FAMOUS FRENCH DESIGNER CHRISTIAN LACROIX INVOLVED IN CHARITY

USPA NEWS - French fashion designer Christian Lacroix made a splash in the mid-1980s with his haute couture line created first for the house of Patou then under his own name. The influence of Francoise Rosenthiel, a boutique manager who also worked in other aspects of the fashion industry,...

French fashion designer Christian Lacroix made a splash in the mid-1980s with his haute couture line created first for the house of Patou then under his own name. The influence of Francoise Rosenthiel, a boutique manager who also worked in other aspects of the fashion industry, changed the course of Lacroix's career (they got married later). At the time, she worked in the office of Jean-Jacques Picart, a freelance image consultant and powerful public relations consultant. Lacroix soon began working in the fashion industry himself.

By 1987, Lacroix was considered the toast of Paris because he pushed the envelope of what fashion could be. Many of his designs of the period had an element of fantasy. Though Lacroix was happy to create haute couture for the house of Patou, he also wanted to create ready-to-wear lines. By the end of 1986, Lacroix was open to offers from other companies. After showing his spring/summer collection for 1987, Lacroix signed a contract to open his own couture company and quit Patou. Lacroix was able to do both couture and ready-to-wear for his own fashion house, Christian Lacroix.

For Lacroix's first collections under his own name in 1987, he remained focused on haute couture. He wanted to establish his own identity away from what he did for Patou, including moving away from bustles. Many of his clothes were inspired by the south of France and the costumes that were worn there. The pieces featured bright and deep colors, touches of embroidery, and trims of jewels, fur, and lace. While Lacroix's couture collections gained popularity in the early 2000s, his career was especially relaunched by creating wedding dresses, primarily in Europe. This business grew after he designed a wedding dress for the marriage of actress Catherine Zeta-Jones to actor Michael Douglas.

One of his first experiences as a costume designer came with the American Ballet Theatre's production of Gaiete Parisienne. By 2001, he had designed costumes for more than 20 shows for companies all over the world. He designed for Pucci for three years, from 2002 until 2005. He diversified into jeans, perfume, childrenswear, lingerie, menswear couture, ready-to-wear and homeware. Christian Lacroix's return to couture in 2007 was rapturously received. In May 2009 Christian Lacroix filed for Bankruptcy, it recieved several bidders offering to invest in the fashion house with no confirmed acceptance.... Recently, he accepted generously to design luxury biscuits boxes for the charity "Toutes à l'Ecole" with its partner Delacre...