George Barbier

George Barbier (1882 - 1932) was one of the great French illustrators of the early 20th century. Born in Nantes, Franceon October 10, 1882, Barbier was 29 years old when he mounted his first exhibition in 1911 and was subsequently swept to the forefront of his profession with commissions to design theatre and ballet costumes, to illustrate books, and to produce haute couture fashion illustrations. For the next 20 years Barbier led a group from the Ecole des Beaux Arts who were nicknamed by Vogue "The Knights of the Bracelet"—a tribute to their fashionable and flamboyant mannerisms and style of dress. Included in this élite circle were Bernard Boutet de Monvel and Pierre Brissaud (both of whom were Barbier's first cousins), Paul Iribe, Georges Lepape, and Charles Martin. During his career Barbier also turned his hand to jewellery, glass and wallpaper design, wrote essays and many articles for the prestigious Gazette du bon ton. In the mid 1920s he worked with Erté to design sets and costumes for the Folies Bergère and in 1929 he wrote the introduction for Erté's acclaimed exhibition and achieved mainstream popularity through his regular appearances inL'Illustration magazine. Barbier died in 1932 at the very pinnacle of his success.

Christian Bérard

Christian Bérard noto anche con il nome di Bébé (Parigi, 20 agosto 1902 – 11 febbraio 1949) è stato un pittore e scenografo francese.

Bérard ed il suo compagno Boris Kochno, che diresse i Balletti russi e co-fondò i Ballet des Champs-Elysées, fu uno dei più illustri omosessuali dichiarati in Francia durante glianni trenta e quaranta. Nacque a Parigi, studiò dapprima al Lycée Janson de Sailly e successivamente, nel 1920, entrò nell' Académie Ranson, dove subì le influenze delle tendenze coloristiche diÉdouard Vuillard e delle abilità grafiche di Maurice Denis.

Nel periodo che intercorse fra le due guerre si agganciò agli ambienti letterari e teatrali pronto a seguire e a proporre mode e idee. Esordì con la sua prima esposizione nel1925, alla Galleria Pierre. Sin dagli inizi della sua carriera si interessò attivamente alle scenografie e ai costumi teatrali, e fissò importanti norme atte allo sviluppo del design artistico teatrale e della moda di quegli anni, al punto che si arrivò a parlare di uno "stile Bérard". Lavorò a lungo, come illustratore, per Coco Chanel, Elsa Schiaparelli, e Nina Ricci. Il suo eclettismo lo portò ad oscillare da un settore ad un altro e uno dei suoi lavori più riusciti fu la sua collaborazione artistica con Jean Cocteau nel film del 1946intitolato "La bella e la bestia".

Poco incline alle correnti di avanguardia e innovative, abbracciò il neo-romanticismo figurativo, con l'esplicito intento di riportare le arti ad una dimensione umana, che qualche critico considerò l'indizio più di una aridità creativa che di una originalità espressiva. Dal punto di vista pittorico si mise in evidenza come ritrattista della Parigi colta e mondana.Morì all'improvviso per un infarto all'età di 47 anni presso il Théàtre Marigny durante le fasi di preparazione dell'allestimento dell'opera teatrale Fourberies de Scapin. A lui è dedicato lo Stabat mater del suo intimo amico e compositore Francis Poulenc.

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Hussein Chalayan

Hussein Chalayan

Hussein Chalayan MBE (English: /huˌseɪn ˈʃʌləjɑːn/; given name Hüseyin Çağlayan, Turkish: [hyseˌjin ʧaːlaˈjan]) (born 1970) is a British/Turkish Cypriot fashion designer who graduated from Central Saint Martins in 1993.

Biography

Hussein Chalayan was born in Nicosia (Lefkoşa in Turkish) in 1970 and graduated from the Turkish Maarif College of his hometown. He moved with his family to England in 1978,^[2] obtaining British citizenship. He first studied for a National Diploma in fashion and clothing at Warwickshire School of Arts, and proceeded to study Fashion Design at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London. His graduate collection in 1993, titled "The Tangent Flows", contained clothes which he had buried in his back yard and dug up again.^[3] An instant sensation, the whole collection was purchased and displayed in luxury designer store Browns in London.

Professional career

In 1995, Chalayan beat 100 competitors to clinch a top London fashion design award. In the contest, organised by the company "Absolut", Chalayan, aged 25, won financial backing to the tune of £28,000 to develop creations for the British capital's Fashion Week in October 1995.^[5]
Also in 1995 Chalayan worked with avant-garde star Björk. The jacket that Björk wears on the iconic cover of her album Post was designed by Hussein Chalayan. Björk's Post tour also featured several creations by Chalayan and Björk modeled for Chalayan in October 1995 for London Fashion week.
In the fall of 1998, while still designing his signature line, he was appointed as a design consultant for New York knitwear label TSE. His collaboration with them lasted till 2001 when the company decided not to renew his contract.
Chalayan has always struggled with sponsorship and funding, often receiving it from various other companies and his own country.TSE's decision not to renew his contract caused further financial difficulties as the designer amounted 250,000 pounds in debt and was forced to go into voluntary liquidation. Subsequently, he restructured his company and staged comeback collection in 2001 without a catwalk presentation, and designed for high-street label Marks and Spencer to make ends meet.Italian clothing manufacturer Gibo also helped the designer as did British jeweller Asprey, who appointed him as their fashion director the same year.
However, his achievements have not gone unnoticed. He was crowned 'British Designer of the Year' in 1999 and 2000,and was awarded a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) on 17 June 2006.International recognition also followed, where he was awarded the Design Star Honoree by The Fashion Group International at their annual Night of Stars Gala, New York in 2007.
Things continued to improve for the designer. In 2002, Chalayan expanded his design portfolio with his menswear line,^[1] the exclusive rights of which were sold to internet retailer Yoox.com in 2007. After going through financial woes including having to move his studio three times and working from home with his team in-between, he announced plans to relocate his fashion shows to Paris. In 2004, he and added another diffusion line 'Chalayan' to his expanding list of design duties.
In 2003, Hussein Chalayan portrayed his wabi-sabi inspiration through amorphous layered drapings.
A passionate fashion designer, Chalayan has made his feelings for celebrity-based fashion clear when he publicly announced how he felt about Kate Moss's collaboration with high-street clothing label Top Shop, calling the move "insulting".
Collaborations do not stop with art and fashion for the designer, who is also a philanthropist. In 2007, he donated a showpiece to the Fashion is Art exhibition in aid of radio station Capital 95.8's Help a London Child charity which was sold at an exclusive auction in London.
In early 2008, he designed a series of laser LED dresses in collaboration with luxury label Swarovski, showcased in Tokyo. 28 February 2008, Chalayan was appointed as the creative director for German sportswear label Puma.Puma have also announced that they have purchased a majority stake in his label.The designer also collaborated with German hoisery and legwear label Falke to produce one-off footwear pieces for his Autumn/Winter 2008 collection show cased in Paris.
On February 13, 2011, he and Nicola Formichetti collaborated with Lady Gaga at the 53th Annual Grammy Awards.

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