Paco Rabanne - brand history. Short biography of Paco Rabanne
(Paco Rabanne, born February 18, 1934, San Sebastian, Spain) - French Spanish descent, winner of numerous awards, artist, writer. Founder of Paco Rabanne.
Biography and career
Childhood
"My mentality is double, my basis is Spanish, and my outer culture is French."
Paco Rabanne was born on February 18, 1934 in San Sebastian, Spain. Birth name - Francisco Rabaneda and Cuervo. His father was a general, in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War, he was shot by the Francoists.
In 1939, after the death of his father, Francisco moved to France with his mother and grandmother. According to the designer himself, "these women had a tremendous influence on him, although they adhered to directly opposite views of the world." His grandmother was extremely religious and at the same time believed in magic. His mother, on the other hand, was an atheist and a staunch communist; Francisco visited Moscow with her in 1950.
“I was certainly strongly influenced by my mother - a Marxist, materialist. She argued that religion is like football, opium for the people. On the other hand, there is a grandmother. Christian and heiress of the magicians. It was she who showed me the power of stone, the power of water, explained the meaning of many magical symbols. I adored them, so different - mother and grandmother, and was brought up between two opposites. "
- Education and early career
In 1952, Francisco entered the National School of Fine Arts, the architectural department. To pay for his studies, he created accessories and decorative items for Balenciaga. During this period, his mother worked at the Fashion House, she was an assistant to Cristobal Balenciaga.
In the mid-1950s. Francisco began manufacturing for,. He used metal, new artificial materials, for example, rhodoid, experimented with form. In 1965, the designer sold about 20,000 different accessories.
By the 1960s. Francisco Rabaneda & Cuervo decided to change his name and shorten it to Frank Rabanne. believed that the mystical number 13 (the number of letters in the name and surname of Franck Rabanne) should have brought him good luck. After a while, he changed his name to Paco Rabanne. Paco is a diminutive, abbreviated form of the name Francisco and translated from Greek means "raven". In the Cuervo family, this bird was considered the patron saint of the genus. Thus, since 1965, the designer began to sign his creations with the name of Paco Rabanne.
- "12 dresses not to be worn made of modern materials"
"He is not a couturier, he is a metallurgist."
Coco Chanel
In 1966, the designer presented his first collection titled "12 Dresses Made of Modern Materials that Must Not Be Worn". Demonstrate Rabanne's work on the catwalk came 12 barefoot black models to the accompaniment of music. They were wearing outfits made of plastic and metal. One set was created from aluminum plates and brass wire, the other from pliers, etc. The collection and the show made a splash. The name of Paco Rabanne became known all over the world. Some experts called the designer "Jules Verne of Haute Couture", others noted the unsuitability of his clothes for wearing.
“This collection was my manifesto, my thoughts, embodied in a design. Thought number one: by that time, fashion was absolutely boring and frigid. Thought number two: the time of the "iron ladies" was approaching - I mean not Margaret Thatcher, but feminists in general. And a woman's desire for emancipation is the need for external "protection", that is, the need to wear a kind of armor. In addition, at this time, when machines, skyscrapers were made of metal, even artists created their art objects from metal and iron. So I dressed women in metal. It was just in time. "
- Creating your own Fashion House
In 1966, Paco Rabanne also presented a collection of disposable paper clothing.
In 1967, Paco Rabanne founded the Paco Rabanne Fashion House in Paris. In the same year, he presented aluminum discs connected by a metal wire.
In 1969, the designer released his first perfume, Calandre, a feminine floral-aldehyde fragrance.
In 1968, Paco Rabanne made outfits for Jane Fonda's heroine, Barbarella from the film of the same name. Things created by the designer were chosen by Brigitte Bordeaux, Audrey Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, Françoise Hardy, etc.
In 1971 Paco Rabanne became a member.
In 1973, Paco Rabanne launched the Paco Rabanne Pour Homme perfume, which has become one of the brand's most popular men's fragrances.
In 1976, Paco Rabanne opened a perfumery factory in Chartres, France.
In 1988, the designer created a collection of dresses made of laser discs, holographic fiber and organic glass.
In 1990, Paco Rabanne opened in Paris on the rue Cherche-Midi. The main themes of the interior are light, glass and metal.
In 1992, Paco Rabanne presented a retrospective of his work to the Royal Court of Spain at an exhibition in Seville.
- Paco Rabanne leaves the Fashion House
In 1999, Paco Rabanne announced his departure from his own Fashion House. In July of the same year, the designer brought his last Haute Couture fall-winter 1999/2000 collection to Moscow. After the end of the official part, half-naked male models came out and presented the new Ultraviolet fragrance. After leaving the Fashion House, Paco Rabanne became interested in painting and graphics.
In 2005, the designer held an exhibition of his paintings at the Central House of Artists in Moscow. Paco Rabanne confessed that he started drawing as a child.
“I have been drawing from an early age. Now I am seventy-two years old, and I wanted to present my drawings before I die. Once I showed my work to Salvador Dali, and he said that I should continue to paint. And I continue to do this to this day ... Basically, I create faces and images that are reflected in graphic drawings. These are endless forms and attempts to find an answer to the question "Why?" Of course, everyone asks themselves questions about who we are, who I am and why I am on this Earth ... "
One of the most famous works by Paco Rabanne depicts a child throwing a white ball and a dove into the sky. This picture is dedicated to the tragic events in Beslan.
In 2011, Paco Rabanne, in collaboration with the Russian company AVK, developed the design of the Royal Masterpiece box of sweets.
- Paco Rabanne brand after the departure of the founder
After the departure of Paco Rabban, collections for the Fashion House were created in different years by Rosemary Rodriguez, Patrick Robinson, Christophe Decarnin, Orilien Tremblay.
In 2006, Paco Rabanne was discontinued.
In 2011 he was appointed to the Fashion House. In the same year, the collection of ready-made women's clothing Paco Rabanne spring-summer 2012 was presented. In 2012, Manish Arora announced his retirement from the Fashion House. His position was taken by German designer Lydia Maurer. In 2013, Lydia also left the brand.
For 2014 Paco Rabanne belongs to the Puig group of companies. The creative director of the brand is Julien Dossena.
Paco Rabanne awards
1969. Beauty Products Industry Award for Calandre Women's Fragrance.
1974. The Fragrance Foundation Recognition Awards for Paco Rabanne Pour Homme for men.
1989. Order of Isabella the Catholic for contributions to humanitarian projects.
1990. Golden Thimble Award from the International Fashion Festival.
1997. Golden Needle Award.
2001. Gold Medal for Contribution to the Art of Spain. The award was personally presented by King Juan Carlos I of Spain.
2010. Title of Chevalier Order of the Legion of Honor of France.
Books
All books written by Paco Rabanne touch on religious and moral topics. The author encourages people to take care of their neighbors and be sincere. In his works, Paco Rabanne writes about earth, God, love, intuition, beliefs, dreams, relatives, the apocalypse, etc.
1991. "Trajectory".
1992. "End of Time".
1994. Present Tense: The Road of Initiates.
1999. "Heavenly Fire".
The fashion designer is known all over the world. In fact, the name of the great fashion designer is Francisco Rabanerro Querro.
Paco Rabanne: biography
An eccentric mystic, revolutionary and even a bit futurist - Paco Rabanne stepped forward several decades and brought the future into fashion. The fashion designer has always been somewhere outside of fashion. While everyone was striving for graceful forms and playing with airy fabrics, he experimented and shocked.
Connoisseurs of fashion did not even know to what extent they want to see out-of-the-ordinary outfits in their wardrobe, until they came across the shocking collections of Paco Rabanne.
His clothes did not have to match the high taste of French fashionistas, but nevertheless, they quickly dispersed in their wardrobes.
Paco Rabanne: career
No chiffon, silk or jersey: Paco Rabanne favored vinyl, metal and discs. It was he who invented knitted fur and began creating the fantasy outfits of the future - an unprecedented phenomenon in the global fashion industry.
It seemed that someday the fantasy should end, but it did not dry out, and each time the designer gave out collections that sold at an incredible speed.
His acknowledged talent and imagination were awarded the Golden Thimble, Golden Needle, and Fashion Honors awards. He also received the Spanish Order of Isabella and the French Order of the Legion of Honor.
The roots of his eccentricity and inconsistency of character probably lie in the family. The fashion designer was born in Spain in 1934. My grandmother was a deeply religious person who kept occult secrets, while my mother, on the contrary, was an atheist and a member of the Socialist Party, and my father was a real general. Francisco's mother kept her own atelier, so the love for sewing skills was inherited. Later, the family emigrated to the USSR, and a few years later moved to France. The talented Francisco, with his fine artistic taste, entered the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris without any problems. He studied to be an architect, but all his school years he designed and sewed bags, shoes, created various accessories, thereby earning a living.
After graduation, he received a diploma, but did not become an architect and linked his life with fashion. Although the influence of education can be traced in the unusual constructive forms of the collections of Paco Rabanne.
Unusual ideas and undoubted talent of the student drew the attention of the great masters. After leaving school, he studied with Balenciaga, Givenchy and Dior.
Having gained experience, he began independent work in the 60s. At that time, architecture was filled with a new trend of fashion - the use of plastic and metal. Of course, Francisco has always followed trends in architecture and was inspired by these ideas.
Paco Rabanne: new ideas
Inspired by new research, Paco Rabanne launched his first collection in 1966. The Parisian public was shocked. The revolutionary, if not scandalous, outfits that his models showed made a lot of noise. Although, a little later, fashion connoisseurs realized that this is exactly what they lacked in those turbulent years.
Rough metal combined with the finest lace, chain mail, aluminum and leather, feathers - all this began to appear on the bodies of famous people famous for their good taste.
Continuing his search, Paco Rabanne went on a grand experiment and created a collection of disposable paper dresses.
Soon, his quirky outfits began to appear on the heroes of Hollywood films.
Even the great Coco Chanel recognized his talent and called him a couturier-locksmith, for his love for unusually strong materials.
Paco Rabanne himself has always considered himself a fashion designer of the future. The unique style of his designs included metallic lace, chains, bright colors, ribbons, paper, precious stones, cut leather fastened with metal rings and much more.
The shocking fashion designer always wanted to shock the audience, not seduce. And he achieved it.
In the late 60s, Paco Rabanne launched the Calandre perfume for dynamic and energetic ladies. Of course, the design of the bottle was unusual: it had an automotive theme. A little later, a line of perfumes for men appeared. Daring, passionate and completely unique, the fragrance quickly found fans.
Paco Rabanne: businessman
In addition to his genius talent, Paco Rabanne possessed the skills of a businessman and an advertiser. His boutiques worked all over the world and won the hearts of fashionistas from all over the world.
The designer opened cultural centers, wrote books and published a magazine.
Despite the grandeur of his career, in 1999 he left the fashion industry and left Paris. Perhaps the reason for this was his incorrect prediction: Paco Rabanne predicted a disaster that would happen in the capital on the day of the solar eclipse in August 1999. When the prophecy did not come true, journalists attacked the designer and his name often appeared on the front pages of newspapers, but this time not with admiring comments.
Paco rabanne
The most interesting facts from the life of a genius couturier.
French fashion designer of Basque descent, founder of his own haute couture house Paco Rabanne, revolutionary in the fashion world of the 1960s. He wrote five books about his work; also known for his beliefs about reincarnation.
The press dubbed him "Jules Verne of haute couture", Coco Chanel, either jokingly or seriously, said that he was not a couturier, but a locksmith, but Paco Rabanne himself modestly calls himself a craftsman and stubbornly suppresses any talk about his legend.
Francisco Rabaneda, the future Paco Rabanne, was born in the Basque Country. During the Spanish Civil War, the father of the family fought on the side of the Republicans and died in 1939. Then the mother took the children, and, in order to avoid persecution from Franco's supporters, fled to France (they had to cross the Pyrenees on foot). His mother worked for the Spanish fashion designer Cristobal Balenciaga's fashion house. She was a staunch communist, together with her Paco visited Moscow in 1950.
In France, Paco studied architecture, but after completing his studies in the profession did not work, although later he used architectural knowledge when designing clothes. While still a student, he began to make accessories and jewelry, using new materials (for example, Rhodoid, a high-quality plastic based on cellulose acetate), which allowed his fantasies to come true.
Paco Rabanne started with the design of jewelry - his inexpensive, but original plastic jewelry was sold out instantly.
In the mid-1950s. Francisco began making accessories for Givenchy, Christian Dior, Yves Saint Laurent.
in 1966, the designer presented his first collection, in which there were only 12 dresses. The outfits of metal, plastic and wire shocked Paris. In the press, the designer was even honored with the epithet "fashion terrorist". And, by the way, it was Raban, not Gaultier, who was first dubbed "the intolerable child of French fashion." At this show, all the models were black - an unheard-of thing even for 2014, and what can we say about 1966!
“I was certainly strongly influenced by my mother - a Marxist, materialist. She argued that religion is like football, opium for the people. On the other hand, there is a grandmother. Christian and heiress of the magicians. It was she who showed me the power of stone, the power of water, explained the meaning of many magical symbols. I adored them, so different - mother and grandmother, and was brought up between two opposites. "
Paco Rabanne
His dresses were worn by Audrey Hepburn, Brigitte Bardot and Elizabeth Taylor. “I did not mark the era with myself,” Rabanne once said. And after years of searching for a modern fashion formula, he left the industry: in 1999, the designer officially retired. Many talented designers (including Christophe Decarnin and “Indian John Galliano” Manish Arora) have already visited the place of the creative director in his fashion house.
By the 1960s. Francisco Rabaneda & Cuervo decided to change his name and shorten it to Frank Rabanne. The designer believed that the mystical number 13 (the number of letters in the name and surname of Franck Rabanne) should have brought him good luck. After a while, he changed his name to Paco Rabanne. Paco is a diminutive, abbreviated form of the name Francisco and translated from Greek means "raven". In the Cuervo family, this bird was considered the patron saint of the genus. Thus, since 1965, the designer began to sign his creations with the name of Paco Rabanne.
It was Paco Rabanne who guessed to accompany the show with music. His first show shocked Paris: models in amazing, unique dresses, went out to the guests, dancing.
In 1967, Paco Rabanne founded the Paco Rabanne Fashion House in Paris. In the same year, he presented a collection of dresses made of aluminum discs connected with metal wires.
In 1969, Paco Rabanne created his first perfume, Calandre.
In addition to outfits made of metal and plastic, Raban also created models from paper and scotch tape, and in 1968 he invented knitted fur.
The French government has offered Paco Rabanne citizenship dozens of times. The fashion designer refused so as not to offend his parents.
The fragrances of Paco Rabanne successfully combine synthetic fragrances and the natural scent of human skin. This concept of perfumers makes Paco Rabanne perfumery special, amazing and unique.
The fashion designer believed in reincarnation and claimed that in a past life he personally knew Jesus Christ, met with aliens and was the favorite of Louis XV.
In 2011, Paco Rabanne designed the Royal Masterpiece box of chocolates for the Russian company AVK.
Participated in an international fundraiser for the AIDS Foundation: a portion of the proceeds from each bottle of BlackXS for her perfume sold went to the Sidaction Foundation, which funds disease programs. In 2007, as part of this action, he visited Russia.
The creators of the 1 Million men's fragrance are Christophe Reynaud, Olivier Pesho and Michel Girard. They position it as a woody spicy fragrance, the fragrance was released in 2008. It should be noted that the fragrance was produced in a limited edition.
In 1976, Paco Rabanne opened a perfumery factory in Chartres, France.
Rabanne draws excellently: in 2006 he first showed his paintings to the world at an exhibition in Moscow. Before that, only Salvador Dali could appreciate them: the designer showed them to the great artist back in the 1970s. Dali, by the way, advised Rabanne to continue in the same spirit.
In 1971, Paco Rabanne became a member of the Haute Couture Syndicate.
Currently, the Paco Rabanne brand belongs to the Spanish fashion concern Puig, where the designer works in collaboration with Rosemary Rodriguez, who creates clothing collections for the brand.
The perfume composition Paco Rabanne 1 Million is chosen by the bold, daring, with an extraordinary taste and personality style. The fragrance is announced as daytime and evening, and will be appropriate in the cold and warm seasons, although fans are inclined to believe that the perfume is more suitable for the evening time of the day.
Source - Wikipedia, woman.ru, wiki.wildberries.ru, butik-parfum.ru.
Paco is Spanish for raven. It was in honor of this wisest of birds and the mythical patron of his family that the now world-famous couturier Francisco Rabaneda y Cuerve invented a new name for himself, while also reducing the difficult to pronounce surname.
In the summer of 2000, Paco Rabanne announced that he would leave the world of haute couture forever.
Haute couture fashion has become too expensive even for the French. According to the artist himself, when he was just taking his first steps in fashion, there were about 50 thousand women in the world who could afford haute couture clothes. Now there are only 200 of them! Many of the fashion houses have not sold anything for a long time, but rather rent them out to Hollywood stars.
A way out of this situation can be a thorough development of ready-to-wear lines (classic clothes for men and women). Paco Rabanne has two such collections: "Paco" and the youth line. On a special account is the ready-to-wear line in an elegant version.
However, in 2001, a retrospective exhibition of Rabanne, accompanied by a fashion show, took place in Burgos (Spain). The exhibition covers the entire time of the maestro's work - from the first plastic dress, which caused a stir in the fashion world in 1964, to the ready-to-wear collection prepared by the couturier for the summer season of 2002. Rabanne appeared in all the diversity of his talents - not only as a fashion designer, but also as a sculptor, architect, and even the author of books on esotericism. The exhibition, which summarizes nearly 40 years of Rabanne's work, is not accidentally organized in Spain.
Upbringing mystic
Paco Rabanne (Francisco Rabaneda y Cuervo) was born on February 18, 1934 in the Basque part of Spain in the city of San Sebastian. He spent his childhood in the company of an extremely religious grandmother, not alien to the occult, mother - a prominent figure in the Spanish Socialist Party and an absolute atheist. His father was a general and remained loyal to the constitutional government of the Republic in the civil war, for which he was shot by the Francoists in 1937. After the victory of the Franco regime in Spain, she took five-year-old Francisco to France.
- Of course, my mother, a Marxist, materialist, strongly influenced me. She argued that religion is like football, opium for the people. On the other hand, there is a grandmother. Christian and heiress of the magicians. She treated with herbs and conspiracies, relieved pain with her hands, got rid of kidney stones. It was she who showed me the power of stone, the power of water, explained the meaning of many magical symbols. I adored them, so different - my mother and grandmother, and was brought up between two opposites.
Such an ambiguous environment predetermined the development in young Paco Rabanne of those qualities that were useful to him in later life: tolerance, the belief that reality has many facets, generosity, concern for others and openness to the world.
In 1952, Paco Rabanne entered the National School of Fine Arts, the department of architecture. To pay for his studies, he made fashion accessories, buttons for the House of Balenciaga (not without the influence of his mother - in Spain she worked as the chief assistant for Cristobal Balenciaga).
Fashion provocateur
Gradually he switched to other accessories - he created handbags, jewelry and belts for Hubert de Givenchy, Christian Dior, Yves Saint Laurent. And this is not a complete list of the names of famous designers with whom the young Rabanne collaborated and was friends.
In the early 60s, great changes took place in art. "Optical" and "Kinetic" art became fashionable. Architects, turning away from stone, turned to metal, painters to neon. These revolutionary changes in art inspired Paco Rabanne to create his own collection. In 1965, the first creations with the signature of Paco Rabanne appear.
He first shocked the public in 1966. Then the collection of “12 dresses made of modern materials that should not be worn” was presented to the collection of sophisticated connoisseurs. You have to imagine the Parisian fashion shows of those times: a silent audience and a voice shouting model numbers. In the forefront are aesthetic journalists, ladies in classic dresses with rows of pearls around their necks and men in impeccable suits. And suddenly a young Spaniard (who was then fond of the music of the Beatles, Dadaism and obsessed with the idea of \u200b\u200bpresenting women from all over the world to the public) brings dancing black fashion models in metal dresses to the music of Pierre Boulet. The audience is shocked. Some of the outraged journalists immediately leave the hall. The remaining spectators gaze in amazement at the girls. The designer collected unthinkable dresses using ordinary pliers and a blowtorch. Barbed iron mercilessly scratches the delicate bodies of models. But the courageous girls continue to dance.
The first collection brought Rabanne recognition among the fashion designers in Paris, and also defined his turbulent revolutionary future. In 1966, Rabanne created paper dresses and the idea of \u200b\u200bdisposable clothing was born.
In 1967 he founded his own Fashion House in Paris. Represents "molded" dresses - fitted to the shape of the body and made of metal parts.
In 1968, knitted fur and aluminum jersey appeared. In the same year, he creates costumes for the famous film "Barbarella" with the participation of Jane Fonda.
For the 1988 dresses, the designer used laser discs. “By day, her clothes should define the business speed lifestyle. In the evening - to emphasize the greatness and femininity of the goddess, ”said Paco Rabanne in the late 80s. To achieve an evening effect, Paco Rabanne played with light and transparency using reflective and microcrystalline materials glittering on the body. It was the rebirth of Paco Rabanne's "experimental" looks: holographic fiber and organic glass dresses.
The world of fragrances
At the very beginning of his design career, Paco Rabanne threw himself into another adventure - the world of fragrances. In 1969, his Calandre fragrance instantly won the spoiled hearts of women. Named after a car, the metal-rimmed bottle was associated with New York architecture, while Rabanne opted for cypress over the mainstream lemon flavor of the era. Then came Paco Rabanne Pour Homme and its variations in 1973, Metal (1979), La Nuit (1985), Sport and its variations (1986), Tenere (1988). 1993 saw the turn of the daring scent of the 90s XS (Excess Pour Homme) - desired and sensual for a man. This fragrance remains in the list of the most bought men's eau de toilette to this day. In 1981, furniture, tableware and tablecloths from the favorite fashion designer appeared in the interiors of numerous fans of the House of Paco Rabanne. And in 1990 it came out in 1989 - it represents the ready-to-wear line for women. Based on her futuristic style, she creates “wearable” clothing, the so-called pret-a-porter line for women in 1989 and a year later for men.
For many years, Rabanne's creations were exhibited in the best museums in the world in New York, Tokyo, Paris, were presented at festivals and fairs in Montreal, Capri, and Milan.
The awards attest to the international recognition of his art: the Beauty Products Industry Prize for Calandre (1969), the Fragrance Foundation Recognition Award for the composition and packaging of Paco Rabanne Pour Homme (1974 .), “Golden Needle” - for the Haute Couture collection (1997), award for contribution to fashion at the First International Fashion Festival (1985), “Golden Thimble” (1990). recognition of his talent and active contribution to numerous humanitarian projects, Paco Rabanne was awarded the highest order of Spain "Order of Isabella the Catholic", and also became a Knight of the "Order of the Legion of Honor" in France. In 1992, Paco Rabanne was honored to present a retrospective of his works to the Royal Court of Spain at an exhibition in Seville. On May 31, 2001, King Juan Carlos presented him with the "Gold Medal for Achievement in the Fine Arts".
A passionate connoisseur of culture, Paco Rabanne invests efforts and funds in the opening of cultural centers, in the publication of magazines. Ursula Annersen, Jane Fonda (the costumes for the famous Barbarella were invented by Rabanne), Françoise Hardy, Brigitte Bardot, Audrey Hepburn and others starred in his costumes.
Ultraviolet splash
In July 1999, the presentation of the fall-winter 1999/2000 haute couture collection took place, which determined an important stage in the life of the House: Rabanne announced that from now on he would not personally deal with high fashion and would go headlong into ready-to-wear. And he handed over further work on the creation of the House's collections to a team of young fashion designers. Rabanne brought the last collection to Moscow Fashion Week along with a new fragrance Ultraviolet, very refined and unlike any other.
In Moscow, Paco Rabanne showed his new haute couture collection on the eve of the new century. Amazing metal dresses paired with faux fur in the shape of Chinese lanterns; form-fitting dresses made of metal jersey complete with long camisoles, plastic boleros, metal jumpers and other unusual things. Rabanne plays wonderfully with light and the optical characteristics of materials: all of his models are literally dazzling. The latest collection once again confirmed the title of the master as a great provocateur in the fashion world: most of those present at the show were in complete confidence that sparkling and flowing clothes were made of silk, and yet it was a real metal.
Until the appearance of Mr. Rabanne on the stage, it was hard to believe that he would really honor the presentation with his presence. Nevertheless, applause was heard, and surrounded by his retinue, a man with white hair and a beard of the same color proceeded to the stage. This, in fact, was the world famous couturier. According to Paco Rabanne, he has trembling feelings for Russia, admires the beauty of Russian women. After the end of the official part, muscular half-naked young men appeared on the stage with mysterious signs applied to their chests, glowing in the dark (which, probably, were supposed to symbolize the concept and name of the Ultraviolet scent), and began to spray a new scent as they walked through the club.
The audience saw a sophisticated silhouette, explosive colors and shapes that cut the space with their geometry, herald the arrival of the millennium. Metallic leather paired with faux fur, lantern-shaped dresses, capes and coveralls in bright ultraviolet light, piercing pink, acid green and sparkling yellow.
A cosmic look: outfits that create metallic optical illusions, chain mail, metallic jersey and sequin chains, complete with long camisoles and straight bodycon dresses, sparkle of diamond meteorites. Electric frost: a thin plastic film catches the light on boleros and loose satin trousers, metal jumpers tied with huge needles, jewelry on long tight skirts and velvet straight trousers the color of the night. In the latest collection, Rabanne recalled the most famous places in Paris, Berlin, Brussels, Sydney and New York - in paintings on silk and on sparkling silver plates. The conclusion of the collection is a wedding dress: under a mantle of golden lace, the bride, like a Russian nesting doll, is wrapped in a dress-coat made of mouse-colored fur, embroidered with golden tulips.
The path of the initiates
- We are experiencing the turn of the millennium. It becomes more difficult to identify certain things, concepts. I am a junior art representative. There are, as you know, older arts - music, painting, sculpture, and younger ones - design, fashion, the so-called applied arts. The lower arts shine with reflected light. They do not develop by themselves, but under the influence of the higher arts. Remember: when constructivism appeared, it covered all areas, including fashion. Harmony reigned. And now there is a mixture of higher and lower arts. The era of their merger began. This is normal, but the higher arts have lost their leading position. They do not know where to go, they cannot offer a new philosophy. Therefore, the lower arts also do not know where to go. Look at fashion in Paris - it's just horror, lack of a fundamental idea!
More recently, Rabanne discovered a new area for himself. His first book, Trajectory, published in 1991, became a bestseller and sold over 500,000 copies. Soon there was a second - "The End of Times" (1992), in which he called on humanity to a deeper insight into the essence of things and moral values, to care for others. Both books have been translated into five languages. In 1994, Paco Rabanne wrote a new book, Le Temps Present: le chemin des grand inities, a personal guide on how to become brighter and more sincere in our changing age, continuing the theme of the first two books.
All the master's delights - from his philosophy, his views on the world. There are two lights, he believes, - the physical light, coming from the sun, and the spiritual light. He tries to connect these two threads in clothes. A more prosaic explanation is the artist's desire to anticipate future events.
The world's population is growing exponentially. When there are twenty billion of us, there will be no man, according to the artist, who dresses in natural fabrics. Cotton and wool will disappear. They will be replaced by metal, plastic, mineral raw materials. He sees another direction in the use of waste. In the near future, a woman, getting out of bed in the morning, will pick up a tube or balloon with liquid metal and apply clothes, like a painting, directly to her body. A creator herself, she will walk down the street in a dress that wraps around the lines of her body, wrapped in a scarf or gauze mantilla.
He is an experimenter and revolutionary, an unprecedented phenomenon in the world of fashion. The master who stepped beyond the threshold of his time the farthest.
He is an experimenter and revolutionary, an unprecedented phenomenon in the world of fashion. The master who stepped beyond the threshold of his time the farthest. The new forms, structures and materials he invented influenced world fashion. A philosopher, a mystic and a great artisan at the same time, he has amazed the public with extravagance and originality for decades.
I am recreating my memories of beautiful women from other civilizations ”- this is how Paco Rabanne defined the content of his work.
Paco Rabanne (real name - Francisco Rabanerro Querro) is not only an unprecedented phenomenon in the fashion world. He is a master who influenced many young designers, including Russians. This is an outstanding personality, philosopher and mystic, shocking the public, who is not prepared for the perception of his thinking. However, shocking rather than seducing has always been his motto. The aesthetics of this designer, his worldview, understanding of the meaning of art amaze with extravagance. There is nothing more inconsistent with the high demands of "good French taste" embodied in traditional tailoring methods and materials than the models of Paco Rabanne (except for the initial stage of creativity).
Nevertheless, in 1990 he was awarded the highest couturier award - "Golden Thimble" for the most exquisite and original collection of the season, cutting technique and work with new materials, which were the finest metal plates and threads, as well as vinyl. However, metal and plastic instead of textiles, pliers and a blowtorch instead of scissors and threads had served the master for three decades until this momentous moment. The structure and form of clothing, according to Paco Rabanne, cannot remain unshakable when rapid changes are taking place in life. Hence the originality of his methods. He invented knitted fur, aluminum knitwear and used laser discs to create fantastic feminine images.
His inexhaustible imagination has received many awards: the Golden Needle, the Fashion Honors award from the First International Fashion Festival in 1985, the Spanish Order of Isabella, and the French Legion of Honor.
The designer was born in 1934 in Spain, in San Sebastian (Basque Country). The family was quite extraordinary: a religious grandmother who owned the secrets of the occult, her mother was an atheist, a member of the Socialist Party and the head of the Spanish branch of the Balenciaga atelier, her father was a general of the Republican army. When Franco came to power, the family emigrated to the Soviet Union, and a few years later moved to France. Generously endowed with talent, honoring beauty in all forms, Rabin entered the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1952, where he received his diploma in architecture. But he connected his future with fashion (the influence of architecture can be seen in his work with volumes, in search of original forms, constructive solutions for unusual models).
Back in his student years, in order to earn money, Rabanne designed bags, shoes, belts, jewelry for the collections of French fashion designers.
The original ideas attracted attention. These were his first experiments in fashion, the art of which he studied at the House of Balenciaga, with Hubert le Givenchy and for eight years at the House of Christian Dior. The designer's independent work began in the 60s. Then a new art was born - "optical", "kinetic"; modern materials came to architecture - plastic and metal. All of this was the inspiration for Rabanne's first haute couture collection, shown in February 1966, entitled "12 experimental and unwearable designs in modern materials." Here he presented, in particular, small coats made of colored furs, inlaid with metal rings and plates.
The collection caused a scandal. But Paris, shocked by the designer's subsequent work - flexible, plastic chain mail made of metal, airy laces connecting metal to fabric, nevertheless recognized the new couturier. Rabanne's fantastic ideas organically blended into the aesthetics of the revolutionary 60s. (Not only metal, but also his paper disposable dresses were a tremendous success.) Elegant toilets made of plastic, aluminum in combination with leather and ostrich feathers appeared on the stage. Bizarre "armor" has penetrated into the cinema: Hollywood celebrities - Françoise Hardy, Jane Fonda, Audrey Hepburn - starred in Rabanne costumes. Over the years, Ursula Dilere, Sylvie Vartan, Patricia Kaas, Brigitte Bardot wore these unusual dresses. The couturier-locksmith himself, a “metallurgist”, as Chanel called him, considers himself a fashion designer of the 90s.
Oval cutouts and wide neckline; shell-shaped mini made of multi-colored chains and metallic lace, decorated with pearls and intertwined with holographic paper ribbons; tunics made of printed fabrics, embroidered with precious stones; antenna hats; leather, cut into squares and fastened with metal rings - all these are components of his brightest, unique style.
In 1969, a sensation was caused by the appearance of the perfume "Calandre" for energetic ladies. The design of the bottle played on the automotive theme. Then a series of perfumes for men appeared, including "XS" ("Excesses for Men"). The bold and sensual fragrance has become a bestseller.
Rabanne's ready-to-wear lines (the first appeared in the early 80s) were shown at numerous international exhibitions and caused no less delight than his haute couture models. On five continents, boutiques and representative offices worked for the Rasso Rabanne brand.
In addition, Rabanne opened cultural centers, published his own magazine, his books "The Horses of Time" (translated into five languages) and "Professional Career" were very popular.
However, in 1999 this amazing artist announced his retirement from the world of haute couture and left Paris altogether.
One of the reasons why Rabanne had to leave Paris was a prediction error. He predicted the catastrophe of Paris on the day of the August 1999 solar eclipse. When this did not come true, the fashion designer was severely attacked in the press.