Throughout history, fashion has marked the decades, and the trends of those years were set by designers, who, more than having a name, these visionary minds changed the world in one way or another. Paco Rabanne was a Spanish designer, raised and making his career in Franceknown for being eccentric, having an avant-garde style in his time, introducing metal into his clothes and, of course, the perfumes that took him to the pinnacle of success.
The story of designer Paco Rabanne
Francisco Rabaneda y Cuervo, was born on February 18, 1934 in the Spanish town of Pasajes, in the Basque Country. Better known as Paco Rabanne, he made a great career as a dressmaker and creator of iconic perfumes.
It could be said that his childhood was complicated. The designer grew up among fabrics since his mother worked as a seamstress for Christopher Balenciaga. While his father, General Rabaneda-Postigo, was in charge of the Guernica military barracks during the Spanish Civil War. He was shot by Franco’s troops in 1936. So, in 1939, when the designer was five years old, he and his family sought refuge in France.
Rabanne studied Architecture at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Beaux-Arts in Paris. But he starts his career designing accessories, jewelry, ties and buttons for Dior, Saint-Laurent and Pierre Cardin. She then decides to launch herself into the world of fashion.
Paco Rabanne’s career and his unique style
The work of Paco Rabanne, openly futuristic, was characterized by the use of metals and other industrial materials in the garments. Something never seen before in the world of fashion in the 60s. Even, Coco Chanel called it as the “fashion metallurgist”.
In 1963 Paco Rabanne exhibited at the Biennial from Paris her first dresses, made of plastic and feathers. However, in 1965 she presented the collection Manifest that established him as the great talent of Paris, “12 dresses impossible to wear in contemporary materials”. “A new kind of grandeur; a bright white and orange plastic dress, very short and boxy. By Paco Rabanne”, could be read only a few months later in the British edition of the magazine Vogue. A year later he founded together with other contemporary artists the Groupe Verseau and in 1967 he opened his own fashion house in Paris.
However, in a revealing interview in 2005 he said “fashion allowed me to earn a living, but it was not really my center of interest. But, over the course of more than fifty years, the Paco Rabanne firm has spread, from perfumes to the design of pieces of furniture.
“We feed that world and give the public what they need. Fashion is the immediate external aspect of our civilization, an immediate reflection that is also perishable, which is why the couturier provides ultra-fast information to society. The couturier of the forties dressed some women and the couturiers of the eighties want to dress the entire planet”, declared the designer at the time.
In 1968 he associated with Puig and they launched their first fragrance a year later, calandre. Thus, this partnership gave rise to a line of perfumes that remains one of the most popular worldwide to this day.
In 1986, Puig, who already had the trademarks in his possession nina ricci, Carolina Herreraas well as the perfumes of Prada and Comme des Garconsbuys the entire house of Rabanne.
Sadly, in 1999 the designer withdrew from the catwalks and the firm staggered for more than a decade, until 2013 with the arrival of the French Julien Dossenwho turned the brand around and managed to reposition it.
Creativity and eccentricity in all aspects of your life
Every designer has his muses and Rabanne was no exception. The first was the actress Francoise Hardy, who lent her image to be the new Rabanne woman. In addition, she wore one of her first rhodoïd designs, a type of white plastic. Its about most expensive dress ever in the 60s. With a straight cut, that minidress with long sleeves, had a thousand gold plates, with ten diamonds, weighed nine kilos, which was called “Hardy dress”.
On the other hand, his talent was not only on the catwalks and sideboards, he was also in charge of the costumes for some of the most emblematic films in history. Between them, Barbarella (1968), starring Jane Fonda by Roger Vadim, and A Path for Two(1967), by Stanley Donen, where audrey hepburn she wore one of her magnetic dresses.
After his arrival and consecration in the United States, thanks to the films, his next muse was his Spanish compatriot Norma Duval in it Folies Bergère Parisian. Rabanne created between 1981 and 1984 the artist’s vedette wardrobe. As if that were not enough, in the 90s, the most important women for the designer were Christina Piaget and Carla Bruni.
In addition, he wrote four books; “Canned Candies: the exotic women and clothing of Paco Rabanne”from 1969: “Lights of Buddhism – meditate to live better”released in 1995: “The trilogy: trajectory, the end of time, the present time”published in 1997, and “The dawn of the golden age: a spiritual blueprint for living.in 1999.
A fan of esotericism, Rabanne also caused scandal through his eccentric statements. In his last book, he predicts the destruction of Paris due to the fall of the Mir space station, based on a very personal reading of Nostradamus’s prophecies.
However, in the other texts, he spoke openly about his paranormal experiences. Besides, He assured that he had had other lives, that is, he believed in reincarnation, including that of a prostitute lover of King Louis XV. Also, she claimed to have seen God, been visited by aliens, and had made love to Earth by digging a hole.
“I have liked esotericism since my earliest childhood. My mother was very pragmatic, but my grandmother was a shaman, she introduced me to the knowledge of the world very early, ”she explained in the same controversial interview.
The man who left an eternal mark
Throughout his career, the designer received several international awards. Among which stand out: the golden needlea prize that was given to him in Paris, during the year 1977 and the Oscar perfumery prize in New York in 1975.
On Friday, February 3, 2023, the designer Paco Rabanne dies at the age of 88. This was reported by his official Instagram account. According to reports, the death happened at his home in French Brittany.
“The House of Paco Rabanne wishes to honor our visionary designer and founder who passed away today at the age of 88,” the post read.
“Among the most influential fashion figures of the 20th century, his legacy will remain a constant source of inspiration. We are grateful to Monsieur Rabanne for establishing our avant-garde heritage and defining a future of limitless possibilities”, he concludes.
The death of Francisco Rabaneda y Cuervowas also confirmed by a spokesman for the Spanish group Puig, which controls the Paco Rabanne brand.
“Paco Rabanne made transgression magnetic. Who else could induce fashionable Parisian women to clamor for dresses made of plastic and metal?” commented José Manuel Albesa, from the same Spanish group.
“An important personality in fashion, his was a daring, revolutionary and provocative vision, conveyed through a unique aesthetic,” president Marc Puig said in the statement.
“He marked generations with his radical vision of fashion and his legacy will live on.”
Although little by little, Paco Rabanne moved away from design, he was still attached to the world of fashion. For example, he liked to serve as a jury at festivals, where he liked to address the younger generations.
“Be bold as we were in our time with Pierre Cardin, Saint Laurent or Courrèges! Be bold! Search endlessly! To make a name and impose yourself, you cannot copy ”, he explained.
Mariel Otero Journalist passionate about fashion, the world of beauty and the source of lifestyle. Lover of stories worth telling, series, movies and sagas. Cheesy and closet geek.