Rabanne
Mr Paco Rabanne was born Francisco Rabaneda y Cuervo in 1934 in Spanish Basque Country. At the age of five, he and his mother, a head seamstress at Balenciaga, escaped the Spanish Civil War by fleeing to France, where he assumed the name PACO RABANNE.
By the early 1960s, after training as an architect, he applied his skills towards avant-garde accessory design, proposing unique creations for several haute couture houses and became known as an enfant terrible of the 1960s French fashion world.
For the debut of his namesake brand in 1966, he presented “Manifesto: 12 unwearable dresses in contemporary materials.” Over the next few years, he would experiment with looks made from moulded plastics, hammered metal, aluminium jersey and knitted fur that were at once sculptural and seductive. His iconic chainmail dresses helped define an era of shape-shifting fashion and remain emblematic of the house still today.
In 2013, Julien Dossena, who previously worked for Balenciaga, took the helm at PACO RABANNE. His collections combine Parisian effortlessness with metalwork and chainmail that were the founder’s signature. Each design celebrates the body and is made using handcrafted details.
From looks that signal urban effortlessness to composite creations of culture and ceremony, Julien Dossena has reimagined PACO RABANNE forward spirit with new relevance. His daring vision for the house innovates upon the existing know-how, bridging sophisticated expression with everyday ease.