Close-up: Lou Doillon

Fashion is in her genes...and now her jeans are taking fashion by storm

Lou Doillon, the former wild-child daughter of the actress Jane Birkin and the French director Jacques Doillon, has packed more into her 25 years than most do in a lifetime. She made her film debut at five, turned to modelling in her mid-teens and had a baby at 19. And with her distinctive looks, she has been equally at home gracing a Pirelli calendar as she has being a Givenchy muse.

"If I did only one thing, I'd go mad," she says. "Forty-eight hours ago I was on stage in a one-woman show, 24 hours ago I was in Paris at a fashion dinner and today I'm in glamorous Slough at Lee Cooper's offices."

The denim brand came knocking after seeing pieces Doillon had designed for a catalogue firm. "I told them I was a control freak," she says. "I never expected to hear from them again." But hear from them she did, and, unusually for a celebrity-designed range, Doillon's collection has had fashion editors raving. Key pieces are super-high-waisted jeans – some of which go up to the bosom. "I asked people what they look for in jeans and they always say a pretty bum and nice legs. So that is the silhouette I created."

Doillon's childhood was steeped in fashion. "My mother is fashionable without even knowing it, and Charlotte [Gainsbourg, her half-sister] is obsessed with fashion." But Doillon's greatest inspiration was her grandmother, Judy Campbell, an actress and Noël Coward's muse. "She used to dress in amazing Givenchy dresses, and always had an 'emergency kit' to hand: it consisted of a handbag containing lipstick and a bottle of Chanel No5. I'm very lucky. I come from a very, very beautiful family."

Lou Doillon's range is in Harrods from March ( www.leecooper.com)