Guy Laroche
Guy Laroche ( born 1921 in La Rochelle, Poitou -Charentes, † February 17, 1989 in Paris) was an internationally renowned, French fashion designer.
The fashion company founded by Laroche in 1957, which enjoyed high reputation, especially in the 1960s and 1970s and into the 1980s was a major commercial success, is with the Paris-based Guy Laroche SAS today and is owned by a Chinese textile trading company since 2004. Under the name of Guy Laroche clothing and accessories for men and women as well as numerous licensed products such as eyewear, perfume, porcelain, writing instruments, etc. are offered in the upper price segment.
Designer and Business History
Guy Laroche
Laroche was born in 1921 the son of a hotel owner in La Rochelle. In 1949 he moved to Paris, trained as a milliner and worked for the Paris fashion house Jean desses as an assistant. Returned from a multi-year stay in the USA opened Laroche in 1957 his own fashion house of haute couture women's fashion in Paris. With elegant portable designs and practical combinations, testifying in couture design and simple luxury Parisian Chic - represented, Guy Laroche made in the upper price segment quickly made a name. Valentino Garavani, the first place had also worked for Jean desses, in the late 1950s worked as well as the Tunisians and later Azzedine Alaïa star designer as a designer for Guy Laroche. In the late 1950s described the press Laroche next to Pierre Cardin and Yves Saint Laurent as a member " of the triumvirate of " haute couture avant-garde ".
1961 prêt -à -porter fashion for women by Guy Laroche was launched and opened a boutique on the grand Parisian fashion mile Avenue Montaigne. Among the prominent clients proposals included Françoise Sagan. A licensed sportswear collection was launched for the American market, which was initially offered at Bergdorf Goodman and discontinued after a few years. The perfume license Laroche1962 sold to the cosmetics company L' Oréal and used the revenue for the development of fashion collections and the acquisition of a textile factory. During this time, the Japanese fashion designer Issey Miyake worked for Guy Laroche. The confection menswear followed in 1966. During the same year, the first perfume of the house, Fidji, was put on the market for women. Since then, other perfumes are published by Guy Laroche, including 1972 Drakkar ( Noir ) for men. Especially in the Middle East Products delighted with the name Guy Laroche from the 1960s great popularity.
The company Guy Laroche ever belonged to a quarter Laroche himself and Pierre Lafont, CEO of the company. The late 1960s, Bernard Cornfeld had participated in Guy Laroche. 1971 he was the owner of the French lighter manufacturer BIC Group, Baron Marcel Bich, for the equivalent of 5 million U.S. dollars, the remaining 50 % stake in the company Guy Laroche. From the mid- 1970s was carried out by openings of Laroche boutiques in major international cities worldwide expansion. In 1974, the second-line diffusion Guy Laroche for Women to Laroche- added portfolio. In 1976, the French fashion brand Gaston Jaunet by Guy Laroche was bought. 1979 sold his Baron Biche Guy Laroche participation in their own company, which Guy Laroche was incorporated into the BIC Group. Early 1980s was the annual turnover of the Laroche Group converted to the 40 million euros. There were revenues from licensed products in the amount of 80 million euros. Then separate the perfume business generated the same amount alone. During this time there were about 35 worldwide boutiques Guy Laroche, the majority of which was run as a franchise. 1982 Guy Laroche North America branch was established in New York, which negotiated its own license agreements for the North American market. In the 1980s, Jacques Chirac and his wife Bernadette were prominent clients of Guy Laroche. 1987 Laroche was inducted into the French Legion of Honour. Until the 1990s, Guy Laroche produced under license for fashion companies such as Lolita Lempicka, Thierry Mugler, Christian Linares and Jean -Louis Scherrer.
Succession
With the death of the founder and the latest from the early 1990s, the house Laroche found itself in a crisis. From 1990 to 1995, sales at Guy Laroche fell by more than 40%. 1995 losses amounting to the equivalent of over 16 million euros have been reported. The Gaston Jaunet division was liquidated in 1996. The direct successor as a designer of Laroche from 1989 to Angelo Tarlazzi; followed him in 1994 Michel Klein. In 1995, the haute couture division of Guy Laroche was adjusted. It was only with the appointment of Alber Elbaz as chief designer in 1996 was awarded the house Guy Laroche for a short time its old glory. Ronald van der Kemp, however, was able to succeed Elbaz from 1999 whose success was not maintained and after just one season, replaced by a design team. In the 1990s there were a cheaper license second line for men named Guy de Guy Laroche and a denim line called Guy Laroche jeans. A second line with the name look was abandoned in 1993. Already from the early 1990s, the BIC Group had had stated that she wanted to sell the company Guy Laroche. Mid-1990s there were about 170 worldwide Guy Laroche boutiques and retail space, including 20 in Europe and three in Germany ( closed to the headquarters in Paris all now ). In 1998, Guy Laroche by Yves Saint Laurent, Jean -Paul Gaultier and Karl Lagerfeld with the mail-order company La Redoute, a collection co-operation in the low price segment.
2000 Mei Zhou was Xeao, previously worked for Thierry Mugler, committed to the design of women's fashion. The annual turnover at that time was only 11 million euros, with an operating loss of 3.5 million euros. The previous year, the equivalent of over 6 million euro loss had been reported. The end of 2001 the house Guy Laroche in computing International, owner of the French fashion brand, Georges Rech and has been since 2000, sold itself in possession of the Geneva Léman Capital. 2002 Laetitia Hecht chief designer at Guy Laroche. In 2004 the Guy Laroche SAS computational International for about 14 million euros to the Chinese textile retail group YGM Trading Ltd.. sold in Asia was the licensee of the brand Georges Rech then and the since 2012 include the British fashion brand Aquascutum. YGM installed in 2004 the famous French fashion designer Hervé L Leroux ( Herve Leger ), who, however, was replaced after two years by Damian Lee.
In 2005 the company Guy Laroche equipped the actress Hilary Swank effective advertising with a evening gown at the Oscars, and thus achieved international attention. 2006 Laroche boutique was opened in however little prettier neighborhood and closed after a few years in New York City. Late 2000s, the company had been awarded to the 80 licenses, including for china, glasses, accessories and perfume. Annual sales, consisting primarily of the licensing business in the late 2000s amounted to around 300 million euros, half of which in Asia (mainly China and Japan) was achieved.
The Guy Laroche brand today
Since 2007, the Franco - Swedish Marcel Marongiu is chief designer at Guy Laroche. CEO has since Hendrik Penndorf, a descendant of the dissolved Hamburg fashion chain Penndorf. The flagship store of the company Guy Laroche, and thus currently the only boutique, located in Paris 35, rue François 1er, opposite the headquarters of Balmain. 2012, a license for the production and distribution of women's and men's fashion for the second-line Guy Laroche Guy Laroche Silver and casual and leather goods was awarded to the Italian Ittierre SpA. The main line for women is still controlled from Paris and presented during Paris Fashion Week on the runway. The license for the men's fashion is the main line since 1982 when the company Hösbacher fort GmbH & Co. KG.