so i'm a big fan of the mod look and have always adored looking at vintage courreges designs, but what happened to the label? is it dead? i don't hear about it much anymore but i still see girls in japan carrying courreges handbags so it can't be completely dead, can it?
A Japanese fashion conglomerate bought the house , threw out the widow of Corrreges who was running it , and articles of clothing etc etc are now made with the AC logo .
I bought some polo shirts from a shop which buys in ' grey ' imports , which are labelled ' Andre Courreges ' , with an embroidered AC logo .
They are very good quality , but are not the brand as we knew it .
Don't be surprised if they decide to relaunch the brand in Europe !!!
It's ripe for exploitation .
I actually found the reference that I was looking for in the book I am reading at the moment , which I've mentioned before .
In 1985 Courreges had to sell control of his fashion house to the Japanese ready-to-wear firm , ITOKAN who agreed to support the loss-making couture side of the business. The money continued to flow down the drain . In 1985 the couture side of Courreges' business was closed , with virtually no consultation . Courreges was aghast and went on strike to gain public sympathy . This he achieved in a way that could only happen in Paris where even today, couture is considered the single truly artistic form of dressmaking . Everybody , including the French government which thought that ITOKAN had given a promise to maintain Courreges' couture , was shocked - but powerless because Courreges had signed away control to the Japanese firm .
Courreges later died of cancer ( and indeed a broken heart ) and his wife continued with the house for a time , only to be sacked by ITOKAN when business did not pick up .
That's why you see items labelled ' COURREGES ' in the Far-East , but seldom in Europe or the USA .
Incidentally , practically the same thing happened to Jean-Louis Scherrer , Bill Kaiserman and Luciano Soprani .
Originally posted by kit@Mar 21st, 2004 - 10:31 am I actually found the reference that I was looking for in the book I am reading at the moment , which I've mentioned before .
In 1985 Courreges had to sell control of his fashion house to the Japanese ready-to-wear firm , ITOKAN who agreed to support the loss-making couture side of the business. The money continued to flow down the drain . In 1985 the couture side of Courreges' business was closed , with virtually no consultation . Courreges was aghast and went on strike to gain public sympathy . This he achieved in a way that could only happen in Paris where even today, couture is considered the single truly artistic form of dressmaking . Everybody , including the French government which thought that ITOKAN had given a promise to maintain Courreges' couture , was shocked - but powerless because Courreges had signed away control to the Japanese firm .
Courreges later died of cancer ( and indeed a broken heart ) and his wife continued with the house for a time , only to be sacked by ITOKAN when business did not pick up .
That's why you see items labelled ' COURREGES ' in the Far-East , but seldom in Europe or the USA .
Incidentally , practically the same thing happened to Jean-Louis Scherrer , Bill Kaiserman and Luciano Soprani .
A sad story , indeed .
KIT
i saw the jean-louis scherrer couture show for fall ...is he still alive and designing?...it was wierd...it looked like old scherrer and old ysl...it wasn't bad...but it was like the twilight zone...i could see ivana trump wearing it...maybe deneuve...
Jean Louis Scherrer does not design any more , at least under his own name as he does not own it anymore . ( Same situation with Koji Tatsuno who also has lost the right to his own name , but designs for GRES , under that pseudonym ) .
Jean Louis Scherrer Couture is designed by Stephane Rolland , and perhaps also the ready-to-wear as well , although the Japanese owners of the house had the Indian designer , RITU BERI , design the rtw for a couple of seasons .
As to the book , it does say that SCHERRER survived as a house by concentrating on selling ultra-expensive beaded and embroidered dresses to the Middle-Eastern market , as did CARVEN and GUY LAROCHE and other smaller French houses .
thanks for the info, kit. tho now i don't know if i will buy any of the "courreges" (quotes on purpose) stuff when i'm there. makes me sad about the conglomerate buying out the designer.
Doesn't Colette in Paris have a special Courreges department? And if I am not mistaken,Jeffrey in NY also sells the line. Not sure if its the new stuff or just a collection of vintage
I've seen some of the new jackets and they look just the same as they always were when AC was designing. I think that's the main thing that keeps people interested if it is being sold. Like Blum* said,that was AC bread & butter.
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'rise like lions after slumber. in invanquishable number-shake your chains to earth like dew which in sleep had fallen on you-ye are many-they are few'
percy bysshe shelley,the last verse of:
the mask of anarchy
i've never seen Courreges at Collete myself, anyway they are changing their stock very often, nothing stays for long there.
when i was in Paris in early march there was a Courreges corner at Le Printemps designer floor, just a shop-in-shop with vintage re-makes and they had a "courreges month" but i really dont know whats up with the label..
maybe they have new management? anyway, all items were re-editions of good old 60s archives
( Same situation with Koji Tatsuno who also has lost the right to his own name , but designs for GRES , under that pseudonym ) .
of cash....
Linear Mode
