Christian Lacroix
Christian Lacroix is born May 16, 1951 in Arles. He is a high-end French fashion designer.
Christian Lacroix
At a young age, Christian Lacroix began sketching historical costumes and fashions. Lacroix graduated from high school in 1969 and moved to Montpellier, to study Art History at the University of Montpellier. In 1971, he enrolled at the Sorbonne in Paris. While working on a dissertation on dress in French 18th-century painting, Lacroix also pursued a program in museum studies at the École du Louvre. His aspiration during this time was to become a museum curator. It was during this time he met his future wife Françoise Rosenthiel, whom he married in 1974.
His Career
Around the same time, he met Jean-Jacques Picart. Picart was press attache for several haute couture houses and provided aid in gaining Christian Lacroix a job working at Hermès in 1978, where he worked on color schemes and the execution of designs, and then Guy Paulin in 1980. After graduating from the École du Louvre, in 1981 he started working at Jean Patou, where he worked until 1987.
With help from Jean-Jacques Picart, Lacroix managed to put out season after season of popular clothing. Bright colors, luxuriance, and perfection made Lacroix and Picart popular designers of the time.
Later, Lacroix would gain the award for "most influential designer" by the CFDA for foreign designer in January 1987.
Christian Lacroix
Christian Lacroix couture
Christian Lacroix, 20 Years of Haute Couture on the Catwalk.
In 1987 he opened his own couture house. He began putting out ready-to-wear in 1988 drawing inspiration from diverse cultures. Critics commented that he did not seem to understand the type of clothing the working woman needed. In 1989, Lacroix launched jewelry, handbags, shoes, glasses, scarves and ties (along with ready-to-wear). In this same year, he opened boutiques within Paris, Arles, Aix-en-Provence, Toulouse, London, Geneva and Japan.
With his background in historical costume and clothing, Lacroix soon made headlines with his opulent, fantasy creations, including the short puffball skirt ("le pouf"), rose prints, and low décolleté necklines. He quoted widely from other styles—from fashion history (the corset and the crinoline), from folklore -see our Arlesian chapter -, and from many parts of the world—and he mixed his quotations in a topsy-turvy manner. He favored the hot colors of the Mediterranean region, a hodgepodge of patterns, and experimental fabrics, sometimes handwoven in local workshops.