Born: Lafitte, France, 1912
Died: Paris, France, 1954
Jacques Fath was the darling of the Parisian social scene, his name spoken in the same sentence as Cristobal Balenciaga and Christian Dior. Fath's style, however, was less breathtaking and more a celebration of the female form. Described by Vogue in the 1950s as `a comet', Fath shot to fame after the Second World War, in the wake of the fashion revolution caused by Dior's New Look: women dressed according to the Paris directive and the press were, once again, frequenting the front row.
Fath had dressmaking in his blood - his great-grandmother was dressmaker to Empress Eugénie - but he started his career as a book-keeper. He showed his first collection in 1937, but it was in the post-war era of renewed optimism and femininity that he made his mark. While Balenciaga and Dior concentrated on sculpture and the invention of new proportions, Fath focused on undulating lines and elegant juxtaposition of colours. `Persian lamb is dyed blue to trim a blue suit,' said Vogue in its collection report of September 1956. `Fath carries the idea still further with green, red and purple.' During his short, sharp career, Fath made a lasting impression. A retrospective of his work was held in Paris in 1993.
