{{short description|French fashion designer (born 1941)}} {{Distinguish|Agnès Buzyn}} {{more footnotes needed|date = July 2013}} {{lowercase title|title=agnès b.}} {{Infobox fashion designer |image=Agnès b..jpg |caption= |name=Agnès Troublé |birth_name=Agnès Andrée Marguerite Troublé |birth_date={{bya|1941}} |birth_place= Versailles, France |death_date= |death_place= |education=École du Louvre |label_name=agnès b. |awards= |website = {{url|http://www.agnesb.com}} |signature=Agnes b logo.svg |}} '''agnès b.''' (born '''Agnès Andrée Marguerite Troublé''', 1941) is a French fashion designer with a namesake fashion label. Her designs are characterized as simple and accessible, and her signature item is the snap cardigan.
She uses her brand to finance art and cinema projects.
==Life and early career== Agnès was born and raised in Versailles, and was one of four children.<ref name="guardian1">{{cite web |last1=O'Hagan |first1=Sean |title=Agnes B |url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2006/feb/19/shopping.fashion |website=The Guardian |access-date=23 January 2026 |date=19 February 2006}}</ref>
Agnès married and had children with Christian Bourgois, who later became a successful book publisher. They separated when Agnès was 20, but she kept the "B" from his surname for her brand.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Myers |first1=Hayley |title=Agnès B: ‘I hate fashion. It’s not interesting.’ |url=https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2025/feb/22/agnes-b-i-hate-fashion-its-not-interesting |website=The Guardian |access-date=23 January 2026 |date=22 February 2025}}</ref>
She began working at {{lang|fr|Elle}} magazine after a fashion editor noticed her personal style and offered her a job.<ref name="guardian1"/> Agnès worked as a junior fashion editor, then pivoted to freelance fashion design.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Nebiolo |first1=Sofia |title=Agnès b. |url=https://www.her-magazine.com/journal/a-conversation-with-agnes-b |website=her. magazine |access-date=23 January 2026 |date=1 June 2021}}</ref>
In 1976, she opened her first boutique in Les Halles.<ref>{{cite web |last1=O’Flaherty |first1=Marc C |title=Breton tops, Basquiat and Bowie: celebrating forty years of Agnès b |url=https://www.ft.com/content/131b5870-4748-11e6-8d68-72e9211e86ab |website=Financial Times |access-date=23 January 2026}}</ref> Agnès was influenced by clothes she'd find at the flea market, and her designs were simple and easy to wear.<ref name="nyt">{{cite web |last1=O’Flaherty |first1=Mark C. |title=The Shop That Changed What We Wear |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/04/style/agnes-b-agnes-trouble-shopping-paris.html |website=The New York Times |access-date=23 January 2026}}</ref>
==Snap cardigan== Agnès designed the snap cardigan in 1979, when she cut up a crewneck with scissors and added snap buttons. It became a "worldwide hit",<ref name="nyt"/> and an "ageless, timeless wardrobe staple from New York to Tokyo to Paris".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Petrarca |first1=Emilia |title=The Favorite Cardigan of Cool Moms Is Making a Comeback |url=https://www.thecut.com/2020/03/agnes-b-snap-cardigan-legacy.html |website=The Cut (publication) |language=en |date=4 March 2020}}</ref>
To celebrate 40 years of the design, Agnès hosted an exhibition titled "Photographers… Artists and the Snap Cardigan", with over 70 photographers taking pictures of the cardigan, including Juergen Teller and filmmakers Jim Jarmusch and David Lynch.
==Expansion== [[File:AgnisB Shanghai Store.jpg|thumb|left|agnès b store in Shanghai]] agnès b. started designing menswear in 1981 after observing men appropriate clothes designed for women. She opened her first international store on Prince Street in New York's SoHo district in 1983. Her enthusiasm for the city stemmed from her love of the American crime film genre, dubbed film noir in France. This interest extended to the store's decor, which included vintage, oversized movie posters. The one-sheets would eventually draw the attention of filmmaker Harmony Korine, who would begin an artistic collaboration with agnès in 1999.
agnès b. launched "Le b." perfume in 1987, a skincare and cosmetics line. Over time, her designs would grow to include maternity wear, shoes, and bags. Additionally, agnès b. has designed watches and eyewear for Seiko and a beauty line for L'Oréal. She has shops in London, Amsterdam, Singapore, Taipei, Tokyo, Hong Kong, and New York with more to open{{when|date=July 2013}} in Beijing and Shanghai.
As of October 2023, agnès b. operates one store in New York City, at 1063 Madison Avenue, which originally opened in 1984, and an online e-boutique.
Agnès Troublé says she wants to set an example with her business and social responsibility: 'To me, there is a consistency between the fact that the clothes are made here and what I am, what I do, what I love to do.'<ref>[http://www.lesperipheriques.org/article.php3?id_article=297 Entretien avec Agnès b., Les Périphériques vous parlent, no. 5] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070310111141/http://www.lesperipheriques.org/article.php3?id_article=297 |date=2007-03-10 }}</ref> She currently supports several associations, including AIDES, ACT UP and Handicap International.
==Gallery and periodical== In 1984, agnès b. opened the Galerie du Jour in Paris, exhibiting Graffiti artists such as A-one, Futura 2000, Henry "Banger" Benvenuti, Sharp, and others; Bazooka, Bad BC, Echo et Mode2, BBC (Bad Boys Crew), Ash, Skki et Jayonedont, Les Tétines Noires, les Frères Ripoulin.<ref>[http://www.fichier-pdf.fr/2010/06/07/9vyxn8c/ Entretien avec Rafael Gray]</ref><ref>[http://www.galeriedujour.com/expositions/0261_graffiti/cp_graffiti_fr.pdf Graffiti, ''Etat des Lieux'', Galerie du Jour, press release, 2009]</ref> The library-gallery on rue du Jour eventually relocated to rue Quincampoix in the 4th arrondissement. A second library-gallery agnès b. then opened in Japan.
The brand also has a periodical on contemporary art called ''Point d'ironie''.<ref>[http://www.lemonde.fr/style/article/2012/08/31/le-point-d-ironie-d-agnes-b_1753278_1575563.html Mariana Reali, ''Le point d'ironie d'Agnès b.'', 31 August 2012, lemonde.fr]</ref>
==Film interests and production company== agnès b. founded a joint film concern with Harmony Korine called ''O'Salvation'', under whose banner Korine began production on ''Mister Lonely'' in London in 2006.
She also designated an entity for personal projects, christened ''Love Streams'', with the blessing of Gena Rowlands, widow of John Cassavetes, who directed the 1984 film of the same name.
Her acts of film patronage include the supplying of completion funds to Gaspar Noé for ''Irréversible'' (2002) and to Claire Denis for ''Trouble Every Day'' (2001), as well as the underwriting of numerous film festivals. She has also directed two documentaries (as Agnès Troublé): ''Une sorte de journal vidéo'' in 2011, and ''Je m'appelle Hmmm....'' in 2013, which entered in competition for the Orizzonti section of the 70th Venice International Film Festival.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.labiennale.org/en/cinema/70th-festival/line-up/off-sel/orizzonti/hmmm.html |title=La Biennale di Venezia, Je m'appelle Hmmm... |work=labiennale.org |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130827030559/http://www.labiennale.org/en/cinema/70th-festival/line-up/off-sel/orizzonti/hmmm.html |archivedate=2013-08-27 |access-date=2018-04-19 }}</ref>
The brand also operated a film production company, ''Love streams productions agnès b.,'' which shuttered a number of years ago.
== Honours == * She was made ''Chevalier'' (Knight) of the Ordre national du Mérite on 21 May 1985,<ref name="jorf19970515"/> and promoted ''Officier'' (Officer) in 1997.<ref name="jorf19970515">{{Cite journal |journal=JORF |volume=1997 |issue=112 |title=ORDRE NATIONAL DU MERITE Décret du 14 mai 1997 |date=1997-05-15 |page=7299 |id=PREX9700000D |url=http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/WAspad/UnTexteDeJorf?numjo=PREX9700000D |archive-url=https://archive.today/20121218043703/http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/WAspad/UnTexteDeJorf?numjo=PREX9700000D |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 18, 2012 |accessdate=2009-03-22 }}</ref>
* She was made ''Chevalier'' (Knight) of the Légion d'honneur in 2000.<ref name="jorf20000423"> {{Cite journal |journal=JORF |volume=2000 |issue=97 |title=Décret du 19 avril 2000 portant promotion et nomination |date=2000-04-23 |page=6213 |id=PREX0004069D |url=http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/WAspad/UnTexteDeJorf?numjo=PREX0004069D |accessdate=2009-03-22 }} </ref>
==Notes== *[http://www.papermag.com/?section=article&parid=1170 "Mother of Reinvention"] by David Hershkovits, ''Paper Magazine'', retrieved April 17, 2006 *[https://web.archive.org/web/20120319134047/http://www.fashionwindows.com/boutiques/agnes_b/default.asp "Agnès B: Film & Fashion"] by Boyd Davis, Fashion Windows website, retrieved April 18, 2006 *[http://www.indexmagazine.com/interviews/agnes_b.shtml agnes b., 2000] interview by Mary Clarke, ''Index Magazine'', retrieved April 17, 2006 *[http://www.vanityfair.com/style/features/2011/09/agnes-b-201109] Liberté, Égalité, Agnès B. by Laura Jacobs, Vanity Fair September 2011
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * {{IMDb name|0044577}}
{{Authority control (arts)}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Agnes B.}} Category:1941 births Category:Living people Category:French fashion designers Category:French film producers Category:French women film producers Category:French environmentalists Category:French women environmentalists Category:Knights of the Legion of Honour Category:Officers of the Ordre national du Mérite Category:High fashion brands Category:People from Versailles Category:French women fashion designers Category:French recipients of the Legion of Honour