Fashion Windows caught up with Grant for a lengthy conversation and interview on a lovely spring afternoon in Paris.

Just returning to the city of love from a long trip to New York, Grant spoke to Fashion Windows with great ease about his career. In it, he revealed details that proved right who believe that his career in fashion was pre-manifested from the moment of his conception.

FashionWindows: So Martin, tell us about growing up in Australia.

Martin Grant: Well, I grew up in the suburbs. It really wasn’t all that extraordinary. It was kind of like what you see on television. There were lots of trees and lakes. It was my mom and dad, my three sisters and I. Mother was a teacher, and Father was a historian.

FW: When did you realize that you wanted to be a designer?

MG: I was 13. I used to make things for friends. I met a couturier and went to work at her place. She gave me a space in her atelier in which to work. Not too long afterwards, and when I was 18, I received my first article in Australian Vogue.

FW: Do you remember the first garment that you made?

MG: Not really. I know that from the age of 5, I was making things with my grandmother.

But the first dress that I made on my own was my “breakthrough”. I was 13 or 14 years old. Someone had given me a mannequin, and I started stitching and draping fabric onto it. It was an old fabric in black and Bordeaux that I had bought at a flea market. Other parts of it came from my mother’s closet.

FW: At one point, you went back to school. Tell us about it.

MG: When I went back to school, it was to try a new medium. I thought that fashion had become too limited for me. I thought that with art, there would be new depth to my work. But I learned that it was more self-absorbent. One fed the other.

FW: Later upon moving to Paris, you opened your first boutique. And then the likes of Lee Raziwill, Lauren Hutton and Cate Blanchett followed. How does it feel to have such renowned women loving and wearing your clothes?

MG: It feels good. It’s flattering because they all have such great style. They honour me, as an individual and a designer.

FW: How did you meet these women?

MG: Lauren Hutton used to shop in the boutique when she would come to Paris. I never met her, but she would send people to the boutique. They would say that Lauren had sent them.

FW: And Cate Blanchett?

MG: Cate and I don’t really remember how we met for the first time. Her sister knew me and had followed my career from its early days in Australia. She was the one who for sure who “reintroduced” us in Cannes.

Cate has quite a few of my things. She sometimes requests them for shoots because she likes the clothes and more importantly, she feels very comfortable and beautiful in them.

As for Lee Radziwill, I met her through Andre Leon Talley. He recommended me to her. She deliberately went to Barney’s looking for my work based on Andre’s recommendation and liked it.

However, when she later came back to Paris, she couldn’t find it in the shops because I only sell here from my boutique. She called André from whom she got my number and then she called me. She made an appointment, and we got on well together. She loved the fact that I could actually make things in a couture feel but without all of the fittings.

FW: Andre Leon Talley has been a big supporter of yours for years ever since your friend the British journalist, Tobe Rose, introduced you. Tell us about that special relationship.

MG: Andre has encouraged me from the very beginning. He would say to me, ‘You’ve got to show!’

So I finally decided to organise two small shows in my boutique in the Marais, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. For the morning show, some of the top editors came like Plum Sykes and of course, Andre.

FW: Now was that the show that Naomi Campbell did?

MG: Yes.

FW: And just how did that come about?

MG: Well, Andre loved the show and raved about it to some others. After the first show, he called and said that he would be back for the afternoon show and that he would bring some others along too. Naomi was one of those persons that came along. The show had just begun. So when she arrived, she immediately went “backstage” and tried on some things and decided what she wanted to wear.

FW: Wow, that’s some first show!

MG: It was great because I was known, but I wasn’t really known. And when I did the show, people from the street were very curious and especially because they could see Naomi from the boutique windows.

FW: You also design the signature collection for Barney’s. How did that come about?

MG: Plum Sykes had spoken about me to someone she knew. Then one morning when I went into the boutique, I found a business card. It was from Julie Gilhart of Barney’s. I met with her and the rest is history.

FW: With all of the rumours going around about who is going to which fashion houses, I need to ask you if you’d ever interviewed with Givenchy when the hunt was still on for its new artistic director for the haute couture and women’s prêt-à-porter divisions.

MG: It’s funny that you mentioned that because I did indeed interview at Givenchy.

FW: Well, what happened !?!

MG: I interviewed with them and that was it. It was never mentioned in any of the rumour mills. But I also interviewed at Celine to succeed Michael Kors and was offered the position.

FW: What came of it?

MG: I was busy with Barney’s and with my own collection so I had to decline the terms of what LVMH was offering. I didn’t refuse Celine but only the terms of the offer. Later someone else got the job.

FW: Any regrets about that?

MG: None. When things are meant to be, they come true for everyone. But I’ve always been patient, and things always work out for the best.

*Martin Grant is busy travelling the world and designing not only his own collection, but also he continues to design the Barney’s collection. Click here to view his Fall 2005 collection.