Thursday, January 7th, 2016 we lost André Courrèges but we are left with his legacy! He revolutionised fashion in the 60’s and brought us the 60’s “space age” aesthetic, the mini skirt, A-line dresses, plastic boots and vinyl jackets.
The sixties, a decade where “All you need is love”, a decade that made « a small step for a man a giant leap for mankind ». In the 60s, Martin Luther King had a dream, the world is in the middle of the Vietnam war, Marylin Monroe sang “Happy Birthday Mister President” and Audrey Hepburn is in “My Fair Lady.”
Amidst this rich cultural and political context, a new revolutionary fashion was created. Women are active and the world has to adapt. This period has the strength of the baby boomers and they are making changes. It is at this moment that André Courrèges, the famous visionary who brought us mini-skirt, entered the world of fashion.
“Nothing was ever the same after after the the explosion created by André Courrèges,” declared Yves St Laurent in 1966.
Far from his original profession as a public engineer, André Courrèges, began his career as a fashion designer. He was a modern visionary, loyal to his ideas and desires. He didn't follow the trends of high fashion, instead helps to save women from a tradition of being housewives to being modern woman.
He started his career working alongside the celebrity Spanish designer Balenciaga. He stayed with him for 10 years until 1961 when he created his own fashion house. He was 39 years old.
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