Giles Dufour was born in France in 1946. He initially studied philosophy, afterwards joining the Ecole Superieure des Arts Decoratifs, in Paris. He then went to the United States and studied in New York.

In 1964, at the age of 18 Giles caught the eye of Karl Lagerfeld and under his guidance, an intimate working friendship has developed over the years.

He was initially employed to help Lagerfeld design costumes for a number of late 1960's films. Since then he has had opportunity for his own ideas, as Lagerfeld encouraged him to work on fabric designs for Chloe in the 1970's, the ready-to-wear collections at Fendi throughout the 1980's, and the fur collections for Maximilian for 3 years in New York .

In 1989, ex-dancer Rudolph Nureyev engaged him to design the costumes and sets for Twyla Tharp's ballet "Rules of the game" at the Paris Opera House. One of his sketches for the costumes is shown on the right hand side of the page, and another picture of the ballet itself is shown here on the left hand side of the page.

In 1983, when Lagerfeld took over Chanel, he brought Gilles Dufour with him as Studio Director. He remained there till the late 1990's.

In 1998, Dufour became the ready-to-wear designer at the house of Pierre Balmain, where he remained for two years.

In the year 2000, Dufour created his own label and his witty trompe-l'oeil knits with faux pockets and jokey detailing, naughty knits, sexy sweaters with long extensions to wrap around the body, and little black numbers have been most successful. He called one of his collections "Virgin Suicides". Dufour's collections retail in hip western boutiques like Vivaldi and Language in New York.

Dufour has a niece named Victoire de Castellane, who went with him to Chanel, and is now building her own fashion career.

In April 2002 Dufour took an Asian tour, particularly in Tokyo, Japan, where he has opened a new store Eugenie. He made several TV appearances. His clothes are very popular in Japan.

In early 2002 Giles also created a line of mink jackets and coats, with French fur producer Milady. His white rabbit boleros, trench coats and "pink panther looks" were included in his collections for Fall 2002.

Fall/Winter 2004 ready-to-wear

Gilles Dufour presented a beautiful knitwear Fall collection in Paris during Fashion Week in March 2004. He staged a happening at the Palais de Tokyo to exhibit sophisticated woollies, with delicate flower motifs on sweaters. Serge Weinberg, who works at PPR, joined Gilles in his venture.


2004