Yahoo Finance 
The spectacular life of Net-a-Porter founder Natalie Massanet
Larry Busacca/ Getty Images
Natalie Massanet was named Glamour’s Woman of the Year, has an MBE, and chairs the British Fashion Council.
Natalie Massenet created high-fashion retailer Net-a-Porter at her kitchen table in a flat in Chelsea in 2000. Now, its flagship website has six million unique visitors per month and sells 390 labels in 170 countries. The group runs hugely successful sports, menswear and discounted fashion sites too.
Massenet announced this week that she is leaving the fashion giant, shortly after confirming a merger between Net-a-Porter and Italian online fashion retailer Yoox.
The news came as a surprise to many people, both inside and out of the company, as Massenet had repeatedly made it clear that she intended to stay at Net-a-Porter for a long time. According to Bloomberg, she will leave the Net-a-Porter group with over £100 million ($153 million) following the sale of shares in her company.
During the 15 years since founding Net-a-Porter, Massenet has become a fixture of the fashion industry, and can be counted on to be in the front row of every big catwalk show in the company of countless celebs.
But money and influence aside, Massenet is described as a fun-loving friend and boss who loves her family and has an uncanny ability to recite lines from “When Harry Met Sally” from memory.
Massenet was born in LA to former journalist and film publicist Bob. L Rooney and British model Barbara Jones, who was also a movie stand-in for Sophia Loren.
Instagram Embed:
http://instagram.com/p/pRJic7izTo/embed/
Width: 658px
She spent her early childhood in Paris and moved back to LA at age 12 when her parents divorced. She spent a year in Tokyo as a fashion model and stylist, and was also a receptionist at Universal Studios.
Instagram Embed:
http://instagram.com/p/2RpC65izZN/embed/
Width: 658px
The idea for Net-a-Porter was inspired by Massanet’s journalism career. She started out as a fashion journalist at Women’s Wear Daily in 1991.
Instagram Embed:
http://instagram.com/p/zauyg7izUO/embed/
Width: 658px
She then moved on to Tatler in the UK after meeting her husband, hedge fund manager Arnaud Massenet, and being turned down for a job at Vogue. At Tatler, Massenet worked as editor Isabella Blow’s assistant.
She left Tatler to go freelance in 2008, but never lost her publishing mindset. With Net-a-Porter, Massenet wanted to be able display an outfit in a similar way to how it would look in a magazine, but let people buy it online.
Instagram Embed:
http://instagram.com/p/v8yS4fizTQ/embed/
Width: 658px
Massenet is a self-made success story, and is credited with changing the way designer fashion is sold. She came up with the idea for Net-a-Porter when trying — and failing — to find products for a fashion shoot online.
“People always say to me ‘You’ve strived to redefine retail’ but the reality is I wanted to redefine magazines,” she told the Evening Standard in 2013. “From the start we were always trying to blend the two, to buy [clothes and labels] in the same way a fashion editor would choose them.”
At the beginning, Net-a-Porter was incredibly low key. Massenet raised £1.2 million with the help of her then-husband. Net-a-Porter’s black delivery boxes were stored in her bathroom, and when the company made a sale, staff would shout “kerching!”
At first, designers found selling their clothing online incredibly unappealing. But Massenet persuaded Rolan Mouret to sell his first collection on Net-a-Porter in 2001.
Instagram Embed:
http://instagram.com/p/p87NaTizRB/embed/
Width: 658px
By 2004 the company was profitable. Massanet launched a fashion discount site called The Outnet in 2009, and sold Net-a-Porter to Swiss luxury goods company Richemont in 2010.
Instagram Embed:
http://instagram.com/p/0GGpnlizS_/embed/
Width: 658px
Massenet remained deeply involved in the running of the company as executive chairman and as an investor. The group launched a menswear site, Mr Porter, in 2011.
Instagram Embed:
http://instagram.com/p/xuItoXCzTU/embed/
Width: 658px
Massenet and her husband also divorced that year. They have two daughters, Isabella, 15, and Ava, who is 10.
Instagram Embed:
http://instagram.com/p/1jT2q2izUK/embed/
Width: 658px
Massenet is now in a relationship with Swedish photographer Erik Tortensson.
In early 2014, Massenet launched a print magazine, Porter, with ex-Tatler colleague and former Harper’s Bazaar editor Lucy Yeomans.
Instagram Embed:
http://instagram.com/p/kHcvD3izdC/embed/
Width: 658px
The launch party was, of course, in Paris, and Massenet danced to Beyoncé’s “Crazy in Love” while surrounded by guests including Rihanna, according to The Evening Standard.
Instagram Embed:
http://instagram.com/p/z57_njizX0/embed/
Width: 658px
Far from a fashion ice queen, Massenet is known for making things fun at Net-a-Porter. There are bi-monthly Margarita parties, and the team cut their own hair.
Instagram Embed:
http://instagram.com/p/e7uPvgCzWM/embed/
Width: 658px
Massanet received an MBE for services to the fashion industry in 2009, and took over as chairman of the British Fashion Council in 2013. She was made a Woman of the Year by Glamour in 2013, and has also been named one of Time’s 100 most influential people.
Massenet can usually be found in the front row of every big catwalk show.
And she spends time in the company of celebs…
Instagram Embed:
http://instagram.com/p/pDY6zJCzUj/embed/
Width: 658px
She also visits the Prime Minister at Number 10.
Instagram Embed:
http://instagram.com/p/Vy8YyNCzZV/embed/
Width: 658px
And has even dined with President Obama.
Instagram Embed:
http://instagram.com/p/kTsWgCizR3/embed/
Width: 658px
Tatler editor Kate Reardon once wrote in Vanity Fair that Massenet has an uncanny ability to quote “When Harry Met Sally” by heart.
Instagram Embed:
http://instagram.com/p/kkVY-HCzZ7/embed/
Width: 658px
The news that Massenet is leaving the company she built from scratch has come as a surprise to many. Bloomberg reports that Massenet leaves with over £100 million ($153 million) following the sale of shares in her company.
Instagram Embed:
http://instagram.com/p/WZj46BCzb9/embed/
Width: 658px
The Financial Times reports that the decision is the result of a dispute with Richemont over the value of her company.
Instagram Embed:
http://instagram.com/p/sinI9GCzTJ/embed/
Width: 658px
Massenet sent a long email to Net-a-Porter staff informing them of her decision. She told her staff to strive to be the best, lead, exceed expectations, be smart and stylish, but still service others — which conveniently created the acronym BLESS.
Instagram Embed:
http://instagram.com/p/e71Q8bCzfW/embed/
Width: 658px
Maybe she will now be able to take a well-deserved break.
Instagram Embed:
http://instagram.com/p/ct9CLKizX4/embed/
Width: 658px
The post The spectacular life of Net-a-Porter founder Natalie Massanet appeared first on Business Insider.
