Pierre Balmain
Pierre Alexandre Claudius Balmain (born May 18, 1914 in Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne in Savoy , † June 29, 1982 in Paris ) was a French fashion designer . The internationally known fashion company Balmain , which he founded in 1945 , still exists today.
life and work
Pierre Balmain began studying architecture at the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts de Paris in 1933 , but did not finish it. From 1934 he turned to fashion and worked for Edward Molyneux until 1938 . From 1939 on, he worked for Lucien Lelong with interruptions due to the war . Immediately after the end of the war, in autumn 1945, he opened his first own studio on Rue François 1er in Paris . In 1946 he created his first perfume in the Atelier Élysée 64-83 named after his telephone number . In 1948 Balmain hired the Dane Erik Mortensen as a design assistant, who became his life partner. In 1949, Eau de Verveine-citronelle (renamed Monsieur Balmain in 1964 ) was the first men's fragrance. The range of the Balmain house was later, as with most fashion houses, expanded to include wristwatches and other accessories .
Balmain had great and commercial success in the 1950s with prêt-à-porter in the USA . His designs were commonly described as refined and of simple elegance. This shows parallels to Edward Molyneux , but also to Christian Dior, who worked for Molyneux and Lelong around the same time . In 1954 he created the wedding dress for Audrey Hepburn . From 1955 to 1958 Karl Lagerfeld worked for Balmain. Pierre Balmain counted Brigitte Bardot , Katharine Hepburn , Marlene Dietrich and Hildegard Knef among his customers as well as Queen Sirikit at the presumably high point of his work in the 1960s . In 1961 he did the costumes for Lilli Palmer in the film Julia, You Are Magical . His autobiography was published in 1964.
After Balmain's conservative, elegant designs began to sell less and less well from the late 1960s, he was forced to sell his fashion house in 1977. However, he continued to be the chief designer until his death in 1982.
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| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Balmain, Pierre |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Balmain, Pierre Alexandre Claudius |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French fashion designer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 18, 1914 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne in the Savoy |
| DATE OF DEATH | June 29, 1982 |
| Place of death | Paris |