 Fashion Designer Christian Lacroix was born on May 16, 1951 in Arles, France, under the highly symbolic sign of Taurus.
He spent his solitary childhood between the Camargue beaches and the Alpilles pine forests, amongst the Gallo-Roman ruins and the remnants of the 1944 WWII bombings, attending bullfighting events and theater or opera festivals, immersed in both Provencal and Gypsy traditions, and enjoying museum paintings and attic books. During his adolescence, he discovered a passion for Oscar Wilde and the BeatlesÕ England as well as Barcelona and Venice. He later studied Art History at the University of Montpellier. In 1973, he continued his studies in Paris at both the Sorbonne and the Ecole du Louvre, with the ambition to become a museum curator.
He then met individuals that would influence his destiny : Francoise, his future wife, who introduced him to the secrets of Paris and encouraged him to draw ; Jean-Jacques Picart, a press attache and advisor to several Designers and Haute Couture Houses, who found him a job at Hermes in 1978, then with Guy Paulin in 1980.
In 1981, he began working at the Jean Patou House. Here, in collaboration with Jean-Jacques Picart, he took up the challenge of Haute Couture, a profession that certain individuals claimed to be on the decline. Season after season, the two designers succeeded in defining the 1980s with their bright colors, extravagance and luxuriance. In 1986, their work was awarded with their first De dÕOr, after which they received the Award for the most influential foreign designer, given by the CFDA in New York in January 1987.
In October 2002, together with the presentation of spring-summer 2003 collections and the celebration of the 15th anniversary of the Couture House, Christian Lacroix received the insignia of Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur from Mr. Bernard Arnault, Chairman of LVMH. |
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