Which Paris-born designer founded the Lanvin fashion house in 1889?

Jeanne Lanvin founded the Lanvin fashion house in Paris in 1889.

Lanvin began her career as a milliner, opening a hat business on the rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré. Her enterprise expanded dramatically after the birth of her daughter, Marguerite, in 1897. Lanvin made stylish clothes for the child, and wealthy clients soon began requesting similar garments for their own children.

That success led to a children’s-wear department in 1908 and, shortly afterward, a major expansion into women’s fashion. Lanvin formally joined the Syndicat de la Couture in 1909, marking her recognition as a couturière. Her house later added menswear, lingerie, furs, interior decoration and perfume.

A common mix-up is to confuse Lanvin with Coco Chanel or Jeanne Paquin, other influential French fashion figures of the period. Lanvin’s signature legacy was a broad fashion empire rooted in couture, refined color and elaborate embellishment—not merely the millinery shop with which she began.