French Fashion Designers

	Chanel herself presented many versions of her childhood, it seems certain though that she was born the second illegitimate daughter of traveling salesman Albert Chanel and his companion Jeanne Devolle in the small city of Saumur, Maine-et-Loire, France. Her parents got married in 1880. When she was only 6, her mother died; and a short time later, her father abandoned the family. Soon after the young Chanel spent seven years in the orphanage of the Catholic monastery of Aubazine, where she learned the trade of a seamstress. After a few affairs with generous wealthy men – a military officer and later an English industrialist – she was able to open a shop in Paris in 1913 selling ladies' hats, and within a year Chanel moved her fashion business to the fashionable Rue Cambon. In 1921, Chanel No. 5 perfume was introduced for the first time by Chanel. The perfume was to be sold worldwide, and the straight lines of its bottle stood out from the other famous perfume bottles of the time. The No. 5 in Chanel No. 5, is said to be Coco's lucky number, however it was actually chosen as it appeared as the fifth sample. Soon after Pierre Wertheimer became her partner in the perfume business in 1924. Wertheimer owned 70% of the company, while Chanel received only 10% and her friend Bader 20%. Oddly enough, Chanel No. 5 porfume became a thorn in Coco's side, as she received very little income from its success. The Wertheimer's family continues to lead the perfume company today. In the late 1950s, Marilyn Monroe announced that Chanel No. 5 was her favourite perfume. And now, a bottle of Chanel No. 5 is sold every 30 seconds. The famous Chanel suit, introduced in 1923, was an elegant suit comprising a knee-length skirt and trim, boxy jacket, traditionally made of woven wool with black trim and gold buttons and worn with large costume-pearl necklaces. Coco Chanel also revieled the little black dress, whose blank-slate versatility allowed it to be worn for day and evening, depending on how it was accessorized. Although unassuming black dresses existed before Chanel but the ones she designed were considered made with the haute couture standards. In 1923, she told Harper's Bazaar that "simplicity is the keynote of all true elegance." The nickname Coco was evidently acquired at La Rotonde, it was there that Chanel, then a cabaret singer, performed a song "Qui qu'a vu Coco," and the name stuck. Many sources state that the nickname "Coco" was given while she was working at a cafe, "Coco" meaning 'little pet'. After a while, Carmel Snow, editor in cheif of Harpers Bazaar persuaded Chanel to go back into fashion and she was set up in business by a paramour, Étienne Balsan, a French textile heir, and her romantic affairs with the artist Paul Iribe, the Duke of Westminster, Grand Duke Dmitri of Russia, and British sportsman Boy Capel all had a huge influence on the stylistic development of her often male-inspired fashions. Coco Chanel always liked minimal accesories, but was often photographed wearing a white Camellia. She never married. For more than 30 years, Gabrielle Chanel made the Hôtel Ritz in Paris her home. During the Nazi occupation of Paris when she was criticized for Antisemitism and homophobia, and for having an affair with Hans Gunther von Dincklage, a Nazi officer who arranged for her to stay in the Hôtel Ritz Paris. He later turned out to be an intelligence agent. She maintained an apartment above her Rue Cambon establishment and also owned Villa La Pausa in the town of Roquebrune on the French Riviera. However, she spent her later years in Lausanne, Switzerland. Chanel died in Paris and is buried there in a tomb surrounded by five stone lions. Chanel has been portrayed on the Broadway stage many times by Katharine Hepburn in a musical by Andre Previn and Alan Jay Lerner, and on screen by the French actress Marie-France Pisier. A new play based on her life, 'Creme de Coco,' is debuting very soon, in April, 2007. The House of Chanel in Paris, now under Karl Lagerfeld, remains one of the top design worldwide houses today.
	Christian Dior (1905 – 1957), was a famous French fashion designer. He was born in Granville, Manche, Normandy, France. Christian Dior was heir to a fertilizer fortune. The family had hopes he would become a diplomat and sent him to Ecole des Sciences Politiques from 1920 to 1925, but Dior only wished to be an artist. After graduating from school he received money from his father so that in 1928 he could open a small art gallery in Paris. Because of his father's compromise for the money, the family name did not appear on the gallery. The walls were decorated with the likes of Pablo Picasso and Max Jacob. During the 1930s Dior made a living by making sketches for Haute Couture Houses. In 1938 he worked with Robert Piquet. In 1945 he designed for Marcel Boussac. Boussac, a man who loved working with fabric, was interested in Diors new idea that involved using lots of layers of extravagant fabrics. In 1947 premiered Christian Dior's first collection, Corolle Line. In just two years he established his main fashion house; Christian Dior New York, Inc. The actual phrase the "New Look" was coined by the famous editor-in-chief of Harpers Bazaar, Carmel Snow. The look was refreshing pens and much more voluptuous than the old style boxy shapes of the recent World War 2 designs. They quote Dior saying "I have designed flower women." His newest look employed fabrics lined predominantly with percale, boned, bustier-style bodices, hip padding, wasp-waisted corsets and petticoats that made his dresses flare out from the waist adding his models a very curvaceous form. The hem of the skirt for example was very flattering on the calves and ankles, giving a unique and beautiful silhouette. First, there was some backlash to Dior's new form because of the amount of fabrics used in one dress or suit, but as soon as the War Time Shortages stopped, opposition ceased. His designs represented consistent classic elegance, underlining the feminine look. Dior's New Look revolutionized women's dress and renewed Paris as the center of the world fashion after World War 2. At this point, being the most prestigious Paris couture house, Dior attracted the most talented assistants. One of them was Pierre Cardin, an Italian-born tailor who was Dior’s favorite assistant in the late 1940s before leaving to begin his own business. The other Dior's favorite was Yves Saint Laurent, a gifted young Algeria-born designer who joined in 1955 as the star graduate of the Chambre Syndicale fashion school. Timid in character as Dior himself, the young Saint Laurent flourished in the feminine trend of the couture house and contributed thirty-five outfits for the autumn season of 1957 collection. When all the fittings for the newest collection were finished, Dior left for a rest cure at his favourite spa town of Montecatini in northern Italy. His tragical death ten days later of a heart attack after choking on a fishbone at dinner shocked the world of fashion. The French newspaper Le Monde described him as a man who was “identified with good taste, the art of living and refined culture that epitomises Paris to the outside world”. Marcel Boussac sent his private plane to Montecatini to bring Dior’s body back to Paris, around 2,500 people attended his funeral including all his staff and famous clients.
	Jean-Paul Gaultier (born April 24, 1952, in Arcueil, Val-de-Marne) is a French fashion designer and past television presenter. Gaultier never received formal training as a designer. Instead, he started sending sketches to famous couture stylists at an early age. Pierre Cardin was impressed by his talent and hired him as an assistant in 1970. His first individual collection was released in 1976 and his characteristic irreverent style dates from 1981, and he has long been known as the enfant terrible (bad boy) of French fashion. Many of Gaultier's following collections have been based on street wear, focusing on popular culture, whereas others, particularly his Haute Couture collections, are very formal yet at the same time unusual and playful. Jean-Paul Gaultier produced sculptured costumes for Madonna during the nineties and has also worked in close collboration with Wolford Hosiery. He promoted the use of skirts, especially kilts on men's wardrobe, and the release of designer collections. Gaultier caused shock by using unconventional models for his exhibitions, like older men and full-figured women, pierced and heavily tattooed models, and by playing with traditional gender roles in the shows. This granted him both criticism and enormous popularity. Gaultier also designed the wardrobe of many motion pictures, including Luc Besson's The Fifth Element, Pedro Almodóvar's Kika, Peter Greenaway's The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover, and Jean-Pierre Jeunet's La Cité des enfants perdus (The City of Lost Children). Madonna's Blond Ambition Tour (including the iconic cone bra) also featured his creations. He currently designs for three collections: his own couture and ready-to-wear lines, as well as the newly relaunched clothing line for Hermès, a French leather goods company well-known for their equestrian background, scarves, and expensive and difficult to obtain handbags. Most recently, Jean-Paul Gaultier designed Madonna's wardrobe for her 2006 Confessions Tour, continuing their long-standing relationship. Gaultier has also designed a number of the costumes and outfits worn by rocker Marilyn Manson, including the outfits for Manson's Golden Age of Grotesque album. He's also well-known for his exhibit in New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art known as Bravehearts - Men in Skirts. Jean-Paul Gaultier is also known for a popular line of perfumes. His first fragrance, Classique, a women's floral-oriental, was introduced in 1993, followed by Le Mâle for men two years later. Both were highly successful, and Le Mâle is now the number-one men's fragrance in the European Union based on sales; it also holds a strong market position in Australia and the United States. His third fragrance, the women's fragrance Fragile, was introduced in 2000; however, it is now in limited distribution due to poor sales. In 2005, the unisex "fragrance for humanity" Gaultier (pronounced Gaultier to the power of two) was launched (except in Canada, where it was launched in January 2006, and the United States, where it was launched in August 2006). A new men's fragrance, Fleur du Male, will be launched worldwide in April 2007. All Jean-Paul Gaultier perfumes are produced under a long-term license by Paris-based Beaute Prestige International, a division of the Japanese company Shiseido that also produces fragrances for Narciso Rodriguez and Issey Miyake. Gaultier also co-presented the first six series of Eurotrash. Gaultier also dabbled with music, releasing the house new-beat hit "How To Do That" in 1989.
	Hermès, founded in 1837 by Thierry Hermès as a saddlery company, the business has been owned by a family member ever since. Today, the house of Hermès produces ready-to-wear fashion, home decor, jewellery, luggage, and fragrances as well as saddles. The company operates boutiques and franchises in 34 countries. Emile-Maurice Hermès, Thierry's successor, shifted the focus of the company at the turn of the 20th century away from the horse and towards plane, car, and train travel. Hermès manufactured trunks, bags, overnight cases, from its signature saddle leather. Emile also purchased the building at Rue Faubourg St.-Honoré 24 in Paris, which still houses the flagship store as well as the workshops. Robert Dumas, the husband of one of Emile's four daughters, introduced Hermès ties, fragrances, and beach towels. His son, Jean-Louis Dumas-Hermès, was the fifth Chairman of Hermès, and led the company from 1978 until January 2006, when he retired. Patrick Thomas, his successor, joined the company in 1989 and is the current CEO. Hermès is still 80 percent family-owned, with the other 20 percent traded on the Paris Bourse since 1993. The current CEO is Patrick Thomas, who replaced Jean-Louis Dumas-Hermès in January 2006. He has been with the company since 1989. Today, leather goods make up 30 percent of the business, clothes 15 percent, and scarves 12 percent. Hermès has a stake in several other companies as well. They own 35% of Jean-Paul Gaultier company, a large share of Leica, and full ownership of shoemaker John Lobb, which was acquired in 1976.
	Louis Vuitton. One hundred and fifty years after its eponymous founder began creating and selling trunks in Paris, Louis Vuitton's signature leathergoods are considered a status symbol around the globe and are highly regarded in the fashion world. The company's iconic Monogram Canvas design can be considered the very first designer label in contemporary history; the design was created in 1896 by Vuitton's son Georges with the intent of preventing counterfeiting. Ironically, Louis Vuitton has become the most counterfeited brand in fashion history with just over 1% of all items branded with the Vuitton logo not counterfeit. The Louis Vuitton company has carefully cultivated a celebrity following and has used famous models and actresses in its marketing campaigns, most recently Uma Thurman and Scarlett Johansson. Other models and actresses who have lent their name to the Louis Vuitton line include Jennifer Lopez, Chloe Sevigny, Christina Ricci, Gisele Bundchen, Kate Moss, and Naomi Campbell. Hayden Christensen has also appeared as model for the company's luggage and prêt-à-porter lines. The company commonly uses print ads in magazines and billboards in cosmopolitan cities. Vuitton bags and purses have a considerable list of celebrity adherents who are frequently seen in tabloid and magazine photographs carrying the brand. Madonna, Lindsay Lohan, Jessica Simpson, Ashley Tisdale, Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie, Angelina Jolie, Anna Kournikova, Pamela Anderson, Katharine McPhee and Carmen Electra with Victoria Beckham are included in this list. The Vuitton collection of bags and purses has also created a cult-like following among consumers. Owners of the bags and accessories often refer to the products as their “Louis.” This cult following by both celebrities and wealthy consumers has elevated the Louis Vuitton brand to the foremost position in accessory design alongside houses such as Gucci, Prada, Fendi, and Hermès.
	Christian Lacroix (May 16, 1951 in Arles, France) is a French fashion designer. In 1981 he started working at Patou, until in 1987 he opened his own couture house. He began putting out ready-to-wear a few years later, with critics commenting that he did not seem to understand the type of clothing the working woman needed. He is known for his theatrical style which came from his work while in the theatre. This usually shows up with his use of colour in the collections he designs. Along with this, he is also known for his 'le pouf' gown (featuring the ball skirt), as well as closing all his haute couture fashion shows with a model dressed up as a bride. He served as the Creative Director for the Italian fashion house Emilio Pucci from 2002-2005. He left on agreeable terms as he and the house believed that since he had other pursuits, it would be unfair to the house to not put in the energy required for future collections along with his other work. Christian Lacroix has designed many dresses for Hollywood stars; amongst them, he is responsible for designing the wedding dress of Grammy award winning Christina Aguilera and was, in the 1990s, famed as being a favourite designer of "Edina Monsoon" in the hit UK sitcom Absolutely Fabulous (for which the house drew dubious credit). He has also been the designer of the new uniform of Air France staff and crew in 2004 and Pyjamas signed by him are handed out to passengers travelling on Air France First Class (L'Espace Premier). His wife's name is Françoise.
	Yves Saint-Laurent (born August 1, 1936 in Oran, Algeria), is a French fashion designer. The son of an insurance-company manager Yves Henri Donat Mathieu Saint Laurent was born on the 1st of August 1936 in Oran, Algeria. Saint Laurent left home at the age of 17 to work for the French designer Christian Dior. Following the death of Dior in 1957, Saint-Laurent at the age of 21 was put in charge of the effort of saving the Dior house from financial ruin. In 1962 Saint-Laurent started his own couture house financed by his lover Pierre Bergé. The couple split romantically in 1976 but remained business partners. Shortly after this success he was conscripted to serve in the French army during the Algerian war of independence. After 20 days the stress of being hazed by fellow soldiers led the fragile Saint Laurent to be institutionalized in a French mental hospital, where he underwent psychiatric treatment, including electroshock therapy, for a nervous breakdown. In the wake of his nervous breakdown, Saint Laurent was released from Dior and started his own label together with Pierre Bergé with the now-famous initials of YSL. During the 1960s and 1970s the firm popularized fashion trends such as the beatnik look, tweed suits, tight pants and tall, thigh-high boots, including the creation of arguably the most famous classic tuxedo suit for women in 1966, Le Smoking suit. Among his muses were Loulou de La Falaise, the daughter of a French marquis and an Anglo-Irish fashion model, Betty Catroux, the half-Brazilian daughter of an American diplomat and wife of a French decorator, Talitha Pol-Getty, who died of drug overdose in 1971, and Catherine Deneuve, the iconic French actress. Ambassador to the couturier during the late 1970s and early 80s was London socialite millionairess Diane Boulting-Casserley Vandelli, making the brand ever more popular amongst the European jet-set and upper classes. In 1993, the Saint-Laurent fashion house was sold to the pharmaceuticals company Sanofi for approximately $600,000,000. In 1999, Gucci bought the YSL brand and Tom Ford designed the ready-to-wear collection while Saint-Laurent designed the haute couture collection. Since his retirement in 1998 Saint-Laurent has become increasingly reclusive and has spent a much of his time at his house in Marrakech, Morocco. In 2001 he was awarded the rank of Commandeur of the Légion d'honneur by French president Jaques Chirac. The following year, dogged by years of poor health, drug abuse, depression, alcoholism, criticisms of YSL designs, and problems with lead designer Tom Ford, Saint-Laurent and Gucci closed the illustrious couture house of YSL. While the house no longer exists, the brand still survives through its parent company Gucci. He also created a museum with his friend Pierre Bergé in Paris to trace the history of the house of YSL, complete with 15,000 objects and 5,000 pieces of clothing. The pret-a-porter line is still being produced under the direction of Stefano Pilati after Tom Ford retired in 2004, while the boxer briefs sold all over the world still carry the brand name.
	Pierre Cardin, born on July 7, 1922, near Venice, Italy, to French parents. In the age of 23 he moved to his ethnical motherland to Paris where he began studying architecture and working with Paquin after the war, then with Schiaparelli until he became head of Christian Dior's tailleure atelier in 1947, but was denied work at Balenciaga. In 1950 he founded his own Pierre Cardin fashion house and began with haute couture in 1953. Pierre Cardin became known in Paris for his avant-garde style and his space age designs with his geometric shapes and motifs, often ignoring the female form. This new Pierre Cardin trend advanced into unisex fashions, sometimes experimental, and not always practical, soon introducing the "bubble dress". It was Cardin, the first couturier to turn to Japan as a high fashion market when he travelled there in 1959. The same year he was expelled from the Chambre Syndicale for launching a ready-to-wear collection for the Printemps department store as the first couturier in Paris, but was soon readmitted. In 1966 however, he did resign from the Chambre Syndicale and now presents his collections in his own venue, the Espace Cardin (opened 1971) in Paris, formerly the Théâtre des Ambassadeurs, near the American Embassy. In Cardin's fashion house Espace Cardin he also promoted new artistic talents, like theater ensembles, musicians, etc. Cardin had a fellow designer, Andrè Oliver, who joined him in 1971 and took responsibility for the haute couture collections in 1987, died in 1993. Pierre Cardin was a member of the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture et du Prêt-à-Porter and of the Maison du Haute Couture from 1953 to 1993. Like many other fashion designers today, Cardin decided in 1994 to show his collection only to selected clients and journalists. He also purchased Maxim's restaurants in 1981 and soon opened branches in New York, London, and Beijing (1983). As well as a chain of Maxim's Hotels are now included in the assets. Cardin has also licenced a wide range of food products under his name. Pierre Cardin owns the ruins of the castle in Lacoste, Vaucluse that was formerly inhabitated by the Marquis de Sade. He has partially renovated the site and regularly organizes theatre festivals and celebrations there.
	Chloé clothing era began when Chloé designed her first dress for one of her friends. the dress appeared so chic that it acquired much appreciation Chloé trademark was not born yet.