Marie-France Cohen
Marie-France Cohen is a French fashion designer, entrepreneur and philanthropist specializing in creating luxury children's clothing. She co-founded Bonpoint in 1975 with her husband Bernard Cohen, launched the Paris concept store Merci in 2009, and in 2017 founded the décor boutique Démodé.
Biography
Born in March 1944 in Aix-en-Provence into an aristocratic Jewish Sephardic family, the career of Marie-France Goutal in the world of fashion and design begins with the launch of the luxury children's clothing brand Bonpoint in 1975, which she co-founds with her husband, Bernard Cohen, whose last name she takes.In 2003, the fund Edmond de Rothschild Capital Partners acquires 70% of the Bonpoint company.
Following the success of Bonpoint and the funds obtained from the sale of shares to the Rothschild Group, Marie-France Cohen launches another venture, the concept store Merci, in 2009, with the first concept store located in the Marais district of Paris. The store quickly gains popularity for its blend of commercial innovation and social consciousness.
In parallel with the creation of the concept store, Marie-Cohen and Bernard Cohen create the endowment fund "Merci".
After selling Merci, Cohen, with her daughter-in-law Stéphanie Cohen and their friend Elysa Masliah, launches Démodé, a boutique focused on offering sustainable items in interior decoration, advocating an "anti-trend" and "pro-beauty" ethic.
Career
In 1975, Cohen and her husband Bernard opened the first Bonpoint boutique in Paris. In 2003, they sold 70% of the company to Edmond de Rothschild Capital Partners, and in 2007 Bonpoint was acquired by the French luxury group EPI.Cohen founded the concept store Merci in the Marais district of Paris in 2009, linking retail to a charitable endowment fund; contemporary coverage noted that profits supported projects such as schooling and healthcare initiatives in Madagascar. She sold Merci in 2013 to the Gerbi family’s HGD group.
In 2017, Cohen launched Démodé, a home décor boutique and showroom conceived with her daughter-in-law Stéphanie Cohen and their friend Elysa Masliah; the project emphasized an “anti-trend, pro-beauty” ethos and operated both from Cohen’s Paris home and a pop-up at rue de Grenelle.