Grès

Germaine Émilie Krebs ( * 1903, † 1993) was a French fashion designer and entrepreneur. She founded the haute couture fashion house Madame Grès, which still exists. Parfums Grès is the associated perfume brand of the house.

Life and work

Cancer was formally trained as a sculptor. As early as 1933, she worked for the fashion company " Alix Barton " and began their own names in the French fashion world to make. In 1935, she was able to open her own fashion house in Paris with the help of financiers. From 1942 to 1988, her fashion house " Madame Grès " in Paris, Rue de la Paix was first

In the 1940s Madame Grès designed dresses in the style of ancient Greece, which can be seen as a forerunner of today's minimalism. She is considered one of the pioneering designers of haute couture, famous for its reminiscent of antique garments, asymmetric robes. She was one of the last of the famous haute couture houses, which provided the Kundinen designs for immediate fitting available. The famous fashion house of her clients included: Jane Birkin, Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo, Grace Kelly, Danielle Mitterrand, Édith Piaf and Wallis Simpson.

The name Grès was a partial anagram of her husband's first name. In 1937 she had the Russian painter Serge Czerefkov married, with whom she had a daughter Anne. The painter Kees van Dongen portrayed Madame Gres 1948.

After years of success, she sold her fashion house in 1984 to Bernard Tapie. The brand name " Madame Gres " was taken from the house Jacques Esterel in 1986 and eventually continued in 1988 by the Japanese group Yagi Tsusho.

Congress first and most famous perfume was 1959 " Cabochard ", created by Bernard Chant. Other perfumes, launched after the sale of the company to life include, Cabotin (1990 ), film Douc (1997), Cabaret ( 2003), Caline (2005) and Caline Night ( 2006).

The fashion label by Dorothee Schumacher relying on it to transform their designs into the 21st century.