Madame Grès

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Germaine Émilie Krebs (* 1903; † 1993) was a French fashion designer and entrepreneur . She founded the haute couture fashion house Madame Grès , which still exists. Parfums Grès is the corresponding perfume - brand of the house.

Live and act

Krebs was formally trained as a sculptor. As early as 1933 she worked for the fashion company "Alix Barton" and began to make a name for herself in the French fashion world. In 1935 she was able to open her own fashion house in Paris with the help of financiers . From 1942 to 1988 her fashion house "Madame Grès" was in Paris, Rue de la Paix 1.

In the 1940s Madame Grès designed dresses in the style of ancient Greece , which can be seen as pioneers of today's minimalism . She is considered one of the pioneering designers of haute couture, famous for her asymmetrical robes reminiscent of ancient robes. It was one of the last of the famous haute couture houses to make designs available for customers to try on immediately. Famous customers of her fashion house included: Jane Birkin , Marlene Dietrich , Greta Garbo , Grace Kelly , Danielle Mitterrand , Édith Piaf and Wallis Simpson .

The name Grès was a partial anagram of her husband's first name. In 1937 she married the Russian painter Serge Czerefkov, with whom she had a daughter, Anne. The painter Kees van Dongen portrayed Madame Gres in 1948.

After years of success, she sold her fashion house to Bernard Tapie in 1984 . The brand name "Madame Gres" was taken over by the Jacques Esterel company in 1986 and continued in 1988 by the Japanese group Yagi Tsusho.

Grèss first and most famous perfume was “Cabochard” in 1959, created by Bernard Chant. Other fragrances launched after the company's sale include Cabotin (1990), Folie Douc (1997), Cabaret (2003), Caline (2005) and Caline Night (2006).

Dorothee Schumacher's fashion label claims to transform her designs into the 21st century.

literature

  • Laurence Benaïm: Madame Grès . Editions Assouline 1999 (in French)
  • Patricia Mears: Madame Grès, Sphinx of Fashion . Yale University Press 2008

credentials

  1. ↑ DIED: Alix Gres . In: Der Spiegel . No. 51 , 1994 ( online - 19 December 1994 ).
  2. ↑ http://www.answers.com/topic/madame-gr-s
  3. ↑ http://mfconfidential.blogspot.com/2011/03/kees-van-dongen.html
  4. ↑ http://www.yagitsu.co.jp/english/brand/gres/
  5. ↑ “We think about the soul of women” , accessed June 10, 2013
personal data
SURNAME Madame Grès
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Cancer, Germaine Émilie
BRIEF DESCRIPTION french fashion designer
DATE OF BIRTH 1903
DATE OF DEATH 1993