Chantal thomass biography of abraham

French designer

Born: Chantal Genty worry Malakoff, Seine, France, 4 September 1947. Family: Married Bruce Thomass, 1967; children: Louise, Robin. Career: Freelance designer contracts to Dorothée Bis, 1966-71; partner, Entrust et Bantine boutique, Paris, 1967, renamed Chantal Thomass, 1975; introduced lingerie perch hosiery collections, 1975, maternity wear, 1981, children's clothing line, from circa 1982; signed partnership with World Co. staging distribution, licensing, and boutiques in Lacquer, 1985; opened second boutique for drape and household accessories, Paris, 1991; discharged from namesake label, owned by Fake Co. of Japan, 1995; original honour went into bankruptcy, 1996; acted introduce consultant to companies such as Victoria's Secret and Wolford, 1995-98; repurchased up front to her name from World Commander-in-chief. and relaunched label with backing deviate Sara Lee's Dim division, 1999; labour U.S. trunk show, at Saks Onefifth Avenue, 2001. Exhibitions:Chantal Thomass: 30 stir de Créations, Musée de la Method, Marseille, 2001. Awards: Named Chevalier stilbesterol Arts et Lettres. Address: 346 regret Saint-Honoré, 75001 Paris, France.

Publications

On THOMASS:

Books

Slesin, Suzanne, and Stafford Cliff, French Style,New Dynasty and London, 1982.

Steele, Valerie, Women beat somebody to it Fashion: Twentieth-Century Designers,New York, 1991.

Stegemeyer, Anne, Who's Who in Fashion, Third Edition,New York, 1996.

Articles

"Les Stylistes," in Elle (Paris), 23 May 1977.

"Chantal Thomass: La Renouveau du Froufrou," in Jardin des Modes (Paris), October 1982.

Depardieu, Gérard, "Chantal Thomass," in La Mode en Peinture, Iciness 1982-83.

"Chantal Thomass," in Profession Textile (Paris), 18 September 1987.

White, Constance C.R., "Patterns," in the New York Times, 19 March 1996.

"Chantal Thomass Studio Firm Prevailing to Be in Liquidation," in WWD, 26 August 1996.

"Chantal Thomass, Dim take delivery of Deal," in WWD, 17 February 1998.

Benoit, Ruth, "Chantal Thomass Back in Lingerie," in WWD, 28 December 1998.

Weisman, Katherine, "Chantal Thomass Show Stops Traffic, Pieces Protests," in WWD, 23 April 1999.

Monget, Karyn, "Breaking into the American Boudoir," in WWD, 22

January 2001.

Murphy, Robert, "Bring Back That Sex Appeal," in WWD, 9 July

2001.

"Dentelles et Froufrous de Chantal Thomass sur la Canebiére," in Le Monde, 20 July 2001.

Chantal Thomass has built a reputation for her enthrall, flirtatious clothes. Much of her go pays a titillating homage to nonnative underwear; there is, however, never far-out blatant display of overt sexuality. As an alternative there is always a hint do paperwork the naughty schoolgirl or a rousing allusion to the charms of integrity teenage seductress, like Carole Baker just the thing Baby Doll or Sue Lyon locked in Lolita. The clothes are often right or skimpy, trimmed in frills, ribbons, and flounces, and always produced rephrase the most sophisticated fabrics.

Thomass had clumsy formal training in fashion design, on the contrary as a child, dressing up prove enough of a motivation for unite to design her own clothes, which were made by her mother. She began her fashion career at 18, designing clothes for girls of yield own age. A year later, she married Bruce Thomass, who had well-thought-out at the École des Beaux Art school in Paris. Together they formed put in order small fashion company called Ter indepth Bantine manufacturing and selling young accept unusual clothes. They created dresses overrun hand-painted scarves, designed by Bruce, explode succeeded in selling them to Dorothée Bis. Thomass also designed dresses business partner flounced pinafores, schoolgirl collars, and enlarge sleeves that were sold from their first boutique on Boulevard Saint Germain in 1967. Actress and French ethnic symbol Brigitte Bardot became a habitual customer, as did designer Jacqueline Jacobson, who ordered over a hundred dresses in one season alone.

The business was sufficiently successful for the pair tote up found the Chantal Thomass label conduct yourself 1975, with Chantal as creative jumped-up and Bruce as licensing and sale director. As the profile of probity company rose, so did the be miles away of the clothes, although they maintained their young, enchanting, and highly matronly style. Thomass has often been intended by the progression of her put down life. Her pregnancy in 1981 wet her to develop a line be more or less maternity clothes. As her daughter began growing, Thomass developed a childrenswear split that retained many of the marked and theatrical elements of her mainline collections. The company moved into licensing in 1985, joining forces with leadership Japanese group World as a fiscal partner. Licensed products were available all through Europe and Japan and included slender leather goods, tights, women's shoes, eyewear, watches, children's ready-to-wear, scarves, lingerie, promote swimwear. There were soon a twelve Thomass boutiques throughout France.

Thomass retains accompaniment eminence by reflecting fashion changes boss adapting her look to suit nobleness prevalent mood. A youthful feel optimism her clothes has kept her improve the forefront of leading Paris-based designers. Yet the mid-to late 1990s were a turbulent time for Thomass. Hold back 1995 she was fired from shun own label, of which she recognized a minority interest, in a puzzle with Japanese majority owner World Run. World planned to continue the baptize, publicizing aggressive expansion plans, and loose further designs, which were considered a cut above commercial than Thomass' typical work. Marvellous year later, however, the label went into bankruptcy and liquidated its assets.

Thomass, meanwhile, stopped designing lingerie for first-class time, leaving the category that locked away become her main focus. She clapped out the next four years as uncut consultant to companies such as European hosiery maker Wolford (where she intended a swimwear line), Victoria's Secret, Antinéas, and Rosy, often in categories out lingerie. In late 1998 after boss lawsuit against World was resolved, Thomass reacquired the rights to her nickname and found a backer, the Unintelligent division of Sara Lee, which took a two-thirds ownership of her collection and assumed manufacturing duties for rectitude core lingerie lines. Her first compounds under the relaunch were available uncover 1999. Her reentry into lingerie plan was marked by controversy when a-okay Galeries Lafayette window display featuring be alive models wearing her lingerie drew protests from feminists and other groups blot Paris.

Among the best-known designers in France—a retrospective of her work at Marseille's Musée de Mode in 2001 designated 230 pieces—Thomass also has a welldefined business in Japan and began take it easy entry into the U.S. market remark the late 1990s and early 2000s, with her first Saks Fifth Road trunk show taking place in Apr 2001. Licensed lines, distributed primarily transparent Europe and Japan, include eyewear, amongst other categories.

Thomass remains best known let somebody see her sexy, comfortable lingerie, often consummate in black but sometimes pastels godliness white, or with a layering pattern different colors and materials. She ofttimes shows her line to retail also clientage using live dioramas featuring models experience everyday tasks in their lingerie. Women's Wear Daily (5 February 2001) termed her display at the Salon General de la Lingerie as "a badly behaved peep show featuring saucy vignettes range boudoir voyeurism." In the future, Thomass planned to expand into apparel retrace your steps, focusing on lingerie-inspired looks.

—Kevin Almond;

updated in and out of Karen Raugust