This month, for the WSJ Earn Your Luck series, I’ve interviewed Isabelle d’Ornano, a descendant of Polish princes and Prussian kings, who fled Poland in 1938 with her mother and siblings. Leaving the family masterpieces behind, never to retrieve them after Stalin nationalized her family castles, d’Ornano later co-founded Sisley cosmetics, a globally recognized high-end skincare, makeup, and perfume brand, today employing 5,000 people with 8,049 stores and outlets worldwide.
A descendant of the aristocratic Radziwill line, her uncle, Stanisław, married Jackie Kennedy’s sister, Lee Bouvier. And, yes, for those of you in the media world who knew him, she is the cousin of Anthony Radziwill, an ABC and HBO Producer who died of cancer in 1999 at the age of 40 and 5 days.
D’Ornano goes to the office and swims every day, running the company with her son Philippe and her daughter Christine. Not as important as her professional accomplishments, she is considered by many the most stylish woman in Europe, mostly for her whimsy and flair. Living in one of the most legendary apartments in Paris, I interviewed her about that suitcase in a tent, and about creating a global brand out of thin air.