Fashion File - Christian Lacroix

Christian Lacroix - Spring/Summer 2007

In 2005, an American investment company bought the Paris-based House of Christian Lacroix. Since then Lacroix, a designer known for his over the top baroque aesthetic, has been told by his new bosses to cool it with the flamboyance.
Now there probably aren’t many French designers who would be happy about being told, by Americans, to commercialize their design aesthetic. But that’s exactly what Christian Lacroix is these days. Happy.

Christian Lacroix - Fall/Winter 2006

After freeing himself from the shackles of his nearly twenty year relationship with longtime parent company LVMH and stepping down at Pucci, the emancipation of Christian Lacroix is now complete. And in striving to define the Lacroix customer, the designer tapped into his own southern-French roots hearkening back to a courtly “troubadours with swing” aesthetic.

Christian Lacroix Haute Couture - Fall/Winter 2006

After twenty years in haute couture, Christian Lacroix has mastered colour and structure in a way that few of his peers can match. Take a look at how he has proven his supremacy yet again in this season's couture collection...

Christian Lacroix Haute Couture - Spring/Summer 2006

For Spring/Summer 2006 Christian Lacroix infused his haute couture collection with a lot of beauty and a little reminder that death cannot be ignored. Not as sinister as you might think, amid the ruffles, frills and vivid colours was a message that life should be celebrated because it is fleeting.

Christian Lacroix - Spring/Summer 2006

Christian Lacroix is a happy guy these days: he gets on well with his new backers at the Falic Group, he’s finished with his stint at Pucci and free to focus on his own label, which is poised for growth. And apparently he spent the summer enjoying the south of France. Is it any wonder he’s smiling?

Christian Lacroix Haute Couture - Fall/Winter 2005

Things are looking good for Christian Lacroix. His founding backers at LVMH have sold his company to the Falic Group, formerly best-known for their duty free shopping empire, and the honeymoon period has been a happy one. In contrast to LVMH, which was constantly unhappy with the losses accrued by Lacroix couture, the Falic family sees haute couture as the backbone of the label – a magical image on which to build the brand. And magic is something that Lacroix can deliver.

Christian Lacroix - Fall/Winter 2005

Christian Lacroix calls his collection for Fall/Winter 2005 'flirt' and describes it as being ‘subdued’. A collection brimming with brocades, taffetas and multi-hued furs isn’t most people’s idea of subdued but then again, most people don’t run couture houses in Paris.

Christian Lacroix Haute Couture - Spring/Summer 2005

With all the pressure of his brand changing ownership, it was uncertain what one might expect from Christian Lacroix this season. But rising to the occasion he presented a synthesis of seasons past, fusing lightness and prettiness with his mastery of couture.

Christian Lacroix - Spring/Summer 2005

Christian Lacroix, the king of colour, shifts gears this season with a collection that primarily focuses on white. He is quick to point out that all the white is not about romanticism or sweetness, rather he was inspired by the noonday sun when it bleaches away colour.

Christian Lacroix Haute Couture - Fall/Winter 2004

Rumours of the death of haute couture continue to swirl – which is perhaps why some of the its most talented practitioners have taken things back to basics – or at least that’s what Christian Lacroix is doing this season.

Christian Lacroix - Fall/Winter 2004

A familiar face has returned to the prêt-a-porter calendar in Paris this season. Two years after financial concerns forced Christian Lacroix to stop showing ready to wear on the runway to preserve his resources for haute couture, he is back in fighting form.

Christian Lacroix Haute Couture - Spring/Summer 2004

Paradox rules Christian Lacroix’s haute couture collection for spring 2004. On the one hand there are huge explosions of frou-frou, and on the other something very stark and lean.

Christian Lacroix Haute Couture - Fall/Winter 2003

Is there such a thing as too much in the rarefied, extravagant world of Haute Couture, where mega rich clients pay tens of thousands of dollars for clothes that they often wear just once?
Christian Lacroix thinks not!
He spun together a mindboggling mix of influences for Fall 2003 that included French courtesans, flamenco dancers and Flemish paintings.

Christian Lacroix Haute Couture - Spring/Summer 2003

In a season where couture was troubled by rumours of war and rumblings around the art’s relevance, Christian Lacroix shrugged off any concessions to practicality, instead indulging in a collection of fairy tale clothes. His celebration of purely pretty in pink, was a dream of a wardrobe for any princess – real or imagined.
Fighting “la guerre en dentelle”, Lacroix presented a thoughtful commentary on the fragility of the art of haute couture, as represented in the fragility of each piece. A masterful suggestion that the proverbial “lightness of being” can begin with one’s clothes.

Christian Lacroix Haute Couture - Fall/Winter 2002

It seems out of character for a designer like Christian Lacroix to celebrate his 15 years in the business quietly. But that is what he chose to do this season. At the other end of the spectrum his couture collection for Fall/Winter 2002 was an exuberant mix of cultures, colours and textures in true Lacroix style.

Christian Lacroix - Fall/Winter 2002

As one of the few modern designers to begin a career with a signature couture collection before branching into ready to wear, Christian Lacroix continues to use his atelier as a laboratory for elaborate ideas that influence his other lines. While the delightful result is utterly unique pret-a-porter collections, the theatricality of Lacroix's designs find him alternately applauded for his imagination and criticized for an unrealistic view of the needs of the modern woman. Regardless, one certainly can't argue with the drama of a Lacroix gown.

Christian Lacroix Haute Couture - Spring/Summer 2002

Modern Couture: a contradiction in terms? Mais non! An art that's alive and well at the house of Christian Lacroix. Fashion File visits the designer at his atelier for a fitting before checking out his Spring 2002 collection: a perfect mix of fantasy, workmanship and wearability that scampers gracefully along the line between tradition and today.

Christian Lacroix - Spring/Summer 2002

"Organic" is the buzz-word at Christian Lacroix this season as vegetables and minerals team up with a little bit of Bladerunner as the abstract inspiration for a typically eclectic collection. Lacroix's ongoing study of layering colour and cut with dramatic results, has made him a couturier with a great understanding of the power of presence for a woman, and the elegance inherent in artisanal chic.