French fashion and homeware designer Nicole Farhi lives the London life, but her heart still belongs to France. Born in Nice in 1946 of Turkish descent, Farhi has grown her career from the Mediterranean coastal city to the bustling capital of Paris to the rest of the fashion world.

Farhi's career began in Paris, where she moved when she was 18 to study fashion illustration at Studio Bercot. From there she worked as a freelancer for Pierre D'Alby, Bianchini-Férier, Elle and Marie-Claire - illustrating the haute couture collections. At 20 she made the transition to fashion designer when the magazines she was illustrating for asked her to design dresses to be sold as patterns for their readers.

In the 1970s, she moved to London to design for the French Connection label with Stephen Marks. Her working relationship with Marks resulted in a personal relationship and a daughter named Candice. However, she has been married to the British dramatist David Hare (below) since 1993.

Farhi launched a fashion label under her own name in 1983, which now has locations in the UK, Europe, Japan and Hong Kong. "The clothes I was designing for French Connection were too constricting for me," she once said. "They were very successful, but I wanted to design unstructured clothes for women."

Unstructured design is a distinctive feature of Farhi's work, as is the importance of understatement, attention to detail, and subtle colours and textures. "My clothes are for women like me who are active, either because they work or simply live life to the fullest," she said. "The designs are understated but with tremendous style...never boring...and even when it is a fun garment, I like to keep the shape very simple."

This simplicity is a far cry from the designs she started out with at French Connection when she traveled with Marks to India, sourcing complicated fabrics and textiles that were becoming popular at that time. But the move to her own line allowed Farhi to be known in her own right. She was honoured with the British Fashion award (1989) and the British Design Council award (1991), a prize that hadn't been given to a designer in five years.

In the 1990s, business boomed for Farhi. She launched a 20,000-square-foot flagship store in Manhattan, which showcases her signature clothing as well as antique furniture and flea market treasures from Europe, South America and Madagascar. The building that houses it, which dates back to 1901, was once the Copa Cabana nightclub. It is now home to not only the designer's store, but also Nicole's Restaurant and Bar.

Even though she has reigned as one of the most successful designers in the business, collecting an estimated £50 million in 1998 and dressing movie stars, Farhi has remained low-key, driving a 25-year-old Volkswagen Beetle and attending fancy events in a simple pair of jeans. "I want to stop this nonsense of people saying there is a 'revolution' in hemlines or whatever," she told London's Daily Mail. "My advice is - ignore what the fashion magazines are saying. I wear jackets and sweaters that are 10 years old. I'm not worried about what people think. There are pieces in my collection that have been the same for five years."

Perhaps this nonchalance for the traditional lavish splendour of the fashion world can be owed to her youth in Nice. Farhi lived with her family in an apartment at the top of the hill on Boulevard de Cimiez, not far from the Matisse Museum with a wonderful view of the sea. However, the home was modest - Farhi even shared a room with her brother Dany. Like Farhi herself, her mother was a woman who loved things to be functional before fashionable. The apartment was not furnished with a lot of antiques and paintings, but they did have a few modern furniture classics.

From 12 years old, she was constructing her own wardrobes for her dolls to go skiing, dancing or dining. When she was 15 she started going to special art classes, further developing her creative side.

One of the most memorable parts of Farhi's childhood was the amazing holidays that she would embark on with her family. Road trips in Turkey and Greece inspired her appreciation for cultural fabrics and textiles. But vacations close to home were equally special. The family would spend winters skiing in the mountains behind Nice and summers at the beach at the Beau Rivage hotel.

"I loved Nice, especially the cobbled streets of the old town," Farhi said in a recent article in London's Sunday Times. "One of my favourite restaurants was the Safari. My mother knew the owners there, and it served the most wonderful couscous and vegetables. I also loved the Félix Faure café, which is still there today - it is close to the city's most famous square, the Place Massena, where I used to hang out as a young teenager with my brother and friends."

At age 18, Farhi left Nice for Paris and experienced real freedom for the first time. The Paris of 1969 was a truly thrilling place to live. She fell in love with all that the city had to offer: Le Louvre and the Pompidou, walking around the markets. "Even though I moved to London 30 years ago, I feel that I have never really left Paris," she said. "I love it more than any other city in the world."

As for Nice, since her mother and brother still live there, she goes back quite often to visit. On her last few visits she started to notice that the Côte d'Azur had changed a great deal since she was a child. She now prefers to stay in the less touristy area of La Ciotat, a seaside resort close to Marseilles. If you're ever visiting the area, you will likely stumble upon Farhi sitting outside and sketching new designs.

Click here to check out Nicole Farhi's fashion and homeware collections

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