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Even after he stepped down from his brand, having run it for 20 years, his design signature remained unchanged.Īndré Courrèges collection “Moon Girl” in 1965. Regardless of who was the originator, it was indeed true that Courrèges combined modernity with a masterful approach to craft. Running parallel with the youth movement of the 1960s, he claimed it was not Mary Quant but him who invented the mini skirt. He mixed luxury with logic, and despite criticism from the previous generation designers, such as Chanel, he did not waive from his signature style. He was fascinated by functionality, practicality and freedom of movement. Courrèges was also a visionary when it came to business, and launched his more affordable diffusion line because he knew that his target customer will not be able to afford the pricier haute couture line.Īndré Courrèges winter collection 1964 “Space Age”.ĭespite having worked at Balenciaga, Courrèges had his own stylistic language, which set him apart as a designer. What he introduced was groundbreaking, causing Vogue to commission Irving Penn to do a photoshoot with his collection.
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While the collection was well-received, it won’t be until 1963 when the brand, Courrèges, will make fashion history with its futuristic design, go-go boots, miniskirts and goggles. The Courrèges story began when he started working for Cristobal Balenciaga, who not only mentored him but also provided him with a loan in order to open his first fashion house in Paris. ANDRE COURREGES - 1960s Space Era fashion designer. He studied engineering and even served as a pilot during Second World War. See more ideas about futuristic fashion, fashion, space age fashion. He wanted to pursue design and study at an art school from a very early age, but his father wanted him to become an engineer. They are modern and they are antique.’Īndré Courrèges was born to a butler father and a homemaker mother. And just as designers are continuously looking back to the future, why shouldn’t you own a piece of fashion history? Click through to shop the look.Where do his tennis dresses, his sailor dresses come from? Where did he find them? On the steps of Delphi.
60S SPACE FASHION MOD
And the Courrèges look inevitably finds its way onto inspiration boards at many of our contemporary designers’ studios: Consider ** Raf Simons’**s astronaut jumpsuits at Christian Dior’s fall couture 2014 show, or **Frida Giannini’**s coupling of mod shifts and patent-leather boots at Gucci’s fall 2014 show.
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60S SPACE FASHION HOW TO
A photograph by William Klein (a fellow proponent of the mod aesthetic) from _Vogue’_s Maissue celebrated the then-fledgling designer: Dressed exclusively in Courrèges, a pair of bespectacled models appear as fashionable intergalactic representatives from the planet earth.īut the look came down to earth, too: One might recall Audrey Hepburn whizzing around in her convertible in the opening sequence of How to Steal a Million, outfitted in milky white Courrèges, from her chin-strap helmet to her white kid gloves.
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Abbreviated hemlines, contrasting borders, and punchy stripes in silhouettes borrowed from children’s wear comprised the designer’s vocabulary. Nowhere was this truer than with André Courrèges, whose designs epitomized the era’s affection for everything outer space.ĭesigning for the year 2000, Courrèges’s eponymous label championed the youthful mod aesthetic for his sophisticated 1960s couture clientele. Chin-strap space bonnets, flat ankle boots, and sleek, plastic-like tech fabrics typified the space-age look as women readied themselves for a new sartorial stratosphere. The space race in the 1960s produced a crop of young designers aiming to equip the fashion masses for what they assumed to be the next frontier. Marked by sweeping social change, the 1960s saw the birth of the modern age.
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