25 Facts About Isabel Marant

Isabel Marant was born on 12 April 1967 and is a French fashion designer, owner of the eponymous fashion brand.

Isabel Marant won the Award de la Mode, the Whirlpool Award for best female designer, Fashion Designer of the Year at British Glamour's Women of the Year Awards.

Isabel Marant was named Contemporary Designer of the Year at the Elle Style Awards in 2014.

Isabel Marant was born on 12 April 1967 in Boulogne-Billancourt to a French father and German mother.

Isabel Marant's parents divorced when Marant was six and she lived with her father who had remarried.

In childhood, Isabel Marant didn't want to be a designer, she dreamt of becoming a veterinarian when she grew up.

Isabel Marant was raised in the Hauts-de-Seine suburb Neuilly-sur-Seine, refusing to wear dresses and carrying alternative outfits to school in plastic bags.

At the age of 14, Isabel Marant had a haircut like Patti Smith's and wore customised menswear.

At 15, Isabel Marant was crazy about Vivienne Westwood and she did babysitting to be able to buy something at Westwood's Paris shop.

Isabel Marant pursued her studies at the Saint-James high school in Neuilly, then at HEC, before quickly changing direction following the success of the brand "Aller Simple," which she co-founded in 1984 with her friend Christophe Lemaire, a young student.

From 1985 to 1987, Isabel Marant studied fashion at Studio Bercot, a Paris fashion college.

In 1987, after her studies, Isabel Marant worked with Parisian designer Michel Klein.

However, working in other houses was a frustrating experience for her, and soon Isabel Marant decided to continue alone.

In 1998, Isabel Marant opened the first shop on Rue Charonne, in eastern Paris.

In 2004, Isabel Marant launched a childrenswear line and a pop-up boutique in Paris' Printemps department store.

Isabel Marant collaborated with Anthropologie on a collection in 2006.

Isabel Marant has announced the closure of its Tokyo Omotesando and Newman Shinjuku stores.

Isabel Marant collections are based around several simple pieces such as tight and straight trousers; soft and unstructured shirts and blouses; as well as tailored jackets and coats.

Isabel Marant's apparel is often embellished with prints, fringes, embroidery, studs or lace.

Isabel Marant designed hidden heel high-top sneakers that lengthen legs and make feet look tiny remaining comfortable at the same time.

In 2012, Isabel Marant was awarded Fashion Designer of the Year at British Glamour Women of the Year Awards.

In 2014, Isabel Marant was named Contemporary Designer of the Year at the Elle Style Awards in 2014.

In 2008, Isabel Marant won a claim against French fashion chain Naf Naf that was ordered to pay her 75,000 Euros damages for copying a puff-sleeved dress from her autumn-winter 2006 collection.

Isabel Marant's uncredited appropriation of the designs, virtually stitch-for-stitch, aroused the anger of the Mixe people for whom the handmade manufacture of the shirts, and their sale, is an important economic and cultural factor.

The plagiarism issue continued to dog Isabel Marant, being taken up by the UK Guardian newspaper in June 2015 by journalist Naomi Larsson, who reported that yet another design company named Antik Batik had claimed copyright on the disputed garment, and quoted Isabel Marant's office as admitting the design was from Tlahuitoltepec as a defence against the claim.