Isabel Marant
Designer, Paris

Isabel Marant has been on a mission to push French style beyond the trench coat, one embroidered peasant blouse at a time. Already wildly popular among France’s art and fashion elite, the designer’s signature aesthetic of classic silhouettes mixed with ethnic embellishment is spreading globally as women around the world discover her two lines, Isabel Marant and Etoile. Such cosmopolitanism is fitting, perhaps, for a Parisian whose mother is German and stepmother is from Martinique. Today, Marant lives in Paris’s melting-pot Belleville district: “It’s one of the city’s most diverse neighborhoods, with Vietnamese, Chinese, and North African people residing together.” Despite France’s reputation for parochialism, Marant says her neighborhood is a microcosm of the city. “Paris has always been this way, with the influx of African, Portuguese, and Spanish immigrants that began before World War I and continues to this day.” And while she recognizes the tensions that sometimes arise from such cross-pollination, Marant says it’s unavoidable—indeed, essential: “Today, we’re all connected.” —Alexandra Marshall

Marant’s Paris

Le Balajo Dance Hall “My studio is in the area between the Bastille and République, which used to be the center of furniture and metal craftsmanship. Trendy people have moved in, but you can still find this old-fashioned, working-class dance hall where my father used to go.”

Marché des Enfants Rouges “This is a great covered market near my newest shop, in the Marais. I love to bring my boyfriend and son here; we can order couscous, pizza, and Japanese all in one place.”

Taschen Bookstore “The Rue de Buci, in St.-Germain, has so many lovely bookstores now, mixed in with the art galleries and shops.”

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