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André Courrèges

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André Courrèges
Courrèges in 1985
Born(1923-03-09)9 March 1923
Pau, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France
Died7 January 2016(2016-01-07) (aged 92)
Neuilly-sur-Seine, France
OccupationFashion designer
Known forSpace-age clothes
LabelCourrèges

André Courrèges (French: [andʁe kuʁɛʒ]; 9 March 1923 – 7 January 2016) was a French fashion designer. He was particularly known for his streamlined 1960s designs influenced by modernism and futurism, exploiting modern technology and new fabrics. Courrèges defined the go-go boot and along with Mary Quant, is one of the designers credited with inventing the miniskirt.

Early life

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Courrèges was born in the city of Pau within the Bearnese region of the Pyrenees.[1] He wanted to pursue design in art school but his father, a butler, disapproved of his passion as he wanted him to be an engineer. Courrèges attended École Nationale des Ponts-et-Chaussées (École des ponts ParisTech).[2] During World War II, he became a pilot for the French Air Force.[3]

Career

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Women's suit set 15, André Courrèges, 1965
Women's suit set 15, André Courrèges, 1965
André Courrèges dress and coat, c. 1966 (RISD Museum)

Early beginnings

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In 1945, at 25, after studying to be a civil engineer, Courrèges went to Paris to work at the fashion house Jeanne Lafaurie.[4] A few months later, he went to work for Cristóbal Balenciaga.[5] Courrèges worked for Balenciaga for 10 years mastering the cut and construction of garments.[6]

Courrèges

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In 1961, Courrèges launched his own fashion house.[5] For the first couple of years of its existence, Courrèges was known for well-tailored suits and dresses with geometric seaming, clean lines,[7] and the standard knee-length hemlines of the time,[8] somewhat like Pierre Cardin of the period. His superbly cut trousers also attracted notice. His designs' style was shaped by Balenciaga, with garments that were well sculpted for women.[9][10]

His clientele were mature and conservative woman with high disposable income.[citation needed]

In 1963, he began to be known for extremely simple, geometric, modern designs, trousers for women, and a predilection for white,[11] including the "little white dress."[5] His slim fall 1963 trousers extended in a clean line onto the top of the foot.[12] Designers that season showed women's boots of all heights for the first time,[13][14] a norm that would continue for at least the next fifteen years. Courrèges's clothes for 1963 were often paired with flat, slim-shafted boots to the lower calf.[15] The white versions attracted particular attention and became known as the Courrèges boot,[16] which evolved into the popular go-go boot.[17][18][19] Boots of this shape would be a staple of his collections for the next two years.

Courrèges would reach a peak of fame and influence with his 1964 and '65 collections, and it is these collections for which he is most remembered.[20][21]

His spring 1964 collection continued to feature his distinctive boots, popularized pantsuits,[22] and brought above-the-knee skirts to Paris haute couture for the first time. White dominated the collection.[23] He presented simple, slightly flaring chemise dresses that hit above the knee, well above the knee when paired with his signature calf-high boots.[24][25] The previous season, fall 1963, almost all designers had shown boots of various heights, but for spring of '64, Courrèges was the only designer to include boots. Their characteristic narrow cut and perfect proportions continued to win praise from the fashion press.[26] Low-heeled pumps were also shown. His trouser outfits attracted the most attention, launching the pantsuit trend that would change societal norms during the decade.[27][28][29] This season, his pants remained narrow but were set on the hip, creased in front, and slit over the instep to maintain a clean, unbroken line. They were paired with simple, well-tailored, geometric-looking coats, jackets, and tunics featuring prominent buttons, low-set martingales, and the pocket flaps that would become one of Courrèges's signature design details.[30] He showed his day clothes with large, tall, mostly brimless, Space Age-looking hats.[31] His trouser emphasis extended into evening, when he also incorporated a lot of bare skin with uncovered backs and openwork lace.[32] These clothes were presented in a traditional, dignified salon showing with classical music and floral perfume.[33]

Courrèges's autumn 1964 collection evolved the fashion industry with modern, futuristic designs that were unheard of during the time. The collection included tailored tunics and trousers which were paired with his version of the miniskirt. "He paired his shorter skirts with white or colored leather, calf-high boots that added a confident flair to the ensemble. This look became one of the most important fashion developments of the decade and was widely copied."[9] Its impact was so transformative that some fashion writers compared it to Christian Dior's 1947 New Look in importance.[34]

Controversy over who created the idea for the miniskirt revolves around Courrèges and Mary Quant. Courrèges explicitly claimed to have invented it, accusing his London rival to the claim, Quant, of merely "commercialising" it.[35] Courrèges presented short skirts (four inches above the knee) in January 1965 for that year's Spring/Summer collection.[36] He had presented "above-the-knee" skirts in the previous year, with his August 1964 haute couture presentation proclaimed the "best show seen so far" for that season by The New York Times.[37] Valerie Steele has stated that Courrèges was designing short skirts as early as 1961, although she champions Quant's claim to have created the miniskirt first as being more convincingly supported by evidence.[35] Others, such as Jess Cartner-Morley of The Guardian explicitly credit Courrèges with having invented the miniskirt.[38] The Independent also stated that "Courreges was the inventor of the miniskirt: at least in his eyes and those of the French fashion fraternity ... The argument came down to high fashion vs street fashion and to France versus Britain – there's no conclusive evidence either way."[1] British Vogue considered John Bates the true inventor of the miniskirt, rather than Courrèges or Quant.[39]

Alongside short skirts, Courrèges was renowned for his trouser suits, cut-out backs and midriffs, all designed for a new type of athletic, active young woman.[36] Steele has described Courrèges's work as a "brilliant couture version of youth fashion."[35] One of Courrèges's most distinctive looks, a knit bodystocking with a gabardine miniskirt slung around the hips, was widely copied and plagiarised, much to his chagrin, and it would be 1967 before he again held a press showing for his work.[36]

Courrèges's favoured materials included plastics such as vinyl and stretch fabrics like Lycra.[5] While he preferred white and silver, he often used flashes of citrus colour,[40] and the predominantly white designs in his August 1964 show were tempered with touches of his signature clear pink, a "bright stinging" green, various shades of brown from dark to pale, and poppy red.[37]

In 1967 Courrèges married Coqueline Barrière, his design assistant. They had met while working together at Balenciaga, and worked together as a husband and wife team for the rest of his life.[40]

In 1968 Courrèges sold a share of his company to L'Oréal in order to finance his expansion, which, by 1972, included 125 boutiques around the world. That year, Courrèges was commissioned to design staff uniforms for the Munich Olympics that year.[40] He began offering menswear in 1973.[40] He also developed fragrances such as Empreinte, Courrèges Homme, Eau de Courrèges, Courrèges Blue, Sweet Courrèges, and Generation Courrèges.[2] In clothing, he remained devoted to the Space Age styles he had established during the 1960s, not changing his characteristic design features even as fashion changed during the 1970s.[41] At the end of the 1970s, Courrèges signed licensing agreements for lines of several garments, from shoes to towels.[2] In 1978 and '79, signs appeared among the avant-garde[42][43] and then mainstream designers[44][45][46] of a sixties revival, and Courrèges reintroduced some of his most famous styles from the mid-sixties, adding more primary color for interest.[47]

In early 1983, Courrèges worked with the Japanese motor company Honda to design special editions of their TACT motor scooter. By 2005, Itokin held the Japanese ready-to-wear license for the Courrèges brand, with a retail value of €50 million.[48] By this point, Coqueline Courrèges had succeeded her husband as artistic director for the brand, Courrèges having retired in 1995 following their successful reclamation of the brand in 1994 despite several ownership changes.[40]

In 1984 Courrèges designed the Peugeot "Courrèges" bicycle, a limited edition model in two colourways – pale blue, and white with pink colour pops, and with matching panniers, chain guard, handlebar grips and mudguards, with Sturmey-Archer hub gears. [49]

In 2011, André and Coqueline Courrèges sold the Courrèges brand for more than 10 million euros ($13.05 million) to two Young & Rubicam advertising executives, Jacques Bungert and Frédéric Torloting.[40][50] By 2012, total revenue for the brand was about 20 million euros.[51]

In 2014, Groupe Artemis, the personal investment vehicle of François-Henri Pinault, purchased a minority stake in Courrège. In 2018 Groupe Artemis became the majority shareholder of the brand.[52] Nicholas di Felice was appointed creative director in September 2020, and has been credited with revitalizing the brand and bringing it back to relevance.[53]

Space design

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Courrège's Spring 1964 collection established his impact on the fashion industry and named him the Space Age designer. The line consisted of "architecturally-sculpted, double-breasted coats with contrasting trim, well-tailored, sleeveless or short-sleeved minidresses with dropped waistlines and detailed welt seaming, and tunics worn with hipster pants".[6] A notable look was the linear minidresses with revolutionary tailoring with cut-out panels that displayed waists, midriffs and backs. Courrège had strong beliefs within the liberation of fashion. He emphasized that "A woman's body must be hard and free, not soft and harnessed. The harness – the girdle and bra – is the chain of the slave."[1] Which is why his cut-out panel garments were worn without bras.

Accessories were inspired by astronauts' equipment such as goggles, helmets and flat boots. White and metallic colour ways were implemented to emphasise the futuristic collection.[54] He utilised unconventional materials such as metal, plastic and PVC which was unusual for couture ateliers.[54] The entire collection was celebrated with British Vogue announced that 1964 was "the year of Courrèges".[54] The New York Times described him as "the brightest blaze of the year" to emphasise the change from the little black dress to the white dress. Designers such as Pierre Cardin and Paco Rabanne took influences towards "future" fashion looks. With new popularity, his designs trickled down to mass production companies that created affordable designs similar to Courrèges.

Later life and death

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Courrèges suffered from Parkinson's disease for the last 30 years of his life.[5] He died on 7 January 2016 aged 92, in Neuilly-sur-Seine outside Paris[3] and was survived by his wife and their daughter.[40]

His death was published in notable media outlets and many designers went to celebrate his life online. President François Hollande went to Twitter to say, "A revolutionary designer, André Courrèges made his mark on haute couture using geometric shapes and new materials."[3] Courrèges was a designer who looked to the future. He predicted the idea of healthy living and toned bodies through his book in 1982. Carla Sozzani, the owner of 10 Corso Como stated that, "It changed the concept of couture, marking the turn of fashion into a new era."[3]

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Andre Courreges, designer who gave the world the miniskirt, dies at 92". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 9 October 2017.
  2. ^ a b c Kellogg, Ann T.; Peterson, Amy T.; Bay, Stefani; Swindell, Natalie (2002). In an influential fashion : an encyclopedia of nineteenth-and twentieth-century fashion designers and retailers who transformed dress. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press. p. 73. ISBN 0-313-31220-6. OCLC 47216469.
  3. ^ a b c d Friedman, Vanessa (2016). "André Courrèges, Fashion Designer Who Redefined Couture, Dies at 92". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 9 October 2017.
  4. ^ Erik Orsenna (2008). Courrèges (in French). Éditions Xavier Barral. p. 228. ISBN 978-2-915173-27-7.
  5. ^ a b c d e Weil, Martin (9 January 2016). "Andre Courrèges, 92, French fashion designer known for miniskirt, dies". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 9 January 2016.
  6. ^ a b "Savannah College of Art and Design". 0-www.bloomsburyfashioncentral.com.library.scad.edu. Retrieved 8 October 2017.[permanent dead link]
  7. ^ Peterson, Patricia (29 July 1963). "Showing by Courreges Hailed in Paris". The New York Times: 13. Retrieved 29 September 2024. He has an unerring sense of proportion. He knows how to cut, and he has taste....
  8. ^ Peterson, Patricia (29 July 1963). "Showing by Courreges Hailed in Paris". The New York Times: 13. Retrieved 29 September 2024. Courrèges has always believed in short skirts. This season they just covered the top of the knee, which made them the shortest skirts shown here to date.
  9. ^ a b "Savannah College of Art and Design". 0-www.bloomsburyfashioncentral.com.library.scad.edu. Retrieved 8 October 2017.[permanent dead link]
  10. ^ Mulvagh, Jane (1988). "1961". Vogue History of 20th Century Fashion. London, England: Viking, the Penguin Group. p. 267. ISBN 0-670-80172-0. Courrèges had broken away from Balenciaga, but his style echoed Balenciaga's clean lines.
  11. ^ Peterson, Patricia (29 July 1963). "Showing by Courreges Hailed in Paris". The New York Times: 13. Retrieved 29 September 2024. He showed white for town, for evening and for country....[H]is extraordinary tweeds were woven with white or shown over white dresses.
  12. ^ Peterson, Patricia (29 July 1963). "Showing by Courreges Hailed in Paris". The New York Times: 13. Retrieved 29 September 2024. The pants...covered the tops of shoes like spats.
  13. ^ Howell, Georgina (1978). In Vogue. London: Penguin. p. 280. ISBN 0-14-004955-X.
  14. ^ "Boots Take Over: For Every Weather, Total Chic", Vogue, p. 46, August 1963
  15. ^ Peterson, Patricia (29 July 1963). "Showing by Courreges Hailed in Paris". The New York Times: 13. Retrieved 29 September 2024. ...[H]is [boots] were a new length. They hit at mid-calf, like those worn by majorettes. He showed them in glistening white, black reptile and leather...
  16. ^ Mulvagh, Jane (1988). "1963". Vogue History of 20th Century Fashion. London, England: Viking, The Penguin Group. p. 274. ISBN 0-670-80172-0. Paris raved about white kidskin boots from Courrèges...
  17. ^ O'Keeffe, Linda (2014). "The Shoe that left an Imprint: The Go-Go Boot". Shoes: A Celebration of Pumps, Sandals, Slippers & More. Workman Publishing. pp. 338–339. ISBN 978-0761173434.
  18. ^ Cumming, Valerie; Cunnington, C. W.; Cunnington, P. E. (2010). The dictionary of fashion history. Oxford: Berg. p. 108. ISBN 9781847887382.
  19. ^ O'Hara, Georgina (1986). The encyclopaedia of fashion. New York: H. N. Abrams. p. 79. ISBN 9780810908826.
  20. ^ Duka, John (8 September 1981). "A Farsighted Man of Fashion". The New York Times: C6. Without hesitation, [fashion historian Robert Riley] answers that the most influential designers were Chanel, Dior and Courreges, because 'each of them epitomized at one point in time a really changed point of view'.
  21. ^ Morris, Bernadine (15 October 1972). "The Man Who Made the "Rag Business" Respectable". The New York Times: SM88. [When asked,] 'Which designers do you admire?' [fashion designer Norman Norell answered:]...'There is Mme. Gres, of course....And in the old days, there were Vionnet, Chanel and Balenciaga...Courreges....He did change fashion for a while'.
  22. ^ Taylor, Angela (20 August 1964). "Pants Suits for the City Stir Debate". The New York Times: 32. Will women give up skirts for pants in town, as André Courrèges...has been saying for over a year?...[T]wo...secretaries...shopping for slacks at a department store last week...both loved the idea of the pants suit as done by Courrèges...
  23. ^ Peterson, Patricia (3 February 1964). "Courreges Stresses Modern Look; Simonetta and Fabiani Play Up Softness". The New York Times: 20. André Courrèges...showed a beautiful, almost all‐white collection.
  24. ^ Taylor, Angela (1 January 1965). "1964 – The Year When Everyone Had Fun with Fashion". The New York Times: 23. For the first time in many years, the widely copied fashion 'Ford' was not a Chanel suit but Courreges's neat little chemise dress,...copied in everything from leather to knit.
  25. ^ Peterson, Patricia (3 February 1964). "Courreges Stresses Modern Look; Simonetta and Fabiani Play Up Softness". The New York Times: 20. André Courrèges...firmly believes in...above‐the‐knee skirts...His skirts are...way above the knee...when worn with boots,...longer, although they still expose the knee, when worn with low‐heeled pumps....Dresses were outstanding because they were uncomplicated. They were chemises with short or the barest of sleeves.
  26. ^ Peterson, Patricia (3 February 1964). "Courreges Stresses Modern Look; Simonetta and Fabiani Play Up Softness". The New York Times: 20. André Courrèges...firmly believes in...smooth, mid‐calf boots....Courreges...is the only one in Paris to show boots for spring....
  27. ^ Peterson, Patricia (3 February 1964). "Courreges Stresses Modern Look; Simonetta and Fabiani Play Up Softness". The New York Times: 20. André Courrèges thinks modern. He firmly believes in pants‐suits for town....[H]e said..., 'Women don't wear pants to the office yet, but they will.'...The show...started with...pantsuits.
  28. ^ Peterson, Patricia (16 January 1964). "Paris Notes: The Trends for Spring". The New York Times: 32. Courrèges will continue to show pants...In his attempt to bring the couture into line with life, he believes that pants...make more sense for driving a car than a narrow skirt.
  29. ^ Peterson, Patricia (7 August 1964). "This is the Look from the French Couture for Fall, '64". The New York Times: 32. Paris has finally approved of the pants suit, first started by Andre Courrèges in his spring collection....
  30. ^ Peterson, Patricia (3 February 1964). "Courreges Stresses Modern Look; Simonetta and Fabiani Play Up Softness". The New York Times: 20. The Courrèges polo coat in camel hair...is slender through the body with low back vents and white leather buttons....Rows of buttons, usually white ones, pairs of pockets and martingales were the only details on impeccably tailored suits....Courrèges's newest jacket...bloused in the back with short sleeves.
  31. ^ Peterson, Patricia (3 February 1964). "Courreges Stresses Modern Look; Simonetta and Fabiani Play Up Softness". The New York Times: 20. Worn with this were...huge...hats...
  32. ^ Peterson, Patricia (3 February 1964). "Courreges Stresses Modern Look; Simonetta and Fabiani Play Up Softness". The New York Times: 20. A model entered the room demurely covered up in crunchy white lace. When she turned around, her tunic swung open from a satin‐bow closing at the neck and bared her back down to a matching bow on low-slung pants.
  33. ^ Peterson, Patricia (3 February 1964). "Courreges Stresses Modern Look; Simonetta and Fabiani Play Up Softness". The New York Times: 20. He showed it with dignity to the sound of classical guitar in a salon that faintly smelled of hyacinth.
  34. ^ Sweetinburgh, Thelma. "Fashion and Dress". 1966 Britannica Book of the Year: Events of 1965. Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. pp. 296–297. The most important influence on world fashion during 1965 came from...André Courrèges. For its far-reaching repercussions, his widely publicized...collection could only be compared with the Christian Dior 'New Look,' which revolutionized world fashion overnight in 1947.
  35. ^ a b c Steele, Valerie (2000). Fifty years of fashion : new look to now (English ed.). New Haven: Yale University Press. pp. 51–64. ISBN 9780300087383.
  36. ^ a b c Polan, Brenda; Tredre, Roger (2009). "André Courrèges". The great fashion designers (English ed.). Oxford: Berg Publishers. pp. 123–125. ISBN 9780857851741.
  37. ^ a b Peterson, Patricia (3 August 1964). "Courrèges Is Star of Best Show Seen So Far". The New York Times. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
  38. ^ Cartner-Morley, Jess (2 December 2000). "Chelsea girl who instigated a new era". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 July 2012.
  39. ^ Garments worn by Marit Allen at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London. Accessed 15 March 2010
  40. ^ a b c d e f g Friedman, Vanessa (8 January 2016). "André Courrèges, Fashion Designer Who Redefined Couture, Dies at 92". The New York Times. p. A15.
  41. ^ Morris, Bernadine (28 January 1976). "To Courrèges, It's Always 1963". The New York Times: 52. Retrieved 23 January 2022. ...[F]ashion went on to wild and woolier things and Courrèges didn't change his game. Not when hemlines dropped to practically the ankles. Not when stiffness and linings were banished from clothes. To him, it was always 1963. It still is.
  42. ^ Hyde, Nina (8 December 1979). "A Bath House Turned Disco". The Washington Post. Retrieved 9 February 2024. ...[T]he nouvelle vague [New Wave] crowd dressed a la...1960s...One girl...wears a Courreges mini with short, white Courreges boots.
  43. ^ Owen, Morfudd (26 January 2019). "Going Underground: Mod Revival Fanzines – In Pictures". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 July 2024.
  44. ^ Morris, Bernadine (13 April 1979). "French Ready-to-Wear: The Ever-Changing Message". The New York Times: A12. Retrieved 17 May 2023. Ready‐to-wear designers...are busily repeating such successes of the 1960s as the knitted shift and the miniskirt.
  45. ^ Hyde, Nina S. (13 October 1979). "Knee Highs". The Washington Post. Retrieved 4 April 2022. Some Paris designers have taken...a backward glance at the 1960s. What they have come up with for the opening ready-to-wear showings of 1980s hot-weather fashions are skinny miniskirts and other styles spun off from the 1960s fashions of Courreges, Rudi Gernreich and Paco Rabanne....France Andrevie...must have researched the short-cropped, tube-shaped dresses of Rudi Gernreich, the minis of Courreges and the vinyl and metallic hinged designs of Paco Rabanne...
  46. ^ Donovan, Carrie (28 October 1979). "Fashion". The New York Times: SM21. ...Karl Lagerfeld's new minidress smacked of Courrèges revisited.
  47. ^ Morris, Bernadine (31 January 1979). "The Shape of Suits to Come". The New York Times: C10. There...was André Courrèges,...returning to the pure, architectural style that set the mood for clothes in 1963....The calf‐high boots, the above-the-knee hemlines, the no‐waistline shapes. Instead of being mostly in white, they now combined primary colors — blue, red and yellow — with white...
  48. ^ Chevalier, Michel (2012). Luxury Brand Management. Singapore: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-1-118-17176-9.
  49. ^ "Peugeot Courrèges bike -1984".
  50. ^ Alexandria Sage (24 January 2012), French brand Courreges takes retro fashion online Reuters.
  51. ^ Alexandria Sage (24 January 2012), French brand Courreges takes retro fashion online Reuters.
  52. ^ "Our Investments: Courrège". Groupe Artemis. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
  53. ^ "Nicholas di Felice". Business of Fashion. 2023. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
  54. ^ a b c Reed, Paula (2012). Fifty Fashion Looks That Changed The 1960s. London: Conran Octopus. p. 30. ISBN 978-1-84091604-1.
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