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.