Grès was a French

haute couture (; ; French for 'high sewing', 'high dressmaking') is the creation of exclusive custom-fitted high-end fashion design. The term ''haute couture'' generally refers to a specific type of upper garment common in Europe during the 16th to the ...

fashion house founded by Madame Grès in 1942. Parfums Grès is the associated perfume house, which still exists, and is now based in

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

History

Germaine Émilie Krebs (1903–1993), known as Alix Barton and later as " Madame Grès", relaunched her design house under the name Grès in Paris in 1942. Prior to this, she worked as "Alix" or "Alix Grès" during the 1930s. Formally trained as a sculptor, she produced haute couture designs for an array of fashionable women, including the

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Greta Garbo Greta Garbo (born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson; 18 September 1905 – 15 April 1990) was a Swedish-American actress and a premier star during Hollywood's Silent film, silent and early Classical Hollywood cinema, golden eras. Regarded as one of the g ...

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, and

Dolores del Río María de los Dolores Asúnsolo y López Negrete (3 August 1904 – 11 April 1983), known professionally as Dolores del Río (), was a Mexican actress. With a career spanning more than 50 years, she is regarded as the first major female Latin Am ...

. Her signature was cut-outs on gowns that made exposed skin part of the design, yet still had a classical, sophisticated feel. She was renowned for being the last of the

houses to establish a

ready-to-wear Ready-to-wear (RTW)also called ''prêt-à-porter'', or off-the-rack or off-the-peg in casual useis the term for garments sold in finished condition in standardized sizes, as distinct from made-to-measure or bespoke clothing tailored to a partic ...

line, which she called a "prostitution". The name Grès was a partial

anagram An anagram is a word or phrase formed by rearranging the letters of a different word or phrase, typically using all the original letters exactly once. For example, the word ''anagram'' itself can be rearranged into the phrase "nag a ram"; which ...

of her husband's first name and alias. He was Serge Czerefkov, a Russian painter, who left her soon after the house's creation. Grès enjoyed years of critical successes but, after Grès herself sold the business in the 1980s to Yagi Tsucho, a Japanese company, they hired

Lloyd Klein Lloyd David Klein is a French couturier born 15 February 1967 in Canada. His fashion label is Lloyd Klein Couture. Career Klein was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, to French parents and was raised in Paris, France.Emili Vesilind (6 December ...

as the artistic director for the entire house supervising 46 licencies between Paris and Japan. At the time,

Klein Klein may refer to: People *Klein (surname) *Klein (musician) Places * Klein (crater), a lunar feature *Klein, Montana, United States * Klein, Texas, United States * Klein (Ohm), a river of Hesse, Germany, tributary of the Ohm * Klein River, a r ...

was offered one of the highest salaries of per month and an annual fee of 12 million FRF. After the death of Madame Grès,

left the house to continue his collections in New York. By 2012, the last Grès store in Paris was closed. Some of Grès' work is exhibited at 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, ...

in Paris.

Style

The Grès house produced many Hellenic, draped dresses. The influence of Grès' sculpting years is very visible.

Parfums Grès

Grès's signature fragrance was ''Cabochard'', created by Bernard Chant, and launched in 1958. , ''Cabochard'' is still being manufactured and retailed. Other perfumes, launched after the sale of the company, include: * ''Cabotine ''(1990) * ''Folie Douce'' (1997) * ''Cabaret'' (2003) * ''Caline'' (2005) * ''Caline Night'' (2006) * ''Sphinx Hommage a Greta Garbo'' ''(a fragrance dedicated to the actress Greta Garbo)''''.''

References

Biography

* Laurence Benaïm, ''Madame Grès'', Editions Assouline, 1999 (in French) * Patricia Mears, ''Madame Grès: Sphinx of Fashion'', Yale University Press, 2008

History

Style

Parfums Grès

References

Biography

Further reading