Martine Sitbon

Martine Sitbon is a Moroccan-born French designer, born in Casablanca in 1951, whose career joins independent Paris fashion with a decisive period at Chloé. The house’s current history dates her appointment as sole artistic director and head designer to 1987, while many biographies use 1988; her last confirmed collections belong to 1991.

At Chloé, Sitbon followed a rapid succession of interim designers and became the first woman given sole artistic control after Gaby Aghion’s ownership. Her collections brought cabaret, nightclub and Belle Époque references into contact with menswear tailoring, chiffon and embroidery. She later developed her own label and Rue du Mail, extending the dark, romantic and rock-inflected language associated with her work.

Sitbon gives romantic clothes friction. Masculine jackets, dandyish trousers, velvet, suspenders and bowler hats establish a tailored frame, while chiffon, ruffles, satin and embroidery introduce movement and vulnerability.

The effect depends on atmosphere without becoming costume. Historical references are filtered through line, casting and surface, producing a nocturnal femininity that can be soft and abrasive at once.