One of the designers credited with inventing the miniskirt: Who is André Courrèges?

André Courrèges was born in 1923 in the city of Pau in the Basque region of France. He would carry the inspiration of the place where he grew up surrounded by mountains and history throughout his life: “My connection with Pau, the place where I was born, my sky, my mountains is still very strong, I get my strength from there. Pau has shaped my life since I was little. When your puberty is over, you're dead. I still feel mine very strongly.”

André Courrèges (9 March 1923 – 7 January 2016) was a French fashion designer. He was particularly known for his streamlined 1960s designs influenced by modernism and futurism, exploiting modern technology and new fabrics. Courrèges defined the go-go boot and along with Mary Quant, is one of the designers credited with inventing the miniskirt.

His father, a chamberlain from a wealthy English family, was skeptical of the arts. When Andre said he wanted to study art at the age of 15, he didn't take it seriously, he said "You're going to be an engineer". He followed his father's advice and studied civil engineering. He suddenly found himself at the head of a team of 50 people doing engineering research, and he would later describe this period as "I was the most unhappy man in the world". When his endurance ran out, he quit his lucrative job and took a job as a men's shoe and clothing designer for a tailor. Between 1941 and 1945, in the Second World War, he would serve as a pilot in the army.

Design Life

Returning from the war, he found a job as a men's shoe and clothing designer in Paris with a tailor. He later took a job with Balenciaga, whom he admired and continued to see as his mentor even in the later stages of his life, and spent 10 years there. Waiting patiently for his master to say "you are ready" to open his own fashion house, Courrèges started to design under his own name in 1961 with his financial support. His wife, Coqueline, whom he met while working at Balenciaga, would work with him as his creative partner throughout his life; The letters AC in the brand's logo actually mean "André et Coqueline", not "André Courrèges".

Courrèges Design

It took a few more years for the fashion world to catch up with Courrèges' innovative aesthetic approach. The fashion house, which was founded in 1961, would really draw attention with its 1964 spring-summer collection. This collection consisted of mini dresses and trouser suits that shape the body at sharp angles. Most of the outfits exposed the tummy area and were worn without bras on the mannequins. These outfits were complemented by flat boots, large glasses, and helmets. These sharp lines, when combined with the colors of white and silver, quite justified their nickname of the "space age". This eye-catching collection heralded the maturation of the “Courrèges aesthetic”, and the sharp lines, mini skirts, colors, and sportive aesthetics that he used in this collection would be his design signature.

In the same period, they were the pioneers of this young and futuristic way of fashion, together with the rising stars Pierre Cardin and Paco Rabanne. The innovations that Courrèges signed were not only in the cuts but also in the use of innovations in textiles. He uses whites with the dazzling shine produced by detergents; reinforcing its decorations with a transparent plastic called Rhodoid, made not from petroleum but from plants. Lycra fabrics, which were among the innovations of the period, were also among his favorites. The metal ornaments he used added another layer to the space-associated brilliance they created.

Although Courrèges was highly influenced by his master Balenciaga's relationship with fabric, the ideal of the woman he conceived was quite different from his. Unlike Balenciaga's curvaceous cuts, hers emphasized youthful, sporty bodies by completely eliminating body shapes associated with femininity. Although this aesthetic attitude was quickly adopted by the emerging youth culture, it also caused a lot of controversy. Missing no opportunity to criticize her rivals, Coco Chanel accused her of preferring little girls over women. On the other hand, he explained the woman ideal he designed as “not a certain body type”, “but she lives a certain life. She's an active woman, moving fast, working, and often young and modern enough to wear modern, smart clothes. Mostly American, they are often much faster at adopting new ideas than the French”.

Alongside his dream of the space age, one of Courrèges' biggest inspirations was sports. In his youth spent in the countryside, he spent most of his time doing sports, climbing mountains, playing football, and participating in long-distance running. He referred to the time he spent playing team sports in his youth as “the best school to strengthen character”.

Courrèges Lifestyle

The ongoing had a dream in mind far beyond being a fashion brand; He dreamed of a Regression lifestyle. With this dream of growth, he transferred half of his fashion house and all of his perfume rights to Loreal in 1968. With the momentum he got from this, he opened his dream silver-covered space, started mass production, and invested in a factory in Pau. However, this rise would not last long.

The name Courrèges, which became almost synonymous with 1960s fashion, remained in the air as fashion took a sudden turn from the dream of space to the dream of Woodstock. The brand's highly distinctive aesthetic signature was far from the stance that now dominates fashion outside of the sports world. His still leading in this field was evident when he was commissioned to design the national costumes during the 1972 Olympics. Maybe if Courrèges had chosen to be a luxury sports brand at that point, the course of the brand could have been very different, it could have been the pioneer of the "Athleisure" trend in today's fashion world.

Courrèges today

The vision of the brand has always been to be a “design house” rather than a fashion house. The brand, which started to produce men's clothing in 1973, collaborated with Honda in 1973 to design a scooter. André and Coqueline Courrèges regained control after the brand changed hands several times, and sold the brand to marketers Jacques Bungert and Frédéric Torloting in 2011. The vision of the new owners of the brand coincides with the idea of this “design house” of André and Coqueline; Apart from clothing and accessories for the brand, they undertake projects and partnerships ranging from architecture, design, music, and electric cars. Creative directors Sébastien Meyer and Arnaud Vaillant, who joined the brand in 2015, returned the brand to the podiums after a long hiatus. The minimal presentations, in which the Courrèges legacy is evident, received average reviews from critics. Time will tell the fate of the legacy of André Courrèges, who died in 2016 after a long struggle with Parkinson's disease.