Jacques Griffe (1909–1996) was a French couturier and fashion designer.

Biography

Griffe was born in

Carcassonne Carcassonne is a French defensive wall, fortified city in the Departments of France, department of Aude, Regions of France, region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania. It is the prefectures in France, prefecture of the department. ...

, France. He died in 1996.

Fashion career

Griffe served an apprenticeship for a tailor in Carcassonne, before relocating to Toulouse where he worked for Mirra, a dressmaker there who followed the Paris collections. From 1936 to 1939 he worked with

Madeleine Vionnet Madeleine Vionnet (; June 22, 1876, Loiret, France – March 2, 1975) was a French fashion designer best known for being the "pioneer of the bias cut dress". Vionnet trained in London before returning to France to establish her first fashion hou ...

as a cutter, before launching his own couture house in 1942. Initially based on the rue Gaillon, he later relocated to the

rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré The Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré () is a street located in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France. Relatively narrow and nondescript, especially in comparison to the nearby Champs-Élysées, Avenue des Champs-Élysées, it is cited as being on ...

, and eventually took over

Edward Molyneux Edward Henry Molyneux () (5 September 1891 – 23 March 1974) was a leading British fashion designer whose salon in Paris was in operation from 1919 until 1950. He was characterised as a modernist designer who played with the refinements of co ...

's salon on the

rue Royale Rue Royale (French for "Royal Street") may refer to several streets: * Rue Royale, Brussels, Belgium * Rue Royale, Lyon, France *Rue Royale, Paris The Rue Royale () is a short street in Paris, France, running between the Place de la Concorde a ...

. Griffe is particularly known for his mastery of draping, which he developed while at Vionnet, and for his strong technical skills, using complicated

shirring Shirring is a decorative sewing technique that involves stitching together many rows of gathered fabrics. Shirring reduces the size of the original fabric while adding texture to the resulting decorative fabric. In sewing, shirring is two or more ...

, pleating and tucking techniques to shape his garments and form subtle patterns and textures. He paid tribute to his mentor not only through his cutting and draping, but by featuring his own fingerprint on his dress labels as Vionnet herself did. Vionnet also gave him a miniature mannequin to use for developing his designs, and the colleagues eventually became friends in 1948. His designs are in the collections of many museums, including the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...

, the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

, the

RISD Museum The Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design (RISD Museum) is an art museum integrated with the Rhode Island School of Design, in Providence, Rhode Island, US. The museum was co-founded with the school in 1877. It is the 20th-largest art m ...

, the

National Gallery of Victoria The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and list of most visited art museums in the world, most visited art mu ...

, and the

Palais Galliera The Palais Galliera, also formally known as the Musée de la Mode de la Ville de Paris (City of Paris Fashion Museum), and formerly known as Musée Galliera, is a museum of fashion and fashion history located at 10, avenue Pierre 1er de Serbie, ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Griffe, Jacques 1909 births 1996 deaths French fashion designers People from Carcassonne