Isabel Marant

Born in Boulogne-Billancourt to a French father and German mother, Isabel Marant studied at Studio Bercot in Paris and briefly assisted Marc Ascoli and Yohji Yamamoto before launching her first accessories line Twen in 1989. She founded her eponymous house in 1994 with a debut Paris collection of relaxed, ethnographically inflected ready-to-wear that helped define the French bohemian wardrobe of the 1990s and 2000s. In 1999 she added the diffusion line Isabel Marant Etoile, offering a more casual, denim- and jersey-led counterpart at a more accessible price. The two lines remain the backbone of an independent Paris house known for hidden-wedge sneakers, fringed jackets and a consistently lived-in Parisian femininity.