Showing posts with label Hubert de Givenchy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hubert de Givenchy. Show all posts
August 16, 2025
September 20, 2018
James Galanos, Cartier & me
Today is the birthday of James Galanos who was an American fashion designer and couturier born on September 20, 1924, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the only son of Greek-born parents, Helen Gorgoliatos and Gregory Galanos.
According to Wikipedia, his father was a frustrated artist who ran a restaurant in southern New Jersey,
where Galanos had his first glimpses of well-dressed women. Galanos
recalled that he was "a loner, surrounded by three sisters. I
never sewed; I just sketched. It was simply instinctive. As a young boy I
had no fashion influences around me but all the while I was dreaming of
Paris and New York."
James Galanos - 1975
photo by Richard Avedon
James Galanos - 1975
photo by Richard Avedon
On Oct.
25, 1985, Galanos staged a promotional fashion show for his ready-to-wear designs accessorized by Cartier with informal modeling in the elegant Landmark Lobby of the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco, California. I was production coordinator for the event.
Unfortunately, I did not get a chance to meet Galanos himself; during the production planning I dealt with "his people". But it was exciting on the night of the event to watch the gorgeous models in the elegant Galanos designs descend the ornate staircase flanked by beautiful marble columns . . .
.
. . then wend their way through the equally elegant crowd with the men
in their tuxedos and and the women in evening gowns. Of course, many of
the women were wearing designs by Galanos.
In 1942 James Galanos went to New York City intending to enroll at a school headed by Barbara Karinska, the great Russian stage designer and costumer. When the school failed to open in the autumn, he enrolled at the Traphagen School of Fashion, one of the first schools of its kind. He attended two semesters at Traphagen, the first spent in general design studies and the second in draping and construction. After eight months, in 1943, Galanos left the school because he felt that what he wanted to learn could only be acquired from practical experience in the garment industry.
In 1944, Galanos got a position as a general assistant at the New York East 49th Street emporium of Hattie Carnegie but disappointed, Galanos left Carnegie and began selling his sketches to
individual manufacturers on Seventh Avenue for less than $10.00 per
sketch. Then, in 1945, his former Traphagen style and fashion teacher
Elisabeth Rorabach called his attention to a help-wanted ad she had seen
in The New York Times, placed by textile magnate Lawrence Lesavoy. "His beautiful wife, Joan, was hoping to launch a ready-to-wear dress
business in California, and they were looking for a designer," recalled
Galanos. The Lesavoys employed him for $75.00 a week and sent him
to Los Angeles. However, the Lesavoys
divorced, and Galanos lost his job.
~ ~ ~
In 1942 James Galanos went to New York City intending to enroll at a school headed by Barbara Karinska, the great Russian stage designer and costumer. When the school failed to open in the autumn, he enrolled at the Traphagen School of Fashion, one of the first schools of its kind. He attended two semesters at Traphagen, the first spent in general design studies and the second in draping and construction. After eight months, in 1943, Galanos left the school because he felt that what he wanted to learn could only be acquired from practical experience in the garment industry.
date & photographer unknown
photo by Nelson Tiffany
"Out of pity," Galanos said, Jean
Louis, head costume designer at Columbia Pictures,
hired him as a part-time assistant sketch artist. Soon afterwards,
Lawrence Lesavoy agreed to send the 24-year-old Galanos to Paris, just
as couture houses there were rebounding from the war. Couturier Robert Piguet absorbed the American into his stable of assistants, among whom were Pierre Balmain, Hubert de Givenchy, and Marc Bohan.
At the Piguet atelier, Galanos met with fabric and trimming suppliers
to choose materials, sketched and draped up designs under the eye of
Piguet, who oversaw his work on a daily basis.
date & photographer unknown
In 1948, Galanos decided to return to the U.S and accepted a job with Davidow, a dress-making firm in New York. The new job allowed him very little creativity, and he resigned shortly.
James Galanos - 1954
photo by Allan Grant
In 1951, Galanos decided to take another shot at California, and when the opportunity arose for him to open his own company, Galanos Originals, in 1952, he created a small collection, which was immediately ordered by Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills.
James Galanos - Marilyn Monroe - 1950's
photographer unknown
Legendary magazine editors and style arbiters such as Diana Vreeland, Eleanor Lambert and Eugenia Sheppard became fans, ensuring that he would become a household name within months. From this first collection, his clothing has been admired for its particularly high quality, especially considering it was ready-to-wear, not custom-made.
James Galanos - 1961
James Galanos - 1964
brocade evening dress w/gold
mesh top
& matching brocade coat.
Buyers examine the fabric of a floor-length bridal gown with floral appliqué, veil and headpiece from the James Galanos Couture Spring 1964 collection.
James Galanos - 1964
photo by Tony PalmierI
In 2002, he blasted the fashion industry for catering to only young women with perfect bodies. In an interview with WWD he asked the reporter, Eric Wilson, shaking his head in contempt, "How many women can wear just a patch over their crotch and a bra? Aren't you embarrassed when you see a young girl walking down the street practically naked? Fashion is geared only to young people today," Galanos continued. "All we see is Levi's and bare bellies to the point of nausea. There are no clothes for elegant women. Let's face it, some of the things you see in the paper are absolutely monstrous looking – and I'm not squeamish. God knows I made sexy clothes in my day, but there's a point when you have to say, 'Enough, already'."
James Galanos - Nancy Reagan - 1967
photo by Fred Lyon
He reinvented himself as an abstract photographer, in 2006, at age 82, his first exhibition of photography was held to great acclaim at the Serge Sorokko Gallery in San Francisco. The show featured more than 40 photographs taken by Galanos over the previous several years. The works were mostly abstract, with the notable exception of a few mystical, mirror-effect enigmatic landscapes. Much like fashion design, his photography revolved around material, shape and color. The subjects were crafted by Galanos out of paper or fabric and then photographed in evocative light, creating subtle variations of tone and shading.
James Galanos - 1968
photo by Nick Machalaba
Galanos was the subject of numerous museum solo exhibitions, and his designs are in the permanent collections of important museums worldwide, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Victoria and Albert Museum in London, U.K, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, in Los Angeles, Musée Galliera in Paris, France, the Phoenix Art Museum in Phoenix, Arizona, the Philadelphia Museum of Art in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC, the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, N.Y., the Brooklyn Museum in Brooklyn, N.Y. and the M. H. de Young Memorial Museum in San Francisco, California.
James Galanos Dress, Lace, silk matelassé and silk taffeta - 1987
Phoenix Art Museum (link below)
photo by Ken Howie
“Everything he made was beautifully designed and exquisitely crafted,” said Kaye Spilker, costume and textiles department curator at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, which held a Galanos retrospective in 1987 and has 106 of his designs, which he donated between 1961 and 1998. “What’s interesting about him is you see the broad spectrum of his work, from the ‘50s to the ‘80s, from very tailored, ladylike and conservative, to bright splashy prints. That could be the L.A. effect.”
James Galanos - Celine Dion - Academy Awards - 2007
photo by Frazer Harrison
His designs were a favorite among socialites and Hollywood stars. He dressed Diana Ross for the 1979 Academy Awards and Nancy Reagan for the 1981 and 1985 inaugural balls.
James Galanos - Nancy Reagan - 1981
White House Red Room
photographer unknown
Galanos retired in 1998 and lived in Palm Springs, California and West Hollywood. He died on October 30, 2016. He was 92 years old.
Viewfinder links:
Hubert de Givenchy
Marilyn Monroe ~ Imperfection is beauty
Carl Van Vechten & the Harlem Renaissance
Net links:
Vanity Fair ~ When Galanos Spelled Glamour
WWD ~ Galanos Focus of Exhibition at the Phoenix Art Museum
The Cut ~ Remembering James Galanos, Who Helped Define California Glamour
NY Times ~ James Galanos, Fashion Designer for the Elite, Dies at 92
James Galanos telephone interview - 1997
Galanos
James Galanos
“I’m only interested in designing for a certain type of woman,
specifically, one that has money."
~ James Galanos
specifically, one that has money."
~ James Galanos
Styrous® ~ September 20, 2018
March 14, 2018
Audrey Hepburn articles/mentions
John Fitzgerald Kennedy articles/mentions
~
Kennedy In Germany ~ June 1963
That Was the Week That Was
mentions:
Hubert de Givenchy, Kennedy & Hepburn
Jacqueline Kennedy ~ American Royalty
Marilyn Monroe @ 100
photo: White House Press Office
~
March 12, 2018
Hubert de Givenchy, Kennedy & Hepburn ~ timeless style
Givenchy died day before yesterday on March 10, 2018. He was a French fashion designer who founded The House of Givenchy in 1952. He was famous for having designed much of the personal and professional wardrobe of Audrey Hepburn and clothing for Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy. He was named to the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame in 1970.
He was born Count Hubert James Marcel Taffin de Givenchy (pronounced [ybɛʁ də ʒivɑ̃ʃi]; on February 21, 1927.
Givenchy
photo by Robert Doisneau
Givenchy
photo by Robert Doisneau
HIs first designs were done for Jacques Fath in 1945. Later he created designs for Robert Piguet and Lucien Lelong (1946) – working alongside the still-unknown Pierre Balmain and Christian Dior. From 1947 to 1951 he worked for the avantgarde designer Elsa Schiaparelli.
After he met Audrey Hepburn to design ensembles for the 1953 film, Sabrina, they would develop a design relationship and friendship that he said became "a kind of marriage". She is quoted as saying of Givenchy that "he is far more than a couturier, he is a creator of personality". She said it was his designs that gave her the
confidence to play her parts, or to step onstage before thousands of
people to promote a charity. But “when I first went to Hubert” in 1953,
she told Vogue, “I was still in homemade dresses.”
He dressed her personally and in pictures for decades, and in her most well-known films including Funny Face (1957) and Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961). His little black dress look for Hepburn in the film would become arguably his most iconic. He said in 2010: "The little black dress is the hardest thing to realise, because you must keep it simple."
Audrey Hepburn ~ Breakfast at Tiffany's - 1961
Former US First Lady Jackie Kennedy was among other celebrity fans of the designer, here wearing a veil and neat black Givenchy suit on the day of the funeral of her husband, John F. Kennedy, in 1963.
His final collection for the Fall/Winter season 1995-1996 ended his celebrated 43-year career. Before the show, he reportedly told his friends: “I’ve stopped making frocks, but not making discoveries. Life is like a book; one has to know when to turn the page.”
The 1950s and 60s were Givenchy’s golden years, but the designer continued to innovate in later life. At 6ft 6in (1.98m) tall, he was described as a giant of fashion in every sense.
Givenchy sold the business to Moet Hennessy-Louis Vuitton in 1988, but continued designing at the helm until his retirement in 1995. Other designers took the business reins after he moved on, including Alexander McQueen, Riccardo Tisci and John Galliano.
In January 2007, The French Post Office issued postage stamps for Valentine's Day that were designed by Givenchy.
In October 2014, a retrospective exhibition featuring ninety-five of his designed pieces took place at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid, Spain. His longtime partner was fashion designer Philippe Venet.
Count Hubert James Marcel Taffin de Givenchy died in his sleep at the Renaissance chateau near Paris on Saturday 10 March 2018.
Givenchy sold the business to Moet Hennessy-Louis Vuitton in 1988, but continued designing at the helm until his retirement in 1995. Other designers took the business reins after he moved on, including Alexander McQueen, Riccardo Tisci and John Galliano.
In January 2007, The French Post Office issued postage stamps for Valentine's Day that were designed by Givenchy.
Givenchy postal stamp - 2007
In October 2014, a retrospective exhibition featuring ninety-five of his designed pieces took place at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid, Spain. His longtime partner was fashion designer Philippe Venet.
Count Hubert James Marcel Taffin de Givenchy died in his sleep at the Renaissance chateau near Paris on Saturday 10 March 2018.
"Life is like a book; one has to know when to turn the page.”
~ Givenchy
Styrous® ~ Monday, March 12, 2018
May 4, 2016
20,000 Vinyl LPs 56: Audrey Hepburn ~ Breakfast at Tiffany's soundtrack
Breakfast at Tiffany's soundtrack
vinyl LP
photo by Styrous®
Today is the anniversary of the birth of Audrey Hepburn. To me, as well as probably millions of others, her greatest role was that of Holly Golightly in the 1961 film, Breakfast at Tiffany's. The film was based on the Truman Capote novel, Breakfast at Tiffany's.
The basic plot of the film is about Holly, a country girl turned New York café society girl. As such, she has no job and lives by socializing with wealthy men, who take her to clubs and restaurants, and give her money and expensive presents; she hopes to marry one of them. According to Capote, Golightly is not a prostitute but an "American geisha."
Breakfast at Tiffany's was received positively at the time, and won two Academy Awards: Best Original Score and Best Original Song for Moon River. It was also selected as the fourth most memorable song in Hollywood history by the American Film Institute in 2004. The film was also nominated for three other Academy Awards: Best Actress for Hepburn, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Art Direction.
In 2012, the film was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.
Hepburn was born on May 4, 1929, in Brussels, Belgium. She was the epitome of chic. She was a fashion icon as well as a movie star, was ranked by the American Film Institute as the third-greatest female screen legend in the Golden Age of Hollywood and was inducted into the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame.
Breakfast at Tiffany's soundtrack
vinyl LP back cover
photo by Styrous®
The score for the film was composed by Henry Mancini. Aside from his Award winning song, Moon River, arguably one of the most beautiful songs ever written and which ranked number 11 on the 1964 top chart list, my favorite song is Hubcaps and Taillights. The song is one of the great stripper songs of all-time along with The Stripper, by David Rose, and the incredibly sensual 1939 jazz standard written by Earle Hagen and Dick Rogers, Harlem Nocturne. My favorite version of Nocturne was by Earl Bostic; his rendition is outstanding! Both Hubcaps and Nocturn are saxophone spectaculars. Obviously, the sax, with its deep, throaty timbre, is a sensual instrument that lends itself nicely to eroticism.
The fashion designs for Hepburn/Golightly were by the French designer, Count Hubert James Marcel Taffin de Givenchy.
The fashion designs for Hepburn/Golightly were by the French designer, Count Hubert James Marcel Taffin de Givenchy.
Breakfast at Tiffany's soundtrack
vinyl LP label detail
detail photo by Styrous®
The basic plot of the film is about Holly, a country girl turned New York café society girl. As such, she has no job and lives by socializing with wealthy men, who take her to clubs and restaurants, and give her money and expensive presents; she hopes to marry one of them. According to Capote, Golightly is not a prostitute but an "American geisha."
vinyl LP sleeve front
photo by Styrous®
Breakfast at Tiffany's was received positively at the time, and won two Academy Awards: Best Original Score and Best Original Song for Moon River. It was also selected as the fourth most memorable song in Hollywood history by the American Film Institute in 2004. The film was also nominated for three other Academy Awards: Best Actress for Hepburn, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Art Direction.
In 2012, the film was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.
vinyl LP sleeve back
photo by Styrous®
Hepburn was born on May 4, 1929, in Brussels, Belgium. She was the epitome of chic. She was a fashion icon as well as a movie star, was ranked by the American Film Institute as the third-greatest female screen legend in the Golden Age of Hollywood and was inducted into the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame.
Audrey Hepburn 1956
photo by
orn in Altoona, Pennsylvania, in 1916. He Attended Los Angeles City College. He was hired by Hollywood photographer A.L. 'Whitney' Schafer at Colombia. He photographed stars of the 1930s. He also worked for Paramount Studios in the Publicity Photography Department and assisted in the portrait gallery
Hepburn was appointed Goodwill Ambassador of UNICEF and George H. W. Bush presented her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in recognition of her work with UNICEF. Grateful for her own good fortune after enduring the German occupation
as a child, she dedicated the remainder of her life to helping
impoverished children in the poorest nations. Hepburn's travels were
made easier by her wide knowledge of languages; besides being naturally
bilingual in English and Dutch, she also was fluent in French, Italian,
Spanish, and German.
On the evening of 20 January 1993, Hepburn died in her sleep at home.
After her death, Gregory Peck went on camera and tearfully recited her
favourite poem, "Unending Love" by Rabindranath Tagore.
Funeral services were held at the village church of Tolochenaz on 24
January 1993. Maurice Eindiguer, the same pastor who wed Hepburn and Mel Ferrer and baptised her son Sean in 1960, presided over her funeral,
while Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan of UNICEF delivered a eulogy.
A beautiful article by Luca Dotti, the son of Hepburn, appeared in the May, 2013 issue of Vanity Fair (link below).
A beautiful article by Luca Dotti, the son of Hepburn, appeared in the May, 2013 issue of Vanity Fair (link below).
Luca Dotti & Audrey Hepburn
photographer unknown
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences posthumously awarded her the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award
for her contribution to humanity, with her son accepting on her behalf.
"The best thing to hold onto in life is each other."
- Audrey Hepburn
Viewfinder links:
Audrey Hepburn articles/mentions
Hubert de Givenchy, Kennedy & Hepburn ~ timeless style
Net links:
Audrey Hepburn Filmography and stage roles
Audrey Hepburn website
Vanity Fair ~ My Fair Mother
The Guardian ~ Hepburn profile
YouTube links:
Moon River
Audrey Hepburn sings Moon River
Hub Caps And Tail Lights
Earl Bostic - Harlem Nocturne
David Rose ~ The Stripper
Moon River documentary
Audrey Hepburn ~ A&E Biography
Styrous® ~ Wednesday, May 4, 2016
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