Born in Trondheim in 1960, she followed in her father's footsteps, studying architecture until one of her teachers complimented her on the dress she had made for herself, wondering why she did not want to study fashion design. As a result, she abandoned her architecture studies in 1983 and took up design, tailoring and dressmaking. In 1987, she moved to Paris to study fashion design at the avant garde Studio Berçot.
