agnès b. time after time
From the beginning, agnès b. developed a subtle, chic, and casual style all at once, which helped turn the Parisian into a fashion icon, a "Style, a state of mind." "Clothes, for me, are all about feeling in harmony with yourself to be able to think about something else. They are only a means. If I can help people feel good and attractive, so much better. That's what brings me pleasure."
In 1973, agnès b. registered her brand name. The idea behind the name dates back to the '60s when she was working for ELLE magazine, and one of her articles had to be signed. "I wasn't prepared. […] I said: 'Just put agnès b.,' as they do in news items when they don't use the full name, and then I devised the logo with my handwriting."
1975, The first shop!
“For a long time, I wanted a place where I could show clothes that weren’t exactly styles but very simple clothes and a few pieces that would make them more feminine. I’m very fond of that mix of very simple, slightly rough clothes and things that are softer.”
agnès b. opened her first store in an old butcher’s store in Les Halles in Paris, in the city's central market. At the time, the area was going through a radical change. This first boutique served as both office and workshop, but it was also a focus for expression and encounters: on the walls, there were posters and graffiti, you could sit and chat or listen to music, and birds flew freely around the store.
photo © archives agnès b., 1976
1979, The snap cardigan creation
“I wore white sweatshirts every day and wanted to make them more practical. I cut my sweatshirt with a large pair of scissors without realizing I was creating something!”
photo © archives agnès b., 1979
1980, Opening in New York
116 Prince Street, our first store in New York, was established in 1980 during Soho's industrial era, akin to the Halles in the 1970s. We felt like pioneers, as we did on Rue du Jour in Paris. Our collections quickly caught the attention of American journalists, who were captivated by our unique style reminiscent of Paris.
photo © archives agnès b., 1980
1981, the first children's store
"I'm always between two worlds: the adult's world and the child's world." agnès b. launched her child's brand and her first children's store at 2 Rue du Jour in Paris.
photo © agnès b., 1983
1981, the first men's store
The store in 3 Rue du Jour became the first men's store.
photo © archives agnès b., 1981
1984, Opening of the Galerie du Jour agnès b.
“I wanted to create a gallery to display what I like. It’s called a gallery, but it could be called a place to show behind and beside the scenes, to show paintings, sculptures, and photographs and, each time, at the same time, to try to invent new ways of disseminating the images, to make them accessible to all: drafts, stencils, screen prints, engravings, etc. You will also find exhibitions there held by the galerie. The place is still rough, still a bit like a butcher’s shop. I hope it will become a vibrant place people will want to return to and hang around.” Open since 1984, the Galerie du Jour is a contemporary art gallery that has shown the works of lots of artists.
photo © archives agnès b., 1984
1984, The brand is launched in Japan
The success is immediate. Japonese love the collections and the Aoyama’s store – named the Maison d’Agnès in Paris – is always full.
photo © DR, 1984
1986, “des photographes et le cardigan pression"
In 1986, agnès b. selected 64 photographers, such as Jean-Baptiste Mondino, Gilles Bensimon, Dominique Issermann, and Jeanloup Sieff, to shoot her snaps cardigan. These pictures were also exposed at the Galerie du Jour in 1986.
photo © galerie du jour, 1986
1987, Opening of the first store
in London on the Fulham Road
photo © archives agnès b., 1987
1993, agnès b. voyage, the luggage, and leather goods line is created
In 1993, agnès b. launched her bag’s line. Pure lines and beautiful materials are used for each collection, for women and men.
photo © archives agnès b., 1993
1993, Le Cœur de Sarajevo
In 1993, as soon as the siege began, agnès b. drew a heart more than 20 years ago. Sold in all the agnès b. shops, proceeds were donated to "Première Urgence," an organization that supplied the city's inhabitants with food and drugs. Today, proceeds are inverted by agnès b. endowment fund to benefit the "Reconstruct Bosnia-Herzégovine through Education" association established by General Divjak, who organized the defense of Sarajevo during the war. The organization assists war orphans or war-disabled children in returning to school or university and allows them to participate in educational and leisure activities.
photo © archives agnès b., 1993
1995, Free condoms!
agnès b. decided to offer free condoms in her shops to combat AIDS.
photo © archives agnès b., 1995
1995, The brand arrived in Hong Kong
photo © archives agnès b., circa 2007
1996, “Des photographes et le cardigan pression”
at Beaubourg
photo © Dominique Issermann, 1986
1997, The "point d'ironie"
“Yes, it was my love of art that led me into the adventure of the Point d’Ironie, which we produced between 100,000 and 300,000 copies of, and which is offered all over the world, in galleries, museums, coffee shops, schools, cinemas and “agnès b.” stores to reach the widest possible audience. In the era of electronics, the idea was to offer works on paper, to touch, to read, to frame, file away…” Approximately 4 times a year, agnès b. and Hans Ulrich Obrist give free rein to a guest artist. Made up by the French writer Alcanter de Brahm at the end of the XIXth century, the “Point d’ironie” is a punctuation mark used at the end of sentences (as an exclamation or a question mark) to point to ironic passages in a text.
photo © archives agnès b., 2008
1999, Launch of SPORT b.
This is a mixed collection for young adults, composed of hooded T-shirts in jersey cotton with or without sleeves, sweaters in fleeced jerseys, and accessories… Some garments are easy to wear and comfortable for sport!
photo © Patrick Messina, 2003
agnès b. photography collection is exhibited
at the Centre National de la Photographie (cnp)
photo © Nat Finkelstein, 1968 © Andy Warhol, 1986
2003, agnès b. cinema opened
at the Hong Kong Center
photo © archives agnès b., 2005
2003, Tara Expeditions Foundation
Tara Expeditions is a French non-profit organization that has been active since 2003 in favor of the environment. Tara is a legendary boat built for extreme conditions, the platform for high-level scientific research missions.
photo © archives agnès b., 2007
2004, Les Abattoirs museum in Toulouse
exhibited the private contemporary art
photo © Ulrich Lebeuf, 2004
2006, Collaboration with Veja
A cobranding with agnès b. two years after the creation of Veja. Ethical shoes, some values, and attention paid to the design, materials, and colors: a concept very attractive for agnès b.
photo © archives agnès b., 2006
2006, agnès b. celebrates 30 years at the Olympia in Paris
A big fashion show and a concert were organized at the Olympia in Paris to celebrate the 30 years. Patti Smith, a very close friend, is among the invited guests. She is passionate about music, which is “a real mythology for the young people and impacts their manner of dress.”
photo © archives agnès b., 2006
2009, Creation of Agnès Troublé known as agnès b. endowment fund
Created in 2009, the goal of the agnès b. Endowment Fund is to put agnès b.’s social conscience into action in the fight against social injustice, protecting the environment, and not forgetting her permanent investment in culture and creation.
photo © archives agnès b., 2009
2009, Launch of To b.
To b. a line for the young individuals, the lolita that the stylist loves so much and loves dressing up. “I imagine what I would like to wear at this age.”
photo © Tob Shuashizawa, 2016
2011, Cobranding with Dim
An underwear collection for both women and men has been created in collaboration with the lingerie brand Dim.
photo © agnès b., 2011
2014, Release of “je m'appelle hmmm...”
The first movie directed by Agnès Troublé known as agnès b. "je m'appelle hmmm...(My name is hmmm…)" is a fiction with Douglas Gordon, Lou-Lélia Demerliac, Sylvie Testud, Jacques Bonnaffé, Marie-Christine Barrault, and Jean-Pierre Kalfon. It was released in France and presented at some of the best film festivals in the world.
photo © agnès b., 2014
2014, The singer Jain dressed by agnès b.
For her clip “Come,” Jain chose a black-and-white dress with a little claudine collar, an iconic garment designed by agnès b. Since then, the stylist has regularly dressed the young artist.
photo © DR, 2015
2015, agnès b. at LAM
The modern and contemporary art museum in Lille exhibited artworks from agnès b.’s contemporary art collection.
photo © DR, 2015
2016, Vivre !!
The Musée national de l’histoire de l’immigration exhibited artworks from agnès b.’s contemporary art collection.
photo © DR, 2016
2016, 40 years!
photo © DR, 2016
2016, Launch of the store in Versailles
photo © archives agnès b., 1976
2016, 40 years!
The fashion show presented at the Palais de Tokyo is a tribute to the 40 years of agnès b’s creation. Each silhouette reminds the DNA of the house.
photo © Léonard Bourgois, 2016
2017, La collection Lambert in Avignon exhibited more than 400 artworks from agnès b. art collection
photo © DR, 2016
2018, release of the book “Les années agnès b.“ by Myriam Chopin and Olivier Faron
The "Années agnès b." relives fifty years of French intellectual and artistic history through the singular and unprecedented journey of agnès b.
2019, Femmes Fatales, strong women in fashion
From November 17, 2018 to March 24, 2019, agnès b. silhouettes on the theme of working clothes were exhibited as part of the Femmes Fatales exhibition at the Gemeente Museum in The Hague, alongside other stylists women such as Jeanne Lanvin, Gabrielle Chanel, Rei Kawakubo, Phoebe Philo, Maria Grazia Chiuri… This exhibition will then be presented at the Momu in Antwerp.
photo ©-Petrovsky-&-Ramone, 2019
2019, the opening of a shop located 1 bis rue de Chaillot, Paris
Transforming the former PTT 34 post office, and positioned right across the Galliera Museum and a short distance from the former agnès b. shop on Avenue Pierre I of Serbia, our new shop at 1 bis Rue de Chaillot, Paris, is designed with a clear and intuitive layout, making it easy for you to explore our women's and men’s collections.
2019, the agnès b. rose
During a charity auction to benefit Human Rights Watch, agnès b. gave Rosa Unica the right to give her name to a rose tree… it's how the agnès b. rose was born. A vigorous plant with light green foliage, its color changes depending on the temperature and the light, and its lemon perfume is unusual. agnès b. rose tree will be sold in France in the “agnès b. fleuriste“ stores. agnès b. has created a shirt and a silk scarf with the rose print. Part of the proceeds from the sale of the rose trees will be donated to Human Rights Watch, one of the world's leading international human rights organizations, which investigates in more than 90 countries and denounces abuses for greater dignity, justice, and equality.
2019, release of the book “The snap cardigan“
The book entitled The snap cardigan, published by Editions Assouline in September 2019, retraces the history of this garment and celebrates the 40th anniversary of this piece. Text by Sophie Fontanel, journalist and fashion critic for L'Obs.
2019, the snap cardigan is 40 years old!
To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the creation of her signature Snap cardigan, agnès b. has given carte blanche to over 60 photographers and artists to offer their interpretation of this timeless garment. Young artists from the contemporary scene and established artists working to a single specification: a 40×60 cm photograph whose main subject is the Snap cardigan. The exhibition of these photographies ... PHOTOGRAPHERS ... ARTISTS AND THE SNAP CARDIGAN was held from September 24 to October 19, 2019, at the headquarters of agnès b., 17 rue Dieu, Paris (France). It echoes the first snap cardigan exhibition held at Galerie du Jour as part of Paris Photography Month 1986, two years after the gallery’s opening.To
photo © DAVID LYNCH Cardigan #2, 2019
2019, release of the books "Je chemine avec…" and "Je crois en l'âme..."
In October 2019, the Seuil editions published two books on agnès b., "Je chemine avec… (I walk with…)". Through interviews conducted by Sophie Lhuillier, agnès b. speaks to young people and evokes her trials, achievements, encounters, and the sources of her work and life force. The "Je crois en l'âme... (I believe in the soul...)" by Bayard editions, in which she recounts her spiritual journey, her commitments of all kinds, and her love of art and the artists she supports.
2019, Tokyo: opening of the new agnès b. concept shop in Shibuya!
On 3 floors: Femme, Homme, Voyage lines, Special Collabs, exclusive products… and a café! Friday DJ nights, artist performances, unique product popups, cinema weeks, and customizations on every 2nd Saturday…always something special happening in Shibuya, Tokyo.
2020, the opening of La Fab.
After a first meeting with Jérôme Coumet, mayor of the 13th arrondissement in Paris, agnès b. chose to set up La Fab., a place for all, in an area reinventing itself. This new building includes social housing, designed by Augustin Rosenstiehl, SOA Architects Paris, agnès b. will organize exhibitions from her collection of more than 5,000 artworks. The Galerie du jour agnès b. and the gallery's bookshop, la librairie du jour, will be within the 15,000 sq ft space. Information about our social and united actions and the latest news about Tara Expéditions Foundation, which agnès b. has supported for 12 years, will also be available.
La Fab. 1 place Jean-Michel Basquiat, 75013 Paris