Backstage with France’s Queen of Cool
Isabel Marant takes a bow, Photo: Getty Images
She made sneaker wedges a “thing,” turned skinny jeans a cool-girl staple, and crashed H&M’s website with her diffusion line—twice. Now Isabel Marant is making a new fall fashion rule: no more heels.
C’est vrai! At today’s Paris runway show, the designer unveiled 41 new looks paired with flats—creepers, mostly, with animal-print accents and serious silver hardware. Also on board: some ‘80s prom shoulders, black leather miniskirts, and one giant sweater dress that we’ll take right now. (Tonight’s forecast for Eiffel Tower visitors: snow.)
We spoke with Madame Marant after the show to see what’s on deck for trend acolytes everywhere.
Yahoo Style: Emma Watson, Tracee Ellis Ross, and Sienna Miller wear your heels—as does every other cool girl in Hollywood. Why only flats this season?
Isabel Marant: You know, I think it’s so much more comfortable to be in flat shoes than heels, obviously. And I was saying that for me, being stylish is a lot to do with confidence. And confidence comes from being well in your outfits. So if I can choose to be in flats, I’ll always prefer it. And now is the time for all of us to just wear what we like, and look good because we’re being ourselves.
We heard the inspiration for this show was your own girl squad. True?
Oui. The show came out of my early youth. When I was fifteen, I discovered fashion and started to go out. We were playing a lot with our garments. We’d go to the flea markets and come back with huge blazers, like for men, and Victorian blouses, and so many lace dresses. There were many different girls in my crowd—we had like rockabilly girls, punk kids, and it was the beginning of hip hop in France, too. So everyone would mix together, and our styles would, too.
You were going out every night at fifteen?
I wasn’t allowed! But I was very smart and very lucky. I’d pretend I was going to bed, and my parents lived on the first floor of our house and I lived on the third floor. They were too lazy to check and see if I was in bed. And that’s where flat shoes help, too—you can sneak out of the house, or out of a party, or out of work! And nobody can hear you.
Models walk the runway at Isabel Marant, Photo: Getty Images
The punk era and the ‘80s are getting a lot of play on the runways this week. Why do you think that’s happening?
For me, it was a very joyful time, and after what we lived in Paris with the attacks, I wanted the show to be lighter, and to just say, “Okay, let’s just have fun and be with each other.”
You have a lot of fans. How should they wear this collection?
I’m not a super fan of people wearing toes-to-head anything. It looks like a magazine dressed you, right? Do it yourself. That’s the best way.
Until it backfires and there’s proof on Instagram.
No matter how women wear my clothes, I love to see them mix things up. Sometimes I don’t like [how they’ve worn my clothes], but honestly, but I’d still rather people do it their way. I don’t want anyone following what I think you “should” look like. That’s why I refuse to have a muse. I won’t, because I don’t want people copying her. If I did, it would be Serge Gainsbourg. And that’s a guy. So good luck trying to copy that.
Isabel Marant Fall 2016, Photo: Getty Images
You’re a household name in France. Does that mean you’re mobbed by people trying to take selfies with you?
Oh sure. But not really here in Paris. People in France know I’m quite discreet. If I’m going in New York, that’s when they scream, “Oh my god! It’s Isabel Marant!” And I’m like, really?
That must be a trip.
I’m a bit shy. I’m not selling myself, I’m selling my clothes. If I wanted that kind of attention, I would have been an actress.
Where do you have the loudest fan girls?
It is very loud in Brooklyn. [Laughing] The girls there—they are very cool, but many of them are very excited to dress like French girls, I guess. I get the “Oh my god!” thing the most in Brooklyn.
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