A French Model's Take On Love

"I never believed in the goddess thing,"says Ines de la Fressange, about her emergence as one of France's legendary beauties.

Tall, exquisite, with a perilously delicate frame, the former Chanel supermodel is now a designer and businesswoman, still appearing frequently on television and in magazines. In 1989, at the height of her modeling career, she was chosen as Marianne, the symbol of the French republic, a role in which Brigitte Bardot and Catherine Deneuve preceded her.

"Actresses and models often can't have a balanced emotional life," she says. "When you're sitting in front of a mirror all day, you unavoidably become a little egocentric and also a bit fragile. I was brought up to respect creativity more than anything else. Being a model is everything but creative. While I worked very hard, I wasn't under the impression that I was doing much. It was as if I were going to the casino and winning all the time."

That attitude served her well. Parisians have followed "Ines" through her triumphs and setbacks with affectionate pride—she is known as being infinitely sympathique, natural, and accessible—despite their distrust of anyone with her aristocratic origins. She left the runway in 1990 after a falling-out with Chanel's Karl Lagerfeld, who allegedly was unhappy that his muse had taken the vulgar role of national icon, and perhaps annoyed that there was someone new at the center of her life: Luigi d'Urso, the man who would become her husband.

Ines went on to create her own line of clothing, jewelry and decorative objects for the home, though she had to fight a legal battle to regain control of her own name after the company she designed for expropriated it. Today, as president of Roger Vivier, she is helping designer Bruno Frisoni revive the legendary footwear label, purchased in 2000 by Tod's Group. (Vivier, known as the inventor of the stiletto, made extravagant, sculpted shoes worn by fans ranging from Queen Elizabeth II to John Lennon.) And Ines's floppy "Bobo" (bourgeois bohemian) dolls—mom, dad, and kids—based on sketches she did for her two young daughters, have been a hit in Paris department stores. Their style, she says, is "a step away from the cliché 1950s family." Ines, too, is a mix of the bohemian and the traditional in the way she attempts to balance work, family, and time for herself.