"I don't like when things are perfect."
- Isabel Marant
A child destined for fashion
Isabel Marant is a native Parisian born in 1967, whose origin predestined her for a great career in the fashion world. Her parents were a successful French fashion photographer and a German model who was the director of the famous Elite model agency.
Marant was raised mostly in her father's home, to whom she owes her French taste and temperament. As a little girl, she didn't even know what fashion was, and her dream was to help animals or become a veterinarian. As a child, she spent a lot of time traveling with her cosmopolitan parents to Asia, Africa and the Caribbean, which allowed her to create a unique, multicultural style.
How did her adventure with sewing start?
Marant never liked girly clothes. As a mischievous tomboy, she often sneaked into her father's wardrobe and created her own styles, which were not always approved by school teachers. Her specific taste made shopping in boutiques a real torment - she could never find clothes for girls that she liked. Therefore, at the age of twelve, she asked her father for a sewing machine - and so the fun of designing began in earnest.
Marant did not immediately feel called to work in the fashion world. Initially, the sewing machine allowed her to create grunge creations for herself and her friends. Only after a few years, she realised that designing clothes could be profitable, which is why she started her education in the exclusive clothing design school, Studio Berçot, after high school.
The journey from intern to creator of the Marant brand
After graduating from university in 1987, she interned with Michel Klein. She also left her mark in the collections of brands such as Chloe, Yohji Yamamoto or Martine Sitbon.
After nearly two years of working for others, Marant decided to work under her own name. Looking back, the designer admits:
"I would love to spend another two years in the Chanel or Saint Laurent studios... I love art and the artistic approach to couture, so I regret that I couldn't learn in studios specialising in design and spend more time in them."
In 1990, when she was only 22 years old, her first collection of sweaters, Twen, hit the market, and 4 years later Marant opened her own design studio and the Isabel Marant brand.
The brand's logo is modeled on her childhood signature - hence the characteristic star after the designer's name and surname. She used a similar technique in the I*M Japan collection released in 1998.
Isabel Marant is not afraid to fight for the copyright to her designs. In 2008, she won a lawsuit against Naf Naf, which had copied a dress she designed into their chain stores.
How can Isabel Marant's style be defined?
Marant, as she admits herself, does not want to revolutionize the fashion world and is a designer of ready-to-wear collections. That's why in 1999 she decided to present the world with Isabel Marant Etoile - a clothing brand which, thanks to lower prices, is able to reach a wider audience. She also happily joined the collaboration with the H&M brand, creating a dedicated collection of exclusive street clothes.
Her creations are rebellious, just like her. Her unique style is owed to the multicultural environment in which she was raised: a stylish stepmother from the Caribbean, a German mother who instilled in her a love for ethnic style, and a nanny from France who taught her French nonchalance. Marant's clothes are a mixture of sensuality and French refinement with a tomboy boho style.
Even though she draws inspiration from various sources when creating collections, she never forgets what is most important for her: dressing women not on the runway, but in everyday life.
"When I create a collection, I am its first customer," she says for British Vogue, "I ask myself then if I would want to wear it."
However, Marant didn't stop at creating eccentric casual clothing collections. Her creativity also includes a jewelry collection, shoes, and a line of children's clothing.
