Christian Lacroix Knihy

Christian Lacroix is one of the world's most admired and influential fashion designers, the embodiment of the style and glamour of French haute couture. This is his own account of his life and career, from his childhood in Arles to his arrival in Paris, where he was to meet his wife and partner, Francoise. Here his career from his first tentative steps at the House of Patou to his own label within the space of six years. In Lacroix's world visual imagery counts far more than words. Hundreds of lavish color and monochrome illustrations strikingly illuminate his story. Selected from Lacroix's sketchpads, his diary, his pinboard, and old family albums, they are interspersed with vividly remembered impressions that were the sources and springboards of his creativity--a mesmerizing Beaton portrait, the soft drapery of an Arlesienne costume, the feline face of an actress, the brio of a matador cape. Many sketches drawn especially for this publication decorate and complement the narrative. Fashion design, says Lacroix, is an area in which "processes beyond the reach of intellect are at work." Here we see into these processes. Memory, associations, and visual patterns from the conscious and the unconscious mind have fed his imagination to produce some of the most glorious and inventive designs of haute couture today.

Eight haute couture fashion sketch note cards. Four couture designs, two of each design. Each design printed and laser-cut in signature Christian Lacroix lace pattern

Créateur parmi les plus marquants et les plus fertiles du moment, ne cessant d'inventer et de se réinventer, Christian Lacroix est aussi, par formation et par goût, un véritable érudit de l'histoire de la mode et du costume. Invité par Les Arts Décoratifs à célébrer les vingt ans de son parcours et de la création de sa maison, il a choisi de sortir du cadre traditionnel de la rétrospective pour s'aventurer, de longs mois durant, dans les réserves du musée et en reporter à la lumière tous les vêtements historiques ou de créateurs qui lui semblaient remarquables. Regroupés par thèmes, ces vêtements, distingués à ses yeux par tel détail de coupe, de texture ou de motif, sont mis en regard, ou en dialogue, avec ses propres créations, créant un fascinant jeu d'échos et de rebonds entre le présent et le passé.