Marie Seznec Martinez (12 April 1958 – 12 November 2015) was a French stylist, former fashion model and ambassador for Christian Lacroix.
Marie Seznec grew up in Quimper, in southern Brittany, France. Her parents owned a clothing store.[1]
She moved to Paris at age eighteen, where she studied at Studio Berçot fashion school and worked for different designers (mesh collections, accessories, belts, bags).[2] In 1982, she worked as a stylist and model on occasion, when she was noticed by the Marilyn Agency in a publication in the magazine Elle.[3]
At Hermès, she met Christian Lacroix who hired her immediately as a model. In 1987, she became the face of Christian Lacroix. Lacroix said he loves "her sweet side" and that she "acts like a child of the eighteenth century." She signed a contract with Lacroix.
She met Hubert Boukobza, then boss of Bains, with whom she spent three years.[citation needed] On 15 June 1990, she met Jacques Martinez, painter and sculptor. This was a lightning romance with a proposal on the following Friday, and they married soon after in Tourrettes-sur-Loup.
Two years later, Christian Lacroix offered to move her to the high fashion branch. She met some success, hailed among others in the pink pages of Figaro or Madame Figaro,[citation needed] until the closure of high fashion department beginning in December 2009.[5] She then launched her own brand.
Martinez died of cancer Nov. 12, 2015, in Monaco.[2]
