COURRéGES, ANDRé 1923-

Fashion designer

Innovation and Influence

There were many important fashion designers during the 1960s—Pierre Cardin, Yves St. Laurent, Oleg Cassini, and others—but among the most influential in both Europe and the United States was the experimental French couturier André Courrèges. He is credited for being among the first to introduce hemlines above the knee and pantsuits for women, among other innovative fashions.

Apprenticeship and Early Designs

As an adolescent Courrèges was inclined toward an artistic career, but following the wishes of his practical-minded father he became a civil engineer instead. In 1948 he left a promising engineering career and moved to Paris to enter the fashion world. After a few months in a small fashion house, he joined the house of Cristóbal Balenciaga and worked his way up from the bottom, from presser to Balenciaga's main assistant and cutter. In 1961, with his mentor's blessing, Courrèges started his own line, producing fashions highly influenced by his work with Balenciaga.

Zenith

Courrèges established a name for himself during the next few years, and in 1963 he came into his own with a series of designs totally unlike anything he or anyone else had done to that point, U.S. fashion journalists praised him—he was variously called the Picasso or the Le Corbusier of Paris couture—for his short skirts, inventive pants, and snow-white designs. He followed his successes in 1964 with his trademark white boots, women's pantsuits, and the first of what were called his space-age designs.

Retreat and Return

His haute couture fashions were worn by prominent women and were often widely copied and pirated, usually poorly. At the height of his success, in July 1965, Courrèges announced that he would show no more collections until he figured out a way to exercise greater control over his designs. Later that year he sold his house to L'Oral and worked only for private clients. He returned to the fashion world in 1967 with a highly publicized showing to which the press but not buyers were invited. His new designs featured see-through minidresses, space-age styles, and clothing with cut-out spaces exposing more of the models. In 1967 he also introduced a ready-to-wear line, Couture Future, to be licensed to particular stores as a less expensive alternative to his appointment-only designs. In 1968 stores in New York, Cleveland, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and five other American cities opened Couture Future boutiques.

Later Success

In the later 1960s and after, Courrèges's fashions became generally more subtle and tended to be more colorful. However, his aim remained, he said, to provide women with functional modern clothing; he disliked items such as bras and high heels. While his fashions favored youthful, athletic women, his clients included Lady Bird Johnson, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, and the duchess of Windsor.

André Courrèges 1923-, French fashion designer whose designs were especially popular and influential during the 1960s. He worked for the couturier Cristóbal Balenciaga from 1950 to 1961, when he opened his own house. Often using white, Courréges created space-age, unisex styles and is known for dresses and trouser suits featuring straight, flat lines and sheer tops that sometimes sported cut-outs. He is often credited with the invention of the miniskirt, which he frequently paired with shiny white boots. He later experimented with such looks as "gladiator" and ethnic outfits.