermann, long considered the brains behind the international fashion empire she founded with her sister Nicky in 1991 from a stall at the Paddington Markets, is based at North Bondi where she bought for $5.5 million in 2017.

Her North Bondi home on the prized Ben Buckler headland was previously owned by another fashion industry identity Elli Bobrovizki​, former owner of Hound Dog clothing, before he then sold it to businessman Peter Vorilas in 2003 for $2.4 million.

At the time of Zimmermann’s home upgrade four years ago, the US growth equity firm General Atlantic had just bought a stake in the fashion house, fuelling its expansion from the US to Europe’s high-end resort market.

And so it is with Zimmermann’s latest home purchase of an almost 1100-square-metre property coming on the back of recent reports Italian private equity fund Style Capital has bought a stake in the company.

Expect to see arguably Australia’s most prominent global fashion brand expand from recently opened stores in Europe’s resort towns Cannes and Forte Dei Marmi to include their first store in China early next year.