11 Famous French Designers That Revolutionized Fashion

French designers are considered the best and some of the most popular in the world.

France is regarded as the fashion capital and a style mecca.

Starting with old school icons like Chanel, Dior, Givenchy, and Jean-Paul Gaultier, France’s fashion industry has been developing and evolving for decades. And a large part of that may be attributed to the country’s brilliant fashion designers.

From haute couture to affordable luxury, here are some of the best-known French designers.

11 Famous French Designers You Should Know

1. Chanel

Coco became interested in fashion when she was about 18 years old. It all began in 1909. She was the mistress of a businessman named Étienne Balsan at the time, who helped her launch a hat-making firm in Paris in 1910.

She went on to open more boutiques in Deauville and Biarritz, as well as start making and selling garments.

Coco Chanel, a true style hero of the 1920s, was recognized for her modest but sophisticated clothes, accented with wonderful accessories.

In 1921, she introduced the Chanel no. 5 perfume, followed by the Chanel suit in 1925 and the little black dress in 1926.

Coco Chanel decided to revive the couture firm in 1954 after being away from the industry owing to the international economic slump and World War II.

Coco Chanel also designed the Chanel bag 2.55, which became a worldwide sensation in 1955. She wanted a purse with a long strap that was practical for women on the go. This bag has now become one of the most recognizable fashion purses of all time which also puts Chanel as one of the best handbag brands in the world.

She died in 1971, aged 88, after a long day’s work, alone on her bed in the Hotel Ritz. Her final words to her maid Celine were “You see, this is how you die,”.

Up to this day, Coco Chanel remains one of the most influential French people of all time.  

READ MORE: Interesting Facts About Coco Chanel.

2. Dior

Christian Dior was born in Granville, a small town on France’s Normandy coast, in  1905.

As a child, he was always interested in art and aspired to be an architect. Christian founded a small art gallery with the aid of his father after graduation in 1928.

Christian’s art gallery, however, was forced to close due to the Great Depression.

To supplement his income, he began working for fashion designer Robert Piquet. Following his military duty in 1940, he was offered a job working for fashion designer Pierre Balmain.

Christian Dior established his couture firm in October 1946, at the age of 41. Dior had only one goal in the postwar era of deprivation and rationing: to help women find joy, elegance, and beauty.

On December 16, 1946, at 30 Avenue Montaigne in Paris, the House of Dior was founded. Christian Dior’s debut collection, “La Ligne Corolie” (“New Look”), was launched in 1947.

It was a huge hit and completely transformed the post-war fashion world. In the 1940s, elements such as rounded shoulders, a tightened waist, and a long A-line skirt were groundbreaking.

Christian Dior transformed elegance and femininity in barely ten years, from 1947 to 1957.

His name became synonymous with French luxury all over the world after he set out to be an architect and provided ladies his idea of beauty through graceful lines.

In 1957, at the age of 52, Christian Dior died of a heart attack in Montecatini, Italy.

READ MORE: Interesting Fun Facts About Christian Dior.

3. Jean Paul Gaultier

Gaultier’s fashion sense was evident from an early age. His grandmother’s corsets piqued his interest. He used to read fashion publications and was always up to date on the latest trends and hot fashion designers.

He was a fashionista who created outfits for his mother and grandparents. He sent some of his sketches to fashion designers in Paris and ended up working with some of the most successful, including Pierre Cardin.

Over the years, Gaultier became one of the most extravagant and in-demand French fashion designers, creating costumes for a variety of artists and films.

The cone bra Madonna wore during the Blonde Ambition Tour in 1990 was designed by Jean Paul Gaultier, and it is one of the most iconic ensembles ever. In his fashion displays, Gaultier introduced the “sailor sweater.” 

His catwalk shows are sheer entertainment, not just showcases of his collections. His models aren’t your typical models. Jean Paul Gaultier himself has observed a few of them out and about.

Some of the persons hired for his fashion displays include tattooed models, pierced models, midgets, and pregnant women. He pushes the boundaries of style. Men wearing skirts, for example, are examples of how he challenges the idea of gender in his work.

READ MORE: Interesting Facts About Jean Paul Gaultier

4. Yves Saint Laurent

This French designer dubbed the “King of Fashion” for a reason, has revolutionized the fashion world. He has done it all, from setting ground-breaking trends like the introduction of the tuxedo suit for women to using non-white models.

Yves Saint Laurent redefined fashion by establishing the credibility of ready-to-wear clothing.

Many trendsetting designs were introduced by his label, Yves Saint Laurent YSL, such as the iconic Le Smoking tailored tuxedo suit, the beatnik appearance, safari jackets for men and women, tight trousers, tall, thigh-high boots, and so on.

Saint Laurent died of brain cancer on June 1, 2008, at his home in Paris.

READ MORE: 12 Interesting Facts About Yves Saint Laurent.

5. Givenchy

Hubert de Givenchy began his career in fashion in 1944 as an apprentice designer at Jacques Fath’s couture firm while attending the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He worked as an assistant designer for Fath, Lucien Lelong, Robert Piguet, and Elsa Schiaparelli in the early 1950s.

Givenchy launched his couture firm in 1951, and the “Bettina blouse,” a basic white cotton shirting blouse named after Fath’s favorite model, Bettina Graziani, became an instant sensation.

Givenchy’s first clothes for Audrey Hepburn were designed in 1954. Givenchy created various pieces for her and several films, including Sabrina (1954), Funny Face (1957), Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961), and My Fair Lady (1962). (1964).

Givenchy is well notable for designing the dress that Jacqueline Kennedy wore at President John F. Kennedy’s funeral.

The French designer debuted the “Givenchy Gentleman” line in 1969, and it immediately became a men’s fashion staple.

For his men’s ready-to-wear collection, Givenchy favored a blend of classicism and casualness.

Givenchy’s brand and legacy have been linked with a Parisian flair for more than 50 years, loved by some of the most iconic personalities of the twentieth century (from Grace Kelly, Elizabeth Taylor, Jackie Kennedy, to his muse Audrey Hepburn).

On March 10, 2018, Hubert de Givenchy passed away peacefully in his sleep at his Renaissance chateau near Paris. He was 91. 

6. Hermès

Thierry Hermès founded Hermès as a harness workshop on Paris’s Grands Boulevards in 1837. Initially, his goal was to supply saddles, bridles, and other leather riding gear to European noblemen.

Hermès became one of the most well-known saddlery dealers in the following decades. They also started making leather bags for feeding the horse, storing the saddles, and carrying other riding gear. 

Throughout the decades, the company’s product range grew, and in the 1920s, accessories and clothes were offered. Hermès introduced iconic products like the Kelly bag (named after Grace Kelly) and the Hermès carrés in the 1930s (scarves).

The first Hermès silk tie and the first Hermès perfume, Eau d’Hermès, were released in 1949.

The “Birkin bag” was developed in 1984, following a meeting between then-CEO Jean-Louis Dumas and Jane Birkin on a journey from Paris to London, during which Birkin expressed her need for a medium-sized bag to Dumas. The Birkin has become one of the most recognizable bags of all time.

Thierry Hermès died in January 1878 at the age of 77 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Paris,

7. Rene Lacoste

When a well-known tennis player becomes a designer, the public expects something genuinely exceptional, which is exactly what we got with Lacoste. Rene Lacoste did not follow typical on-court fashion, and his sportswear reflected this.

He rejected the formal shirts in favor of short-sleeved knit shirts, which he later manufactured.

Lacoste shirts, with their trademark crocodile insignia on the left breast, were introduced to the American market in 1950. Since then, this French brand has never looked back.

Rene Lacoste passed away on Oct. 12, 1996 at the age of 92 at a hospital in his hometown of St. Jean de Luz following surgery for a broken leg. He also had prostate cancer.

8. Louis Vuitton

Louis Vuitton, then 16 years old, arrived in Paris in 1837 and began working as a trunk-master for Monsieur Maréchal, where he spent the next 17 years.

Horse-drawn carriages, boats, and railroads were the primary modes of transportation at the time, and travelers relied on skilled craftsmen to pack and secure their valuables.

Louis quickly established himself as one of the industry’s top. When Napoleon III was crowned Emperor of France in 1852, his wife, Eugenie de Montijo, hired Louis Vuitton as her packer and box maker.

Louis founded his box-making and packing business at 4 Rue Neuve-des-Capucines, near the Place Vendome, in 1854.

With the introduction of rectangular trunks in 1858, his company grew in popularity. Louis was also able to grow his business by opening a second workshop in Asnieres in 1859. (a village outside Paris).

Because the company was plagued by counterfeit, the “Damier Canvas” design was established in 1888, complete with the trademarked emblem “marque L. Vuitton déposée.”

During the 1900s, Louis Vuitton’s son Georges developed the company by creating new bags, such as the Keepall in 1930 and the Speedy in 1932. Louis Vuitton’s Noé, Alma, and Papillon bags are still popular today.

Louis Vuitton died in Asnières-sur-Seine, France, in February 1802 at the age of 70.

9. Lanvin

Lanvin is a prominent and historic fashion house in Paris. Jeanne Lanvin, then 22 years old, founded her first hat shop on the mezzanine of 16 rue Boissy d’Anglas in 1889.

She founded her fashion brand four years later, after obtaining a commercial lease on the exclusive street du Faubourg Saint-Honoré.

Lanvin began designing dresses for her daughter Marguerite after she was born in 1897. Jeanne Lanvin started a children’s clothes department in 1908 and dedicated an entire portion of her store to it.

The designer then launched a Young Ladies’ and Women’s category in 1909. Mothers and daughters would come together to select clothing from the Lanvin line.

Jeanne Lanvin joined the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture (the Parisian Fashion Council) the same year, converting her millinery to design.

Jeanne Lanvin died in Paris in 1946, at the age of 79.

10. Christian Louboutin

Known for the iconic red-soled high heels, Louboutin began spending nights in popular Parisian clubs when he was a teenager, where he met major fashion figures.

Hélène de Mortmart of the Dior house was one of them, and she helped to secure him an internship at Charles Jourdan, the inventor of the stiletto heel. It was there that he learned everything there is to know about shoe design.

After completing his internship, he pursued his passion of working as a freelance shoe designer for high-end fashion houses such as Hervé Léger and Chanel.

Christian Louboutin built his first store in Paris in 1991 on rue Jean-Jacques-Rousseau.  His fame grew throughout the years, and his shoes became a must-have for the world’s most celebrities.

READ MORE: Interesting Facts About Christian Louboutin.

11. Sonia Rykiel

Fashion must be exciting, vibrant, and comfy for Sonia Rykiel. She began her career as the Knit Queen in 1968 when she opened her first shop on Rue de Grenelle in the Saint Germain des Près area, which she regarded to be the true Paris.

Brigitte Bardot and Audrey Hepburn popularized her designs. Sonia Rykiel was the first to print slogans on her sweaters, and today nearly every company follows suit. Her ingenuity and creativity made her one-of-a-kind.

Sonia Rykiel defied the fashion trends of the day by mixing elegance and ease. Her brightly colored striped skirts and jumpers are the most unique items you can have in your closet.

Rykel is renowned and adored for her vibrant creations as well as her entertaining fashion displays.

On the runway, the models danced, laughed, and hugged each other. Every time a Sonia Rykiel fashion show took place, you knew you’d be in for a terrific time filled with laughs.

Rykiel disclosed that she had Parkinson’s disease in 2012. On August 25, 2016, she died due to the complications of her disease.