Fashion

**Michellica** · 11-26-2005, 11:28 AM

hamino az bar konam exam e fashion studies o ghabool misham migi amoo?

**Rasputin** · 11-26-2005, 11:29 AM

Fashion and the process of change

Fashion, by definition, changes constantly. The change may proceed more rapidly than in most other fields of human activity (language, thought, etc). For some, modern fast-paced change in fashion embodies many of the negative aspects of capitalism: it results in waste and encourages people qua consumers to buy things unnecessarily. Others, especially young people, enjoy the diversity that changing fashion can apparently provide, seeing the constant change as a way to satisfy their desire to experience "new" and "interesting" things. Note too though that fashion can change to enforce uniformity, as in the case where so-called Mao suits became the national uniform of Mainland China.

Materially affluent societies can offer a variety of different fashions, in clothes or accessories, to choose from. At the same time there remains an equal or larger range designated (at least currently) 'out of fashion'. (These or similar fashions may cyclically come back 'into fashion' in due course, and remain 'in fashion' again for a while.)

Practically every aspect of appearance that can be changed has been changed at some time. In the past, new discoveries and lesser-known parts of the world could provide an impetus to change fashions based on the exotic: Europe in the eighteenth or nineteenth centuries, for example, might favour things Turkish at one time, things Chinese at another, and things Japanese at a third. The global village has reduced the options of exotic novelty in more recent times.

Fashion houses and their associated fashion designers, as well as high-status consumers (including celebrities), appear to have some role in determining the rates and directions of fashion change.

Fashion and status
Fashion can suggest or signal status in a social group. Groups with high cultural status like to keep 'in fashion' to display their position; people who do not keep 'in fashion' within a so-called "style tribe" can risk shunning (see also peer pressure). Because keeping 'in fashion' often requires considerable amounts of money, fashion can be used to show off wealth (compare conspicuous consumption). Adherence to fashion trends can thus form an index of social affluence and an indicator of social mobility.

Fashion can help attract a partner. As well as showing certain features of a person's personality that appeal to prospective mates, keeping up with fashion can advertise a person's status to such candidates. Perhaps even more importantly, it sends a signal of superiority to potential competitors of the same gender, who are frequently better informed about what's fashionable than the potential mates are. Conversely, a person who exhibits a fashion style that rejects or deliberately tries to offend the current trend may also have an advantage in finding other like-minded individuals.

"Fashion sense" consists of the ability to tell what clothing and/or accessories look good and what doesn't. Since the entire notion of fashion depends on subjectivity, so does the question of who possesses "fashion sense". Some people style themselves as "fashion consultants" and charge clients to help the latter choose what to wear. Designers show the public what is new and in style by using fashion models to display the clothing. Image consultants help people revamp or create fashion sense.

Fashion can operate differently depending on gender, or it can promote homogeneity as in unisex styles.

[edit]
Classification of fashions
Ethnically-based fashions:

Chinoiserie
Orientalism
Primitivism
Modern underground fashion:

Cyberpunk fashion
Punk fashion
Gothic fashion
Death rock fashion
Black metal fashion
Industrial fashion
BDSM fashion
urban fashion

The ultimate world capital of fashion is Paris, which is home to the premier fashion houses of the world including Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent, Givenchy and Louis Vuitton.

**Rasputin** · 11-26-2005, 11:30 AM

In this Thread ,i am just tryin to show all of you ,what is fashion !

**Rasputin** · 11-26-2005, 11:36 AM

Chinoiserie

Chinoiserie refers to an artistic style which reflects Chinese influence and is characterized through the use of elaborate decoration and intricate patterns. Its popularity peaked around the middle of the 18th century.

From the Renaissance to the 18th century Western designers attempted to imitate the technical sophistication of Chinese ceramics with only partial success. Direct imitation of Chinese designs began in the late 17th century and peaking in waves, especially Rococo Chinoiserie, ca 1740-1770. Earliest hints of Chinoiserie appear, in the early 17th century, in the nations with active East India Companies, Holland and England, then by mid-17th century, Portugal. Tin-glazed pottery made at Delft and other Dutch towns adopted genuine blue-and-white Ming decoration from the early 17th century, and early ceramic wares at Meissen and other centers of true porcelain naturally imitated Chinese shapes for dishes, vases and tea wares. But in the true Chinoiserie décor fairyland, mandarins lived in fanciful mountainous landscapes with cobweb bridges, carried flower parasols, lolled in flimsy bamboo pavilions haunted by dragons and phoenixes, while monkeys swung from scrolling borders.

Pleasure pavilions in "Chinese taste" appeared in the formal parterres of late Baroque and Rococo German palaces, and in tile panels at Aranjuez near Madrid. Thomas Chippendale's mahogany tea tables and china cabinets, especially, were embellished with fretwork glazing and railings, ca 1753 - 70, but sober homages to early Xing scholars' furnishings were also naturalized, as the tang evolved into a mid-Georgian side table and squared slat-back armchairs suited English gentlemen as well as Chinese scholars. Not every adaptation of Chinese design principles falls within mainstream "chinoiserie." Chinoiserie media included "japanned" ware imitations of lacquer and painted tin (tôle) ware that imitated japanning, early painted wallpapers in sheets, and ceramic figurines and table ornaments.

Small pagodas appeared on chimneypieces and full-sized ones in gardens. Kew has a magnificent garden pagoda designed by Sir William Chambers. Though the rise of a more serious approach in Neoclassicism from the 1770s onward tended to squelch such Oriental folly, at the height of Regency "Grecian" furnishings, the Prince Regent came down with a case of Brighton Pavilion, and Chamberlain's Worcester china manufactory imitated gaudy "Imari" wares. Upscale houses, like the Casa Loma, sometimes feature an entire guest room decorated in the chinoiserie style, complete with Chinese-styled bed, phoenix-themed wallpaper, and china.

Later exoticisms added imaginary Turkish themes, where a "diwan" became a sofa. (See Sezincote, Gloucestershire.)

The term is also used in literary criticism to describe a mannered "Chinese-esqe" style of writing, such as that employed by Ernest Bramah in his Kai Lung stories, or Barry Hughart in his Master LI & Number 10 Ox novels.

**Rasputin** · 11-26-2005, 11:37 AM

Orientalism

Orientalism is the study of Near and Far Eastern societies and cultures by Westerners. It can also refer to the imitation or depiction of aspects of Eastern cultures in the West by writers, designers and artists.

In the former meaning the term is becoming obsolete, increasingly being used only to refer to the study of the East by Americans and Europeans shaped by the attitudes of the era of European imperialism in the 18th and 19th centuries. Because of this, the term Orientalism has come to acquire negative connotations in some quarters, implying old-fashioned and prejudiced outsider interpretations of Eastern cultures and peoples. This viewpoint was most famously articulated by Edward Said in his book Orientalism 1978 In the book he was critical of the work of modern scholars including Princeton Professor Bernard Lewis.

Orientalism in the arts

Imitations of Oriental styles

Chinesischer Turm in the Englischer Garten of Munich. Initial structure built 1789-1790Similar ambivalence is evident in art and literature. From the Renaissance to the 18th century Western designers attempted to imitate the technical sophistication of Chinese ceramics with only partial success. Chinoiserie is the catch-all term for the fashion for Chinese themes in decoration in Western Europe, beginning in the late 17th century and peaking in waves, especially Rococo Chinoiserie, ca 1740-1770. Early hints of Chinoiserie appear, in the 17th century, in the nations with active East India Companies, Holland and England. Tin-glazed pottery made at Delft and other Dutch towns adopted genuine blue-and-white Ming decoration from the early 17th century, and early ceramic wares at Meißen and other centers of true porcelain imitated Chinese shapes for dishes, vases and teawares (see Chinese export porcelain). But in the true Chinoiserie décor fairyland, mandarins lived in fanciful mountainous landscapes with cobweb bridges, carried flower parasols, lolled in flimsy bamboo pavilions haunted by dragons and phoenixes, while monkeys swung from scrolling borders.

Pleasure pavilions in "Chinese taste" appeared in the formal parterres of late Baroque and Rococo German palaces, and in tile panels at Aranjuez near Madrid. Thomas Chippendale's mahogany tea tables and china cabinets, especially, were embellished with fretwork glazing and railings, ca 1753 - 70, but sober homages to early Xing scholars' furnishings were also naturalized, as the tang evolved into a mid- Georgian side table and squared slat-back armchairs suited English gentlemen as well as Chinese scholars. Not every adaptation of Chinese design principles falls within mainstream "chinoiserie." Chinoiserie media included imitations of lacquer and painted tin (tôle) ware that imitated japanning, early painted wallpapers in sheets, and ceramic figurines and table ornaments. Small pagodas appeared on chimneypieces and full-sized ones in gardens. Kew has a magnificent garden pagoda designed by Sir William Chambers.

After 1860, Japonaiserie, sparked by the arrival of Japanese woodblock prints, became an important influence in the western arts. The paintings of James McNeill Whistler and his "Peacock Room" are some of the finest works of the genre; other examples include the Gamble House and other buildings by California architects Greene and Greene.

**Rostam** · 11-26-2005, 06:56 PM

Chizehai jalabi dar in gesmat ast,

article ha khoob hastand.

Thxs.

**Rasputin** · 11-27-2005, 09:06 AM

Chanel

The House of Chanel, more commonly known as Chanel, is a Parisian fashion house in France.

Founded by Coco Chanel by 1909, the small shop selling ladies headwear had moved to the upmarket Rue Cambon within a year. The house became especially famous with its signature Chanel No. 5 fragrance - so called as it was the fifth attempt at creating a Chanel perfume that Coco Chanel liked - and the popular Chanel suit, an elegant creation comprised of a knee-length s***t and trim, boxy jacket, traditionally made of woven wool with black trim and gold buttons and worn with large costume-pearl necklaces.

After Chanel No. 5 was launched in 1923, Coco Chanel's fashions became well-known and were purchased by the high flyers of London and Paris society alike. Chanel took to living at the Hôtel Ritz, and her suite of residence is named the Coco Chanel Suite even today. The German designer Karl Lagerfeld now presides over the house.

The House of Chanel logo

**jjbb** · 11-27-2005, 02:45 PM

**Rasputin** · 11-28-2005, 07:32 AM

Yves Saint-Laurent

Yves Henri Donat Mathieu-Saint-Laurent (born August 1, 1936 in Oran, Algeria) is a French fashion designer.

Early career
Born to insurance-company manager Charles Saint-Laurent and his socialite wife, Lucienne Mathieu, members of a family from Alsace-Lorraine that settled in North Africa during the Franco-Prussian War, Saint Laurent left home at the age of 17 to work for the designer Christian Dior. Following the death of Dior in 1957, Saint-Laurent at the age of 21 was put in charge of effort of saving the Dior house from financial ruin. Saint-Laurent's designs together, with his lover Pierre Bergé's financial acumen, helped save the firm. The couple split romantically in 1976 but remained business partners.

Military service

Shortly after this success he was conscripted to serve in the French army during the Algerian war of independence. After 20 days the stress of being hazed by fellow soldiers led the fragile Saint Laurent to be institutionalized in a French mental hospital, where he underwent psychiatric treatment, including electroshock therapy, for a nervous breakdown.

The House of Yves Saint-Laurent

In the wake of his nervous breakdown, Saint Laurent was released from Dior and started his own label together with Pierre Bergé with the now-famous initials of YSL. During the 1960s and 1970s the firm popularized fashion trends such as the beatnik look, tweed suits, tight pants and tall, thigh-high boots. Among his muses were Loulou de La Falaise, the daughter of a French marquis and an Anglo-Irish fashion model, Betty Catroux, the half-Brazilian daughter of an American diplomat and wife of a French decorator, and Catherine Deneuve, the iconic french actress.

In 1993, the Saint-Laurent fashion house was sold to the pharmaceuticals company Sanofi for approximately $600,000,000. In 1999 Gucci bought the YSL brand and Tom Ford designed the ready-to-wear collection while Saint-Laurent designed the haute couture collection. Since his retirement in 1998 Saint-Laurent has become increasingly reclusive and has spent a much of his time at his house in Marrakech, Morocco.

In 2002, dogged by years of poor health, drug abuse, depression, alcoholism, criticisms of YSL designs, and problems with lead designer Tom Ford, Saint-Laurent and Gucci closed the illustrious couture house of YSL.

The pret-a-porter line is still being produced under the direction of Stefano Pilati after Tom Ford retired in 2004.

**me_89** · 11-28-2005, 06:48 PM

im a fashinable person i tink

**Rasputin** · 11-29-2005, 08:42 AM

Givenchy

Givenchy

The History

Once upon a time the world’s great fashion designers formed an extremely closed circle of nimble fingered, white-coated craftsmen. Season after season in their tailor’s workshops they redefined Parisian fashion and worldwide trends. Hubert de Givenchy was one of them.

Born in 1927, at the age of seventeen Hubert James Taffin de Givenchy left his birthplace in Beauvais for Paris, at a time when the couturier business was still passed on from master to apprentice. He learned from Jacques Fath, Robert Piguet, Lucien Lelong (recommended by Christian Dior) and in Elsa Schiaparelli’s famous salons on Place Vendôme.

Foreseeing relaxed chic and the democratisation of luxury, which together marked the end of the century, in 1952 Givenchy launched «separates», light s***ts and puff-sleeved blouses made from raw cotton – previously reserved for fittings only. Two years later Hubert de Givenchy was the first major fashion designer to present a luxury ready-to-wear line, «Givenchy Université». More than any other, this was a designer who maintained close relations with his famous clients. No surprise there, he wanted to dress women. All women. From Paris to New York, Hubert de Givenchy’s fashions came out of the salons and down into the street. In 1953 one of Hubert de Givenchy’s designs was featured on the cover of Life magazine.

The best dressed women in the world were keen to be part of it – Lauren Bacall, Babe Paley, Greta Garbo, Elizabeth Taylor, Marlène Dietrich, Jacqueline Kennedy-Onassis, Princess Grace of Monaco and Wallis Simpson, for whom the designer created special covers, to preserve the Duchess’s envied orders from prying eyes. They were made in Windsor blue.

In 1953 Hubert de Givenchy received the wrong Miss Hepburn, because it was Audrey Hepburn, and not, as planned, the great Katharine, who arrived for a fitting in a tied-up T-shirt, tight trousers, sandals and a gondolier hat. The result was a relationship that lasted forty years, with the Anglo-American actress playing the role of the designer’s ambassador, both off screen and on, in great classic films such as Sabrina, Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Funny Face.

Hepburn entered the circle of the world’s smartest women and Hubert de Givenchy’s fame spread worldwide. Together the designer and his muse defined a new kind of beauty: exhaustive perfection of lines, narrow hips, willowy body and swan’s neck ….. The sixties ingenuous style was born chez Givenchy.

In 1957, Hubert de Givenchy again made the headlines by using Hepburn to promote his first perfume, L’Interdit. It was the first time that an actress had allowed her face to be used in perfumery. Success was enormous, with the American market immediately won over. This was when the designer’s clientele became almost exclusively Anglo-Saxon.

The information era made Hubert de Givenchy a superstar fashion designer – immortalised by Irving Penn and Richard Avedon, sketched by René Gruau and Christian Bérard – his supreme elegance became in 1973 the ideal example for his men’s fashion line, «Gentleman Givenchy». Even today that look remains a benchmark.

Having delayed launching licences on the advice of his friend and mentor, the legendary designer Cristóbal Balenciaga, Hubert de Givenchy made up his mind to do so in the seventies, to ensure the lasting nature of his costly haute couture collections. The house’s diversification then happened quite naturally with the designer running his aesthete’s eye over collections of table linen, furnishing fabrics, shoes, jewellery and even, in 1976, a car: Ford’s Lincoln Continental.

Hubert de Givenchy travelled widely. From Washington to Tokyo, promotional gala to institutional exhibition, the designer saw things big. And he saw further. He handled globalisation as the perfect man of the world that he is. Givenchy was always a man of his time. In 1988, he felt the wind turn towards major groups, and joined LVMH Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy at the very time when the world leader in luxury goods started to re-consider the way in which business is run, on the eve of the new millennium.

After retiring in 1995, Hubert de Givenchy was succeeded by young British designers. John Galliano (in January 1996), Alexander McQueen (in October 1996) and Julien MacDonald (in March 2001): three fashion non-conformists, just like Hubert de Givenchy when he first started. In 1956 Hubert de Givenchy was the first designer to present his collections simultaneously to the press and clients. Half a century later the young bloods from over the channel have successfully taken up the baton, with their colourful shows still being written about extensively as they flatter a whole new generation of couture clients.

In December 2003, the British tailor Ozwald Boateng was appointed creative director for Givenchy Homme and in March 2005 the Italian designer Riccardo Tisci was appointed creative director for the Givenchy Femme haute couture and ready-to-wear collections.

Givenchy from 1927 to present

1927
Hubert James Taffin de Givenchy is born in Beauvais, France.

1945
Aged seventeen, inspired by his mother’s glossies, prompted by his seamstress cousins and brimming with youthful exuberance, Hubert de Givenchy leaves Beauvais for Paris. He begins his apprenticeship as a draughtsman for the couturier Jacques Fath.

1946
Hubert de Givenchy is recommended by the celebrated surrealist illustrator Christian Bérard for a design post at Robert Piguet.

1947
Word-of-mouth about the dashing young man at Piguet spreads like wildfire in the hermetic world of Parisian haute couture, and it isn’t long before Hubert de Givenchy leaves Piguet for Lucien Lelong, upon the recommendation of the newly-acquainted Christian Dior. Six months later, illustrator René Gruau puts a word in for Givenchy at Elsa Schiaparelli, where the young man becomes the couturiere’s first assistant and the director of her celebrated Place Vendôme boutique.

1951
After four years of collaboration, Hubert de Givenchy resigns from Schiaparelli, intent on opening his own couture house. The somewhat overbearing couturiere thunderously dismisses him as «yet another bankruptcy».

1952
Hubert de Givenchy opens his own maison at n° 8, rue Alfred de Vigny, overlooking Paris’s Parc Monceau. On February 2nd, he presents his first couture collection, featuring the now famous ‘Bettina’ blouse as a nod to his newly appointed press relations director, the celebrated fifties beauty Bettina Graziani. The collection’s revolutionary concept of ‘separates’- lightweight s***ts and billowing blouses- was unheard of in the tightly corseted and heavily embroidered world of haute couture at the time. The couturier’s use of ‘shirting’- a coarse cotton akin to the toile used for fittings - further heralded the casual chic that would come to define the second half of the century. Life magazine features a Givenchy look on its cover. Clients file into the couturier’s gothic salons, which becomes known as ‘the Cathedral’. Early-day supermodels- Suzy Parker, Ivy Nicholson, Capucine- squabble to feature in his shows.

1953
Two decisive encounters:
• Cristóbal Balenciaga, introduced to Hubert de Givenchy at a Condé Nast cocktail in New York. The legendary Spanish couturier praises Givenchy’s organdie scarf pricked with springs of lily of the valley for its youth and freshness. Hubert de Givenchy becomes the charismatic- if not overly sociable- couturier’s closest friend and most long-standing protégé («my adopted son» Balenciaga would say) until Balenciaga’s death in 1972.

• Audrey Hepburn, who flew to Paris for a last minute makeover, her Edith Head-designed wardrobe for Sabrina having failed to please director Billy Wilder. Having been announced a certain «miss Hepburn», Hubert de Givenchy expects the movie’s lead, Katharine Hepburn, at the fitting. Instead, the as yet unknown British actress saunters in wearing black leggings, a knotted T-shirt, flat sandals and a gondolier’s hat, only to swan out with the entirety of Givenchy’s samples for his upcoming presentation. Clean lines, gamine features and long, gracile limbs: the ingénue of the sixties was born at Givenchy. Hepburn wears Givenchy in Sabrina (dir: Billy Wilder; 1954), Love in the Afternoon (dir: Billy Wilder; 1957), Funny Face (dir: Stanley Donen; 1957), Breakfast at Tiffany’s (dir: Blake Edwards; 1961), Charade (dir: Stanley Donen; 1963), Paris when it Sizzles (dir: Richard Quine; 1963), How to Steal a Million Dollars and Live Happily Ever After (dir: William Wyler; 1965) and Bloodline (dir: Terence Young; 1979).

1954
Upon the death of Jacques Fath, French entrepreneur Jean Prouvost asks Hubert de Givenchy to develop the first collection of high-end women’s ready-to-wear to be designed by a couturier. «Jacques Fath Université» thus becomes «Givenchy Université». The line is manufactured in Paris’s 10th arrondissement garment district on industrial sewing machines imported from the United States.

**Rasputin** · 11-29-2005, 08:43 AM

Givenchy Part II

1956
To stall counterfeit, Cristóbal Balenciaga and Hubert de Givenchy take the initiative of presenting their collections simultaneously to the clients and the press. Catwalk shows have been presented this way ever since.

1957
Hubert de Givenchy follows the advice of Balenciaga and launches his own perfumery division «Parfums Givenchy» in spite of repeated offers from american pharmaceutical giants. The fragrances are produced in Balenciaga’s factory on the outs***ts of Paris, and the perfumery division is placed under the direction of Hubert de Givenchy’s brother.

Givenchy creates «De», his first women’s fragrance, followed by «L’Interdit», a fragrance inspired by the couturier’s muse, Audrey Hepburn. It’s the first time a couturier banks in on the heady success of a Hollywood A-lister for a fragrance campaign. It’s also the last time a Hollywood heavyweight waives her fees for such an endorsement.

1958
Hubert de Givenchy presents his «baby-doll» collection to critical acclaim.

1961
Launch of Givenchy’s two first men’s fragrances «L’eau de Vétiver» and «Monsieur de Givenchy».

1961
Hubert de Givenchy designs Jacqueline Kennedy’s wardrobe for her state visit to France and dresses her for dinner with president de Gaulle in Versailles. The fittings are cloaked in secrecy: the ever-stylish First Lady is held to wear only American brands, but, true to form, chooses the diplomatic slur over the fashion faux pas. De Gaulle compares her to a Watteau oil painting.

Maison Givenchy moves to n°3, avenue George V, and opens its first Parisian boutique at the same address. Although Hubert de Givenchy first balks at the extravagant cost of his new headquarters, Balenciaga predicts that in two years he will have outgrown his ateliers.

1963
Hubert de Givenchy expands his business and buys out the whole hôtel particulier.

1965
The Givenchy Ball in Houston is the first major exhibition aimed at consolidating Hubert de Givenchy’s stronghold on the American market. Others include the Universal Exhibition in Montréal 1967 a group exhibition in San Antonio, Texas 1968 and a grand-scale tour of Givenchy fashion extravaganzas across the United States 1970

1968
Launch of the high-end ready-to-wear collection «Givenchy Nouvelle Boutique», in association with French clothing manufacturer Mendès.

1972
The Givenchy ateliers lose sleep over the famous black riding coat that H.R.H. the Duchess Of Windsor orders overnight for the duke’s funeral the next day.

1973
Hubert de Givenchy participates in the prestigious line-up of five French couturiers and five American designers staged by the late Marie Hélène de Rothschild at the Gabriel Theater in Versailles.

Givenchy launches «Gentleman Givenchy», his first men’s ready-to-wear collection. The always impeccably turned-out Hubert de Givenchy, forever on the arm of the world’s most iconic beauties, proves to be his new label’s own best marketing tool.

1978
Givenchy is awarded the Dé d’or, France’s most coveted fashion prize, for his fall/winter collection.

1980
Hubert de Givenchy is voted Personality of the Year 1979 and Most Elegant Man of the Year by The Best.

French president Valéry Giscard d’Estaing personally opposes the sale of «Parfums Givenchy» to a British conglomerate, as part of his agenda to protect French cultural heritage.

1981
«Parfums Givenchy» is sold to Veuve Clicquot champagnes.

1982
Givenchy is awarded his second Dé d’or for his spring/summer collection.

A retrospective of thirty years of design, presided by Audrey Hepburn, is staged for Givenchy at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology.

1983
Hubert de Givenchy is knighted Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur.

1984
Launch of the women’s fragrance «Ysatis». The streamlined bottle is inspired by the New York skyline.

1985
French minister of culture Jacques Lang awards Hubert de Givenchy with the Oscar of Elegance during a ceremony at the Paris Opera.

1988
Givenchy Couture is sold to luxury goods group LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, following the group’s acquisition of Veuve Clicquot and Parfums Givenchy.

1991
A lavish retrospective spanning forty years of creation is staged at Paris’s Galliera Museum of Fashion and Costume.

Launch of the women’s fragrance «Amarige».

1992
Former mayor of Paris and current French President awards Hubert de Givenchy with the medal of Arts et des Lettres.

«Givenchy Nouvelle Boutique» becomes «Couture Givenchy».

1995
Hubert de Givenchy retires from the house he founded forty-three years earlier.

1996
On January 1st, British designer John Galliano is appointed as head designer of Givenchy’s haute couture and ready-to-wear lines.

On October 14th, John Galliano departs for Dior and is replaced at the helm of Givenchy by fellow British Designer of the Year and enfant terrible Alexander McQueen.

Launch of the women’s fragrance «Organza».

1999
«Gentleman Givenchy», «Couture Givenchy» and «Haute Couture» are consolidated under the single brand name «Givenchy».

Launch of the men’s fragrance «π».

2000
Launch of two women’s fragrances: «Oblique» and «Hot Couture».

2001
In March, Julien Macdonald is appointed as creative director of Givenchy.

2003
Liv Tyler becomes the face of the new women’s fragrance «Very Irresistible Givenchy».

On December 8th, British tailor Ozwald Boateng is appointed as creative director of the Givenchy men’s division (ready-to-wear and accessories).

2005
On February 28th, Italian designer Riccardo Tisci is appointed as creative director of the haute couture, ready-to-wear and accessories lines.

**Rasputin** · 11-30-2005, 06:36 AM

Christian Dior

Christian Dior (January 21, 1905 – October 24, 1957), born in Granville, was an influential French fashion designer.

In 1946, Christian Dior established his main house of couture in Paris with the backing of a textile magnate Marcel Boussac. In twelve years he expanded his business to 15 countries and employed over 2,000 people.

Dior is known mainly for the 1947 "New Look" which employed narrow shoulders, constricted waist, emphasized bust, and long, wide s***t. His designs represented consistent classic elegance, stressing the feminine look. The New Look revolutionized women's dress and reestablished Paris as the center of the fashion world. Dior spread his fashions around the world when he and his partner, Jaques Rouet, started franchises in the fashion industry. In 1953 Yves Saint-Laurent became his assistant and was destined to be his successor but was reluctantly forced to leave when the time came for his military service. On returning, after trouble with his temporary replacement Marc Bohan, he soon opened his own maison de couture once his obligations were over.

He was continually feuding with his elder brother Raymond Dior and one of his earliest childhood memories was that Raymond would always lock him down in the dark cellar beneath the house in Granville whenever he had the opportunity, then go scouring the garden searching for critters to push under the door. Once he had made his fortune he attempted to rebuy the house where he was born but the owner (Granville town council) rejected his offers. He refused to set foot in the town of Granville for the rest of his life. However, when Jean Cocteau bought the small château at Milly la Forêt (Essonne) and Christian Dior shortly afterwards bought a disused water-mill in the same village, he persuaded his brother Raymond to buy a fermette in the village of Noisy sur Ecole (Seine et Marne) only 4km away. On the rare occassions when they found themselves together it usually ended in dispute with Raymond calling his brother "filthy queer" while Christian replied with "impotent drunk."

Towards the end Christian was living a hectic life with injections to wake up in the morning, injections for his appetite, and further injections to sleep. His niece, Françoise Dior, was once his favourite (at her marriage with Count Robert-Henri de Caumont la Force it was Christian Dior who gave the bride away at the ceremony while Raymond sat drinking the time away in a local bar) but held Nazi sympathies, openly blamed his Jewish manageress who procured his medications along with a collection of young men, of being part of a Jewish plot forcing him towards his death. For once Raymond agreed with his rebel daughter, discounting the Jewish plot theory. Normally under French inheritance law, having no children or parents, Raymond should have been his logical successor but the rift provoked by Françoise caused him to disinherit his close family totally.

The plump Dior, who suffered from heart trouble, reportedly died of a heart attack while undergoing a weight-loss cure at the spa in Montecatini, Italy, in an effort to make himself more desirable to his young North African lover, singer Jacques Benita; the death reportedly occurred in the lobby of the Hotel Pace after an after-dinner canasta game. "Alexis: The Memoirs of the Baron de Redé", the 2005 memoirs of Paris socialite Alexis von Rosenberg, Baron de Redé, however, suggest that the fashion designer actually died of a heart attack after a too strenuous evening spent with two young men.

Although his death made N°1 in all the French press it was immediately forgotten, overshadowed by the launching of the first Soviet sputnik three days later.

At the time of his death, Dior salons had been opened in 24 countries. The Dior firm—successively led by designers Yves Saint Laurent, Marc Bohan, Gianfranco Ferre, and John Galliano—continued to be a fashion leader and was associated with a much wider range of merchandise, including menswear and household linens.

**Rasputin** · 12-01-2005, 08:36 AM

Dolce & Gabbana

It's not easy to circumscribe the Dolce & Gabbana universe within a definition.
A world made up of sensations, traditions, culture and a Mediterranean nature.
Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana have made a trademark of their surnames which is known throughout the world, easily recognizable thanks to its glamour and great versatility.

Two Designers who have known how to make a flag out of their Italian character.
Two Designers who have known how to interpret and impose their sensual and unique style on a world-wide basis.
Two young Designers who address themselves to young people and who draw inspiration from them.
Two Designers adored by the Hollywood stars who have made the duo their favorites: two Designers who dress all of the rock stars of the moment and who have elected them as their unquestionable leaders.
The Designers of Madonna, Monica Bellucci, Isabella Rossellini, Kylie Minogue and Angelina Jolie, amongst others.

The Dolce & Gabbana woman is strong: she likes herself and knows she is liked.
A cosmopolitan woman who has toured the world but who doesn't forget her roots.
A woman who indifferently wears extremely sexy guêpières or bras that can be seen under sheer clothes, contrasting them with the very masculine pinstripe suits complete with tie and white shirt or a men's vest. She always wears very high heels which, in any case, give her both an extremely feminine and sexy way of walking and unmistakable posture. She loves that so masculine cap imported from Sicily and the rosary of the first Communion which she wears as a necklace. She can indifferently be a manager, wife, mother or lover but she is always - and in whatever case - thoroughly a woman.

And the same is true for the man.
At his ease, he dresses for himself, a little hedonistic he pays considerable attention to details. He loves everything that doesn't schematize him. He's free and he's successful.
He can go to the office wearing an impeccable pinstripe suit or equally with worn out jeans and blazer. He's a man who lays down the rules, he's not subjected to them. Exuding charisma, he imposes his traditions by wearing the cap, the waistcoat and the timeless white T-shirt vest.

Fashion

Fashion

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