Français 1 – Unité 7

LES COUTURIERS FRANÇAIS

• Yves Henri Donat Mathieu-Saint-Laurent, known as Yves Saint Laurent, August 1, 1936 – June 1, 2008), was a French fashion designer, and is regarded as one of the greatest names in fashion history. In 1985, Caroline Rennolds Milbank wrote, "The most consistently celebrated and influential designer of the past twenty-five years, Yves Saint Laurent can be credited with both spurring the couture's rise from its sixties ashes and with finally rendering ready-to-wear reputable." He is also credited with having introduced the tuxedo suit for women and was known for his use of non-European cultural references, and non-White models.

YVES SAINT LAURENT

• Louis Vuitton Malletier, commonly referred to as Louis Vuitton, or shortened to LV, is a French fashion house founded in 1854 by Louis Vuitton. The label's LV monogram appears on most of its products, ranging from luxury trunks and leather goods to ready-to-wear, shoes, watches, jewelry, accessories, sunglasses, and books. Louis Vuitton is one of the world's leading international fashion houses; it sells its products through standalone boutiques, lease departments in high-end department stores, and through the e-commerce section of its website. For six consecutive years (2006–2012) Louis Vuitton has been named the world's most valuable luxury brand. Its 2012 valuation is 25.9 billion USD.

LOUIS VUITTON

• Christian Marie Marc Lacroix; born 16 May 1951 is a French fashion designer. The name may also refer to the company he founded.

CHRISTIAN LACROIX

• Jean René Lacoste (July 2, 1904 - October 12, 1996) was a French tennis player and businessman. He was nicknamed "the Crocodile" by fans because of his tenacity on the court; he is also known worldwide as the creator of the Lacoste tennis shirt, which he introduced in 1929.

• Lacoste was one of The Four Musketeers with Jean Borotra, Jacques Brugnon, and Henri Cochet, French tennis stars who dominated the game in the 1920s and early 1930s. He won seven Grand Slam singles titles in the French, American, and British championships but never made the long trip to Australia to play in their championships. He was the World No. 1 player for both 1926 and 1927.

RENÉ LACOSTE

• Jean Paul Gaultier, born 24th Of April 1952 in Arcueil, Val-de-Marne, France is a French haute couture and Pret-a-Porter fashion designer. Gaultier was the creative director of Hermès from 2003 to 2010. In the past, he has hosted the television series Eurotrash.

JEAN-PAUL GAULTIER

• Gabrielle "Coco" Bonheur Chanel (August 19, 1883 – January 10, 1971) was a French fashion designer and founder of the Chanel brand. She was the only fashion designer to appear on Time magazine's list of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century. Along with Paul Poiret, Chanel was credited with liberating women from the constraints of the "corseted silhouette" and popularizing the acceptance of a sportive, casual chic as the feminine standard in the post-World War I era. A prolific fashion creator, Chanel's influence extended beyond couture clothing.

COCO CHANEL

• Christian Dior (21 January 1905 – 23 October 1957) was a French fashion designer, best known as the founder of one of the world's top fashion houses, also called Christian Dior.

CHRISTIAN DIOR

• Pierre Cardin, born Pietro Cardin, is an Italian-born French fashion designer who was born on 7 July 1922, at San Biagio di Callalta near Treviso.

• Cardin was known for his avant-garde style and his Space Age designs. He prefers geometric shapes and motifs, often ignoring the female form. He advanced into unisex fashions, sometimes experimental, and not always practical. He introduced the "bubble dress" in 1954.

PIERRE CARDIN

• Maria Nielli was born in Turin, Italy in 1883, she moved to Florence, Italy with her family at age 5 and then to France in 1895 at age 12. She was nicknamed Nina. At the age of 13, she began an apprenticeship at a dressmaker's. She continued to pursue her love of fashion throughout her teenage years. She married an Italian jeweler and composer Luigi Ricci in 1904, thus becoming Maria Ricci. They had a child named Robert. In 1908 Nina joined the house of Raffin as a designer and remained there for 20 years. She became Raffin's partner, and then moved on to create her own design house in 1932.

NINA RICCI

• Count Hubert James Marcel Taffin de Givenchy, born 21 February 1927) is a French aristocrat and fashion designer who founded The House of Givenchy in 1952. He is famous for having designed much of the personal and professional wardrobe of Audrey Hepburn, as well as clothing for clients such as Jacqueline Kennedy. He was named to the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame in 1970.

HUBERT DE GIVENCHY

• Jeanne-Marie Lanvin, 1 January 1867, Paris – 6 July 1946, Paris) was a French fashion designer and the founder of the Lanvin fashion house.

• One of the most influential designers of the 1920s and '30s, Jeanne Lanvin's skillful use of intricate trimmings, virtuoso embroideries and beaded decorations in clear, light, floral colors became a Lanvin trademark. When Lanvin died in 1946, ownership of the firm was naturally ceded to the designer's daughter, Marguerite di Pietro.

JEANNE LANVIN

• André Courrèges, born 9 March 1923 in Pau) is a French fashion designer, known for his ultra-modern designs. At the age of 25, after studying to be a civil engineer, he went to Paris to work at the Jeanne Lafaurie fashion design house. A few months later he went over to Balenciaga, the renowned Spanish designer.

• Both Courrèges and Mary Quant lay claim to the invention of the miniskirt.

ANDRÉ COURRÈGES

• Francisco "Paco" Rabaneda Cuervo, more commonly known as Paco Rabanne (born 18 February 1934) is a Spanish fashion designer. He fled Spain for France with his mother when the Spanish Civil War broke out. He originally had an architect's education but became known as l'enfant terrible of the French fashion world in the 1960s.

PACO RABANNE

• Emanuel (Maffeolit) Ungaro (born 13 February 1933) is a French fashion designer.

EMANUEL UNGARO