Isabel Marant: How Politicians Could Learn From Designers

Politicians could learn a lot from the work ethic of fashion designers, says Isabel Marant.

"Sometimes I want to be a politician," she said. "If politicians put the same amount of energy that we put into our collections… I think designers could be great politicians. If I was running my company the same way that my government runs my country, I wouldn't be where I am now. We are trapped into a system where it's difficult to find your own path."

Nonetheless, Marant has always had a very unique identity, revealing her tomboyish, free-spirited bohemian style is something that she developed from an early age. Her sense of relaxed elegance was the accidental by-product of never quite fitting in with (or agreeing with) traditional forms of beauty.

"My mother was a German model, she was super pretty and I was an ugly little girl. No really I was," she laughs. "I had a beautiful brother and everybody would say to him, 'What a nice girl' even though he was a boy and nobody would look at me. I was a tough little girl. In hindsight, I think I had to define myself in some way. So I turned to music and was very influenced by that."

Marant followed music trends rather than fashion trends, becoming a punk, then later still a keen reggae fan. Although she refuses to be drawn into conversation over which of her many fans look the best in her clothes ("I hate having that sort of judgement on people, I think that it's rude"), she loves women who sing rock, citing PJ Harvey and Alison Mosshart.

"They have a roughness and femininity," she said. "There is strength, but also fragility - it's something I incorporate into my work. I want to dress myself every day. I pick up the things I feel good and comfortable in, that give me a certain attitude. I like simple things, not things that show off."

Marant is responsible for having designed some of the industry's most desirable and widely copied pieces - from embroidered trophy jackets and cowboy shirts to flippy skirts and peasant blouses - but, she says, there is no formula to creating cult-worthy items. Rather, she aims to reach that "perfect point" and then there is a eureka moment - the most memorable of which was the season that she conceived those pervasive high-top trainers with a concealed hidden wedge.

"The first thing I did was say, 'Call my lawyer. The whole planet will copy them.' I told my office, 'This is it, you have to do something with this; it's going to be massive,'" she recalled. "I first came up with the idea when I was 11 when I put cork in my shoes to make me look taller. I never liked wearing heels, it was feminine - it was what I hated - but looking taller makes you walk differently, it makes you feel different. But you want to be comfortable; you don't want to be a little woman like that."

The designer says that she initially felt "robbed" by the legions of catwalk copies, but has learnt to accept it ("You can't hold onto that bad energy, you have to move on"), even launching a high-street collaboration with H&M last month. In September, she softly opened her first standalone London store and already the shop is one of the label's best-performing outlets. Expansion of the brand will come slowly, with such a growing empire there is no need to rush.

"I am so involved in everything, it's not just about product - each piece is like a child to me and I want to design it like I would an intricate piece of jewellery," she said. "I put a piece of my soul in everything and hopefully that keeps it unique."