Paco Rabanne

 

                           

Born: Francisco Rabaneada Cuervo in San Sebastian,Spain on the 18th of February 1934.  As a young boy his family was obligated to leave Spain and re start, with his mother, their life in France because of the execution of his father by Francisco Franco's troops. after that he decided to study architecture. As a side job to pay for his schooling, he decided to use his drawing skills and go on and enter the world of fashion in the 1950's. Paco Rabanne first became known as "Franck Rabanne" and later changed his name to his actual designer name "Paco Rabanne."  During the late 1950's and 1960's he started to be influenced by the "space race" and "futuristic technology". He created garments that seemed to be ahead of its time and was innovative and non-conformist. He was also inspired by the traditions of the dadaist and followed their steps in recycling ready-mades, which was his main influence for all of his designs. Rabanne was known for creating pieces of clothing with unusual materials such as aluminum, metals, wood,  laser discs, coconut and later on wire, paper, plastic and many other materials as seen in his first collection "twelve unwearable dresses", which broke the rules of regular couture clothing. Paco Rabanne opened his own couture house  in Paris during the year 1966. Even though his designs were radical, impacting and extravagant, they failed to make profit and he was obligated to start manufacturing ready to wear and licensing agreements from what he successfully gained profit, mostly from licensing fragrances.

Kizoa slideshow: rabanne - Slideshow

       "I used strange materials, that's how i stood out from others" Rabanne stated. That's what makes him so iconic, his manifesto was such a revolution, everybody will remember him in the fashion world as a master of unusual materials. Rabanne was the first couturier to use music in fashion shows, he was the first to have Black girls, Asians, and models from all around the world, and was the first one to use metal, plastic, and paper, or so he claimed. Rabanne's work was characterized by a rejection of traditional techniques and was instead in favor of the exploration of unusual materials and methods of assemblage. His over sized Rhodoi jewelry in various forms and bright colors brought him his first major success, and established one of the principles of his style. He was also greatly recognized for creating sculptural dresses in unconventional, unwearable materials which broke the rules and were greatly revolutionary for the fashion world.Rabanne helped introduce new technologies and push fashion forward forcing designers and consumers to reexamine and re-think about the concept of Haute Couture.

       Of course, like many other young designers he was influenced by a greater designer, Cristobal Balenciaga, for whom his mother had worked with as a seamstress when they still lived in Spain, but In the 1960's His main influences as a young designer portrayed contemporary artists, the well known space race, and futuristic technology. He admired the contemporary artists because they had given up the traditional media of paint and canvas and gone further in their imagination and creativity for their pieces of art. And the space race and his use of futuristic technology became part of his zeitgeist. Which helped him into being considered revolutionary and "ahead of the times." 

Paco Rabanne has left for the fashion world great memories, when you think of his designs and what he used his super sized collars fashioned out of chain, and his metal handbags for example, you think of the now cravings for "Eye catching" accesories, the layers of necklaces and many other accessories come to mind. Rabanne influenced young designers such as Cristophe Decarinin and his aesthetic and fever for metallurgy. This designer created a lasting metal signature, which remind everyone that uses it now about the revolutionary designer Paco Rabanne. His artistic and ideological perspective is also left as a "signature" of his work and as he claimed, many great designers are now dead, but not he, and so maybe in the future this innovative designer may plan a comeback to the fashion world, his world.

 works cited:

Kamitsis, Lydia “Rabanne, Paco” Gale power search Gale 2005. 24 August 2011 <http://go.galegroup.com/ps/retrieve.do?sgHitCountType=None&sort=RELEVANCE&inPS=true&prodId=GPS&userGroupName=fashionidm&tabID=T001&searchId=R1&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&contentSegment=&searchType=BasicSearchForm&currentPosition=1&contentSet=GALE|CX3427500474&&docId=GALE|CX3427500474&docType=GALE&role>

Kellogg Ann T., Amy T. Peterson, Stefani Bay, and Natalie Swindell “Rabanne, Paco(Francisco rabaneda cuervo)”  Gale power search   2002. 24 August 2011. <http://go.galegroup.com/ps/retrieve.do?sgHitCountType=None&sort=RELEVANCE&inPS=true&prodId=GPS&userGroupName=fashionidm&tabID=T001&searchId=R2&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&contentSegment=&searchType=BasicSearchForm&currentPosition=2&contentSet=GALE|CX2884900133&&docId=GALE|CX2884900133&docType=GALE&role>

Tang, Wing Sze and Juliette Baxter “masters OF DESIGN(the metal master: Paco Rabanne)” EBSCOhost Oct2010, 24 August 2011. <http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=3&hid=123&sid=9a6d19f8-64a9-4653-b985-668948ab63a2%40sessionmgr104&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=f5h&AN=53945539>