Jean Patou

On March 14th, Dirty Fabulous will be dancing our way to Film Fatale's Prohibition Party. In the run up we'll be delving into the 1920's and 30's a little more.

Our first little look back to this era introduces us to this man:

Jean Patou

Patou was a french designer who, after his initial launch was halted by World War I, returned in the 1920's with a bang. He created his dresses with both Parisian and American women in mind and recognised the potential that couture fashion, as an industry held. In the mid 20's both Coco Chanel (who we are all familiar with) and Jean Patou introduced hugely popular sportswear lines. It was a revolutionary move from these two different design houses. Patou focused on finding swimwear fabrics that wouldn't shrink and innovating luxury leisurewear.

Despite not being as well known for his flapper dresses, you can see they were utterly gorgeous:

Courtesy of The Librarian Tells All

It was mostly due to Patou's designs in 1929 that the flapper silhouette became "old news". House of Patou introduced gowns which returned the waist to it's natural, higher point and dropped the hemlines to the floor. It was a more romantic look which was once again embraced by high society and the fashion elite. 

courtesy of Ye Old Fashion

Courtesy of The Met Museum

Images from Pinterest

House of Patou also created some of the most world famous fragrances and perfumes, including Jean Patou's, Joy. 

Unfortunately, Patou died at an early age in 1936 and his sister and her husband stepped in to carry on his creative endeavours. The dresses from this period were still magnificent and the Couture house continued it's success. Many of today's most famous designers spent a spell with House Of Patou including Marc Bohan, Karl Lagerfeld, Jean Paul Gaultier and Christian LeCroix. 

This hat is hilarious and fabulous in equal measures!

There have been so many brilliant and talented fashion designers over the past 100 years. Hopefully you've enjoyed your introduction to one more!