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Showing posts with label french fashion designer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label french fashion designer. Show all posts

Couture & Contemporary Air Conditioning. Duvelleroy, The Fan Maker to The Queen.






Hand held fans are one of those accessories you don't readily associate with today's fashion. But as the Fan Maker to the Queens in the 19th century, Duvelleroy is the only Parisian house of fans having survived to this day, now being run and contemporized by Eloïse Gilles et Raphaëlle de Panafieu. Formal to fun, their fan collections are unparalleled in terms of design and quality.


above: Eloïse Gilles et Raphaëlle de Panafieu resurrected the brand in 2010

Duvelleroy fans have always been conceived as fashion accessories. Duvelleroy's Couture fans use the finest materials. The Guards and sticks are made of materials such as ebony, carbon fibre, mother of pearl, horn, or bone. Hand laid inlays, copper and furs, silks and feathers (marabou, ostrich, peacock), sequins, laces and brocades embellish the centuries old accessory.



Horn, ebony, mother-of-pearl are cut up in the raw material to obtain layers only 9/10th mm thick, which are then cut in the shape of the frame.



The losses are important but this is the indispensable condition to obtain frames of 14 sticks that lose nothing of their lightness. This requirement is the characteristic trademark of French fanmakers.

First, a little history:
During the XIXth century, DUVELLEROY opened a boutique in Paris at the prestigious address of 15, rue de la Paix as well as an affiliate in London on Bond Street. The ‘Rive Droite’ anchorage of DUVELLEROY was to be consolidated throughout the House’s different addresses in Paris, up until the 1980s.



Under the conduct of the second generation of the Duvelleroy family, the House met with a modern artistic current, which it was about to epitomize in its fans : Art Nouveau. Among the artists who worked for DUVELLEROY during this period, Gendrot, Leloir and Louise Abbéma were the most emblematic of this new era.



above: details of vintage Duvelleroy fans

The fan was metamorphosed into sinuous curbs, venomous flowers and fabulous creatures such as peacocks, snakes and dragons. During this Art Nouveau period, characterized by great inventiveness for DUVELLEROY, two House emblems were born: The “balloon” Fan, named after the aerial shape of its leaf and the daisy as a signature, stamped on each rivet. The two icons can still be found in DUVELLEROY’s contemporary fan collections.



above: The "Balloon" shape and the daisy shaped rivet are two icons still found in Duvelleroy's collections

During the XIXth century, DUVELLEROY published the language of the fan, a small booklet explaining the coded gestures used by women since centuries to say “I love you”, “follow me” or “you are cruel”, with a simple manipulation of their fan.

Official supplier to the Queens, starting with Queen Victoria, DUVELLEROY created the fans given to the Spouses of Statesmen for their official visits in France, for example the Empress of Austria, the Queen of Sweden, the Queen of Denmark and the Queen of Bulgaria.

The House also created Eugénie de Montijo’s fan for her wedding with Napoleon III, and the white ostrich feather fan worn by the Queen of Egypt.

DUVELLEROY specialized itself in “trophy” fans, intricate artworks of feathers assembled from a single bird, sometimes even integrating a bird’s head on the guard.



above: A 1890's Duvelleroy Trophy Bird Fan (images courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum)

In parallel with its Couture collections, DUVELLEROY also developed as early as the 19th Century an offer of promotional fans, collaborating with artists such as Paul Iribe (see illustration below), to accompany some of the great names in luxury to advertise differently their brand and products.


above: Fan design by Paul Iribe, who was also known for his sketch of a mother and daughter which inspired Lanvin’s trademark

Numerous fragrance & champagne houses, palaces and couture houses have turned towards DUVELLEROY for original advertising fans.

In 2010, two young women partnered with DUVELLEROY’s last heir and threw themselves into resurrecting the house. One is passionate of brand heritage, the other has worn fans since childhood. When Eloïse and Raphaëlle met, together they forged a dream : to resuscitate couture fans, by redeveloping one of the most important Parisian fan house. They became partners with the inheritor of the DUVELLEROY house, to give a second life to the brand by launching contemporary creations.

Duvelleroy Couture Fan Collection:


















The ultimate expression of Duvelleroy’s Couture spirit is embodied by sequined fans. Each sequin, the thinness and shape of wich are designed solely for fans, is hand embroidered once the leaf of the fan is mounted, so as to avoid any risk of overlap with a pleat.



Contemporary Duvelleroy Fan Collection:
A less expensive irreverant collection with fans by such designers as Jean Charles and Louis Marie de Castelbajac, Lovisa Burfett and Zoulikha Bouabdellah which are available through their e-boutique.






New Bridal Fan Collection:
Most recently they've launched a new Bridal Collection featuring a white ostrich fan for the bride and "Oui" fans for the Bridal Party:

Couture Fan (made to measure). Leaf in white silk & ostrich feathers, frame in white mother-of-pearl:

Price: 2000 €.

Duvelleroy
Duvelleroy e-boutique

all images © Duvelleroy and the Metropolitan Museum

YSL Retrospective At The Petit Palais - And A Mini One Here.



above portrait by Jeanloup Sieff, 1972.



A retrospective of fashion legend Yves Saint Laurent opened yesterday at the Petit Palais in Paris, only two years after his death in 2008.



The impressive retrospective covers 15 chapters of his career, its critical acclaim and occasional failures, including his 1971 forties-inspired "scandal collection", which was pummeled by critics at the time.


above photos © Fondation Pierre Bergé - Yves Saint Laurent

The exhibit begins with his early work for Christian Dior and continues through to his last final collection, in 2002. In total, there are 307 pieces of couture and ready-to-wear fashions accompanied by films, artwork and photos.


above: Yves Saint Laurent in his Dior studio

above: Yves Saint Laurent in his own studio, 1986

Designs for Catherine Deneuve in the 1967 movie Belle de Jour, Lauren Bacall, and the Duchess Of Windsor are included as well as creations that were inspired by art, far away places (he is said to have used his imagination and preferred that to travel) and the glamour of Hollywood.

Okay, so it's not as impressive as the actual show, but here's a little retrospective I put together for you (in case you can't get to the Petit Palais) of many of the key pieces from his numerous and varied collections, in chronological order, along with some art and photos from the exhibit:

1958 (for Dior):

1958 and 1960 (for Dior):

1962:

1965 (the famous Mondrian dress and a tribal inspired Raffia dress) :

1966 (this was for the YSL Rive Gauche Collection):

1967 (for Catherine Deneuve in Belle De Jour, for which he designed all her outfits):

Miss Deneuve with the designer:

1967 and 1968:

1968 and 1969 (for the Duchess of Windsor):

1969 and 1970:

1971 ( aka "the Scandal Collection"):

1971 (for Jane Birkin) and 1973 (for Lauren Bacall)

1976:

1977 and 1986:

1981 and 1982:

1990:

1992 and 1997:

2001:

2002 (his final collection):

all fashion photos © Alexandre Guirkinger


YSL sketches for his spring couture 1988 collection:


His Love series of artwork, which he began in 1970:

1977:

1985:

above images of fashions and art from yslretrospective.com


An IIHIH tangent: Prunier Caviar has used YSL artwork on their special collection of LOVE caviar tins for many years. Due out this coming October is the one shown below:



There are also many vintage editorial and advertising photos included in the retrospective, such as the ones below.



The following photo of Yves Saint Laurent by Jeanloup Sieff taken in 1971 has become an iconic image of the couturier and is also included in the retrospective.


And here are some images, by Francois Mori for the AP, from the exhibit itself:




The show runs from March 11- August 29th, 2010 at The Petit Palais.


Petit Palais
Musée des Beaux-Arts 
de la Ville de Paris

Avenue Winston Churchill

75008 Paris
+33 1 53 43 40 00

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