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Christian Lacroix
Christian Lacroix, 20 Years of Haute Couture on the Catwalk -Arles (FR) July 2008.
Born	(1951-05-16) May 16, 1951 (age 61) Caen, France
Nationality	French
Occupation	Fashion designer
Labels	Christian Lacroix

Christian Marie Marc Lacroix (French pronunciation: [kʁistjɑ̃ lakʁwa]; born 16 May 1951) is a French fashion designer. The name may also refer to the company he founded.

Early life[link]

Lacroix was born in Arles, Bouches-du-Rhône in southern France. At a young age he began sketching historical costumes and fashions. Lacroix graduated from high school in 1969 and moved to Montpellier, to study Art History at the University of Montpellier. In 1971, he enrolled at the Sorbonne in Paris. While working on a dissertation on dress in French 18th-century painting, Lacroix also pursued a program in museum studies at the École du Louvre. His aspiration during this time was to become a museum curator. It was during this time he met his future wife Françoise Rosenthiel, whom he married in 1974.

Christian Lacroix couture[link]

Christian Lacroix, 20 Years of Haute Couture on the Catwalk.

A Christian Lacroix gown on display in the "CONTRO-MODA" exhibition in Florence, Italy, at Palazzo Strozzi in 2007.

In 1987 he opened his own couture house. He began putting out ready-to-wear in 1988 drawing inspiration from diverse cultures. Critics commented that he did not seem to understand the type of clothing the working woman needed. In 1989, Lacroix launched jewelry, handbags, shoes, glasses, scarves and ties (along with ready-to-wear). In this same year, he opened boutiques within Paris, Arles, Aix-en-Provence, Toulouse, London, Geneva and Japan.

With his background in historical costume and clothing, Lacroix soon made headlines with his opulent, fantasy creations, including the short puffball skirt ("le pouf"), rose prints, and low décolleté necklines. He quoted widely from other styles—from fashion history (the corset and the crinoline), from folklore, and from many parts of the world—and he mixed his quotations in a topsy-turvy manner. He favored the hot colors of the Mediterranean region, a hodgepodge of patterns, and experimental fabrics, sometimes handwoven in local workshops.

In 2009 the fashion house, owned by duty-free retailer Falic Fashion Group, put the business into administration and laid off all but 12 workers. Lacroix's A/W 2009 Haute Couture was privately financed by Lacroix and each model was paid €50. "I didn't want to cry," said Lacroix "I want to continue, maybe in a different way, with a small atelier. What I really care about is the women who do this work" Lacroix said about his last Haute Couture collection. Throughout its history it never turned a profit and reported a €10 million loss in 2008.^[1]

Diffusion lines[link]

Lacroix's diffusion lines include:

His collections during 1994 were based on old culture and folklore, as well as fables and the past. In 1995, he launched a towel line which contained a fashion and lifestyle side, which represent how the two intertwine ("two sides of the same coin").

In 1996, he launched a jeans line. He included past traditions from all around the world, continuing the line with even more on ethnic arts.

In 1997, the Art de la Table line was launched by him in partnership with Christofle. A licensing agreement was also reached in this year with Pronuptian in which he could launch his Christian Lacroix Marriage line.

In 1999, he launched his first line of floral pers, and in 2000 he finished a line of novelty accessories which included semi-precious jewelry.

In 2001, Lacroix also launched a children's line and in 2002, he launched a perfume, Bazar, created by Bertrand Duchaufour, Jean-Claude Ellena and Emilie Copperman.

In 2004, Lacroix launched a lingerie for women line, as well as a menswear line.

He is known for his theatrical style which came from his work while in the theatre. This usually shows up with his use of colour in the collections he designs. Along with this, he is also known for his 'le pouf' dress (featuring the ball skirt)

Christian Lacroix Rouge, a perfume created by Lacroix exclusively for Avon Products.

He served as the Creative Director for the Italian fashion house Emilio Pucci from 2002–2005. He left on agreeable terms as he and the house believed that since he had other pursuits, it would be unfair to the house to not put in the energy required for future collections along with his other work.

Christian Lacroix has designed many dresses for Hollywood stars; among them, he is responsible for designing Christina Aguilera's wedding dress and in the 1990s was famed as being a favourite designer of Edina Monsoon in the UK sitcom Absolutely Fabulous (for which the house drew dubious credit).

He has also been the designer of the new uniform of Air France staff and crew in 2004 and pyjamas signed by him are handed out to passengers travelling on Air France First Class (L'Espace Premier).

Today, Lacroix has 60 points of sale within France (department stores included). Around the world, Lacroix has 1,000 total points of sale.

For Winter 2007, he has partnered with Avon cosmetics to introduce a new fragrance exclusive to Avon called Christian Lacroix Rouge for women (plus body lotion and shower gel) and Christian Lacroix Noir for men (plus after shave lotion and shower gel). His Avon product line was expanded with the release of Christian Lacroix Absynthe in the Spring of 2009, Christian Lacroix Absynthe For Him in the autumn of 2009, Christian Lacroix Nuit in fall 2011 and Christian Lacroix Nuit For Him in winter 2011.

Christian Lacroix's costume designs for the opera, theatre, dance and music were displayed at the exhibition "Christian Lacroix Costumier" at the National Museum of Singapore from March to June 2009.

In 2011 he started collaborating with the Barcelona-based clothing brand Desigual.^[2]

Director of interior design work[link]

Christian Lacroix has completed interior design work at several landmark hotels, including the Hotel Le Petit Moulin in Spring, 2005; the Hotel Bellechasse, right in the heart of Saint-Germain-des-Prés (Paris), in 2007 (a member of Small Luxury Hotels of the World); and in 2010 Le Notre Dame hotel just a step from the cathedral Notre-Dame-de-Paris.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Christian Lacroix

• Christian Lacroix Official site
• Christian Lacroix designer profile at Fashion Model Directory
• Sewing patterns by Christian Lacroix
• Christian Lacroix interview with Harper's BAZAAR Australia
• "Christian Lacroix Fashion Show at the V&A". Fashion, Jewellery & Accessories. Victoria and Albert Museum. http://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/fashion/fashion_motion/christian_lacroix/index.html. Retrieved 24 July 2007. 
• "Interactive timeline of couture houses and couturier biographies". Victoria and Albert Museum. http://www.vam.ac.uk/vastatic/microsites/1486_couture/explore.php. 
• NNDB
• Christian Lacroix interview
• Christian Lacroix – 20 years of Haute Couture, Arles

Carmen Kass
Carmen Kass, July 2007
Born	(1978-09-14) September 14, 1978 (age 33) Tallinn, Estonia
Height	5 ft 10.5 in (1.79 m)
Hair color	Light Brown
Eye color	Green
Measurements	86-61-86
Weight	114 lb / 52 kg
Manager	Women Management New York Baltic Models Storm Model Agency London Brave Model Management Milan Silent models Paris International Creative Management London

Carmen Kass (born September 14, 1978) is an Estonian model.

Early life[link]

Kass was born in Tallinn, Estonia and grew up in Mäo village, near Paide, the capital of Järva County. Kass, her sister and brother were raised only by their mother Koidu Põder.^[1]

Career[link]

Modeling[link]

Kass moved to Paris at the age of eighteen and soon received exposure by appearing on the covers of French and American Vogue, Australian Elle, UK Image, Madame Figaro, and French Numéro.^[2]

Her career was launched by Anna Wintour and by 1999, Kass was walking the runway for designers such as Shiatzy Chen, Marc Jacobs, Michael Kors, Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, Donna Karan, and Dolce & Gabbana, and posing in advertisements for designers and brands like Calvin Klein, Chanel, Gucci, Donna Karan, Dsquared2, Versace, Givenchy, Fendi, Max Mara, Valentino, Ralph Lauren, and even General Motors. She also appeared in a Gap denim advertising campaign and was a spokesperson for Revlon cosmetics, Sephora, and the Christian Dior perfume, J'adore.^[3] In 2007 alone, Kass booked ten campaigns with notable designers for spring/summer collections. As of 2007, she is the model and spokesperson for Max Factor.^[4][5] She is currently the face of Spanish fashion brand Hoss Intropia for Autum/Winter 2010 and Swedish brand Lindex. Kass was awarded by Vogue as "Model of the Year" at the 2000 VH1/Vogue Fashion Awards.^[6] While a model in New York, she attended the Lee Strasberg Institute.^[7] Kass is well known for her distinctive runway walk in the fashion industry despite her height, her feet are small (about an American size seven).^[8]

She opened the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in 1999, and also walked the 2000, 2002,^[9] 2003, and 2008.^[10]

Other endeavors[link]

In 2004, Kass played the female lead in the Estonian murder-mystery film Täna öösel me ei maga ("We Won't Sleep Tonight"; titled "Set Point" in the international release).^[11]

In February 2004, she joined Estonia's ruling Res Publica Party.^[12] Kass ran for the European Parliament after her homeland joined the European Union in May 2004.^[13] She won 2315 votes from the Estonian electorate, but was not elected to the European Parliament.^[14]

Kass plays chess^[15] and was elected president of the Estonian National Chess League in 2004.^[16] She ran a campaign for Tallinn to host the 2008 Chess Olympics; however, Dresden, Germany was chosen instead.^[17]

She is part owner of her mother agency, Baltic Models.^[18]

In 2008, Carmen Kass created a SMS loan company called Credit Market in Estonia.^[19] By April 2009, the Estonian media released an article noting that the company was in financial difficulties and had not paid taxes in Estonia.^[20]

Personal life[link]

Her older sister Victoria De Luna married singer Joel De Luna.^[21] The couple separated in 2004 after they both were charged and convicted with drug trafficking.^[22] Kass's older brother Kutty Kass is involved in real estate.^[23]

Kass has dated restaurant owner Richie Akiva whom she met in 1998 and dated until 2004.^[24] Since late 2004, she has been involved with Eric Lobron, a German chess champion.^[25]

She is a close friend of fellow top-tier model Gisele Bündchen amongst others.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Carmen Kass

• Carmen Kass at the Internet Movie Database
• Carmen Kass at the Fashion Model Directory