Website: www.christian-lacroix.com
www,christian-lacroix.fr
Christian Lacroix is one of the most influential and colourful couturiers in the world, who is known as the "man with the magic paintbrush" because of his ability to mix astounding colours together.
Christian Lacroix was born in 1951, in the Arles region of South France. He was the adored son of a family of engineers. His father and grandmother were very fashion minded.
From 1970 to 1972 he studied art at the Paul Valery University, in Montpelier followed by the Sorbonne in Paris. He was interested in the cinema and now has total recall of films and cine-dress, as well as fashion crazes of the time. In 1972, he enrolled for History of Art, at the Sorbonne University, Paris. After graduation, during the 70's, he worked as a free-lance shoe designer, an accessory designer for Hermes, and as a design assistant for Guy Paulin.
In 1974 he married Francoise Rosenthiel.
He started his career as a fashion sketcher and worked as an assistant at Hermes.
In 1981 he joined Jean Patou through Jean de Mouy. Patou was a dusty name at that time, and he completely revamped the company, tripling the sales.
One of Lacroix's favourite models is Marie Seznec. She has a very youthful face, but prematurely grey hair. The effect is startling. Lacroix found that his garments were shown to great enthusiasm when she wore them. So she has become the face of Lacroix throughout the 80's. Click here to read about Marie Seznec
In 1986 Lacroix was awarded the "De d'or" (golden
thimble) for his couture collection by the Paris couture authorities. In 1987 he received the Oscar for the Best
Foreign Designer from the Council of Fashion Designers,
of America.
In 1987 Lacroix left Patou, and started his own salon.
He presented his first collection, sponsored by the
Agache Co . Ltd. This was the first new Haute Couture
Salon to be opened in Paris in two decades.
Throughout the late 80's Lacroix took inspiration from the exuberant brushwork and modernistic colour of artists, to design the clothes for his collections. In 1988 he was awarded his second Golden Thimble. In 1989 he launched his first Pre-a-Porter collection. In 1990 Christian Lacroix launched his perfume "C'est La Vie" at a gala launching party. 1989-1990 Lacroix introduced his "Luxe" line. From 1990 onwards Lacroix introduced a complete range of accessories, including footwear, eyewear, hats, handbags, jewellery, scarves, and belts.
He takes inspiration from the Orient, Medieval tunics and
gowns, Military uniforms of the Napoleonic period as well
as costumes from Outer Mongolian peasants.
In 1995 Lacroix opened his new BAZAR line of youthful, funky casualwear. This was a great success. In the same year, he introduced his home furnishings and household articles line.
Diana, Princess of Wales, wore a Lacroix red satin creation, on a visit to Paris. It was reported that she and Christian Lacroix, were friends who shared an interest in astrology.
Lacroix Style
Colours :
He likes to use very bright colour combinations.
His palette includes such colours as Magenta,
Bright Pinks, Orange, Yellow, Reds, Blues and
Greens, all sometimes in one outfit. His designs
are easily recognizable because of their
colourful nature. In this he was influenced
by the sun of his native Province.
Silhouette :
He mainly uses trapezium and pyramid shapes,
and thus the ultimate garment turns out to be long, loose
and breezy. The look is predominately layered.
Embellishments :
He uses a lot of flowers to accentuate necklines, or hats,
he uses ruffles, frills, and laces. He feels that embroidery
is an integral part of couture, and he uses it lavishly. His
embroidered patterns often imitate historic Spanish
costume. He often incorporates gems into his embroideries, which are mostly made by renowned embroiderer francois Lesage.
Fabrics :
He likes to use wool, mohair knit, leather,
tweed, cottons, velvets, tartans, tapestry,
crepe, satins, lame and printed fabrics.
Accessories :
He accompanies his designs, with such
accessories as chunky jewellery, felt and
leopard skin hats, patchwork capes,
hoods, embroidered berets, fringed or
striped scarves, studded or fringed belts,
embroidered gloves, long necklaces,
orange or gold boots, bejewelled crosses
either hanging or incorporated into the
embroidery design.
HIS CONTRIBUTION TO FASHION
His bright palette and extravagant use
of colour and fabric, have changed the
otherwise rather darker, duller fashion
trends of the time. He provided a cheery
alternative to the sedate somber elegant
creations of other couturiers.
Today :
Christian Lacroix showed that he too can be high-tech, getting his inspiration from computer-generated geometrics for prints in the Spring 2001 collection. He even created the client look list pixel by pixel, literally, using a computer.
Ready-to-Wear
During the Paris Fashion Week in October 2002, Christian Lacroix invited his friends to an intimate dinner, instead of a show. He showed pieces from his signature jeans and Bazaar lines and some vintage couture gowns. Everything shown proved that Lacroix is a versatile modern master.
This is one of the outfits shown that evening.
Christian Lacroix has had a very successful year. He received the coveted Legion d'Honneur. He was commissioned by Air France to redesign their uniforms, and is probably going to create the new decor the the high-speed train the TGV.
Lacroix also showed his first collection for the wonderful Italian house of Pucci, to great success.
Click here for more details of Pucci.
Haute Couture - Spring 2003
In Paris in January 2003, Christian Lacroix celebrated his 15 years in fashion, by a splendid 18th century theme show that understood the French approach to eroticism, the graceful charm that bubbles subtly beneath the surface.
Intricate brocades of seuins glittered throughout, while the interweaving of textures and prints led to a virtual tapestry of colour. This was the strongest collection ever presented by Lacroix.
Another surprise - for the first time ever, black appeared in a Lacroix show.
Fall/Winter 2003 - Ready-to-Wear
During the Paris Fashion Week in March 2003, Christian Lacroix presented a ready-to-wear collection where the world's problems seemed far away and offered the sheer elegance of Haute Coture but on an accessible scale.
With everytghing from jeans to silk prints, his collection was modern at heart, but steeped with 18th century charm. The picture on the left is from the Fall 2003 collection.
Other Activities
Christian Lacroix has been chosen by the French National Railway to recreate the interiors of 183 cars of the High Speed trains. They are bursting with colour, the seats are cherry red, apple green and dove gray.
The rich pallete and designs give a haute couture finish to the train.
Another Lacroix project is taking off at Air France where uniforms for the crew designed by him are set to be worn from June 2003 onwards. They perfectly match the elegant image sought by the airline. The basic colour is navy blue and there will be a choice of garments for both men and women.
The Lacroix Lingerie line is soon to appear for Spring/Summer 2004. In April 2003, he signed a 5 year agreement with Societe Internationale de Lingerie.
Haute Couture - Fall/Winter 2003
Paris, July 2003
Christian Lacroix takes many different ornaments, sprays of crystal, metallic medallions, mounds of pleated chiffon, shredded and dyed fur and puts them all together to form a masterpiece which defines "Couture".
The runway at his show became a magical land of dazzling colours exploding like the prism of sunlight on newly fallen snow.
His collectin was a winner.
Spring/Summer 2004 Ready-to-Wear
Christian Lacroix chose not to have the usual runway show for this RTW season, but sent out a CD rom to buyers and press with the looks from his collections, mixing up different lines.
This year, after showing his Haute Couture collection in July and his Pucci collection in Milan in October, he was just worn out. He wanted more time to see the collections of others, so his pret-a-porter show went "virtual". His Spring collection was called "Working Girls" and the pictures show pretty printed dresses, jeans, embroidered jackets and lacy tops with girls walking around in the real world.
Haute Couture Spring/Summer 2004
During Haute Couture week in Paris in January 2004, Christian Lacroix showed his usual riot of colours on the astonishing outfits only he can assemble. He went for fifties nostalgia with his models in big coiffures. Here is a picture from the show.
Oscar Night February 2004
Uma Therman, the great Hollywood beauty, wore the gown shown on the left, designed by Christian Lacroix, on the Oscar Awards Night in February 2004.
Fall/Winter 2004 ready-to-wear
Christian Lacroix presented his Fall collection in Paris during Fashion Week of March 2004. An outfit from the show is pictured on the right.
He has been showing only his couture collections on the runway for a while, but decided to do a show this season for ready-to-wear too. There was a surprise appearance of tweeds, pinstripes and velvet mixed with Fair Isle sweaters and some patterns. He gave his clothes a slightly masculine touch in soe cases, showing tailored straigh-cut jackets but adding frilled skirts to keep it feminine. Coats had whimsical quilting with loose colourful threads and one cardigan was threaded with coloured ribbon.
Haute Couture - Fall/Winter 2004
Paris, July 2004
Lacroix presented a collection focused on a kaleidoscope of colours, draped into fairytale gowns. The huge clouds of hair maintained the fairytale element. His gowns had intricately folded bodices revealing his craftsmanship and huge trains. Christian Lacroix is one of the very few designers who have maintained the true spirit of Haute Couture, with whimsy and boldness and Parisian sophistication.
Early in the Paris fashion week, Christian showed his Pucci collection for Spring/Summer 2005 Click through for details.
Spring/Summer 2005
Ready-to-Wear
During Paris Fashion Week in October 2004, Christian Lacroix showed his own collection for next Spring. A beautiful printed dress from this collection is shown on the right.
He took his collection south to the Mediterranean sea shore, in a blinding midday sun, and on a white canvas he added mini-dresses in stone-washed blue and mixed pattern and print for the evening. Everything was clean and fresh with shorts and skirts, with a rococo bustle bow at the back. Tiny jackets, jeweled belts and single straps were a change from the designer's usual heavy embellishments. The designer was on vacation.
LVMH sells Lacroix
In January 2005, LVMH sold the house of Lacroix to an Miami-based American company composed of 3 Falic Brothers Leon, Jerome and Simon. Christian Lacroix is reported to have retained his creative control.
Haute Couture Autumn/Winter 2005
During January 2005, the Haute Couture shows for Autumn/Winter 2005 took place in Paris.
No incoming owner could have asked for a better demonstration of the creative powers of a designer than the image which Christian Lacroix projected at this show. It was a captivating ode to prettiness with lacy dresses and sweet colours. It was a couture fairyland. With roses at the neck, or sparkling sequins he managed to make the show beautiful absorbing historical and cultural references into fine tailoring. The effect was magical. Empire line dresses had a dreamy romanticism.
Ready-to-Wear
Autumn/Winter 2005
Christian Lacroix's Autumn/Winter collection was shown during Paris Fashion Week in March 2005. This is the first ready-to-wear collection he has shown, since having his house sold by LVMH to the American Falic Brothers. The new owners appear very pleased with Lacroix, attending his show en famille in a very festive spirit. Strangely enough many of the clothes seem to have had an American influence, like short straight skirts, and tailored boys shorts. Curvy fur-trimmed jackets with puffed sleeves. He introduced some of his menswear along with the womenswear. He maintained his reputation as the most colourful designer in the business, by using everything in the rainbow on some garment or other. But it all seemed to work and his new owners said it will be full steam ahead to expand the brand in America.
Air France Uniforms
Air France staff received their new uniforms in Spring 2005, designed by Christian Lacroix. They were so elegant, that they captured the attention of the fashion world, particularly Colette, Paris' Saint-Honore windows displayed the outfits for two weeks. Matching dolls, pins and candles were also available. Air France has 36,000 employees and the new set consisted of interchangeable accessories from a navy blue dress cinched in at the waist with a dashing red bow, to a slim pair of pants matched with a sophisticated long jacket, as well as a sky-blue organza scarf.
Christian's activities also include interior decoration for TGV and Petit Moulin, the boutique in Paris' popular Marais district. He is interested in acting on the entire environment, the urban landscape and daily life for everyone, to beautify the world, starting with Paris.
Haute Couture Autumn/Winter 2005
The Haute Couture collections for Autumn/Winter 2005 were held in Paris in July 2005. Christian Lacroix's show contained all his perfect touches of rare elegance. His combination of black lace and brocade reminded of the great Spanish paintings. His exquisite and artistic colours with drop-shaped jewels hanging from chains, were beautiful. His sumptuous hairstyles completed the magic.
Matthew Williamson for Pucci
It has been announced that after Christian Lacroix completes his Spring/Summer 2006 collection for the Italian house of Pucci, the design will be taken over by Matthew Williamson from the Autumn/Winter 2006 collection.
Spring/Summer 2006
Paris Fashion Week
Christian Lacroix presented his own Spring/Summer 2006 collection during Paris Fashion Week in October 2005. A dress from the collection is shown on the left. It is a strapless black printed cotton summer dress, of midi length with a red bow tie belt.
He entitled his collection "Escapade" and opened the show with a cherry red trench coat edged with ruffles (so popular this season). Pretty flowered dresses or sloppy pants under little jackets, followed. His work has a lavish intensity. Patchwork skirts sing a gypsy song or a coat with lacy inserts created a jaunty look. A floral dress was topped with a tiny cardigan and accessorized with a raffia bag trimmed with polka dots. He has a new shop in Las Vegas and some of his outfits were definitely aimed for that market.
OTHER PRODUCTS
Lacroix has a great many other products, which he offers along with his haute couture designs. These include hats, eyewear, scarves, belts, footwear, embroidered legwear, handbags, jewellery, and many others.
click below:
Christian Lacroix (Universe of Fashion)
Christian Lacroix: The Diary of a Collection by Patrick Mauries
Pieces of a Pattern by Christian Lacroix
2005
C'est La Vie