Jacques Griffe
the Parisian couturier, master of draping and color.
"Dear Jacques, child of rags", this is how Madeleine Vionnet wrote to Jacques Griffe, her spiritual son.
Born in 1909, this post-war designer, who would dress Joséphine Baker, Michèle Morgan, Ingrid Bergman, the Duchess of Kent, or Élisabeth Taylor for the Cannes festival, discreetly established himself as a master of drapery, color and fashionable dresses.
After his beginnings in Toulouse with the dressmaker Mirra, Jacques Griffe moved to Paris in 1935. From his childhood, he had been fascinated by the draping of Madeleine Vionnet, with whom he worked until 1939, (when she closed her business) before establishing a great friendship with her.
During the war, he was mobilized and taken prisoner in a Pomeranian camp where he was responsible for the repair workshop.
In 1941, he opened his own Haute Couture salon in a small room on Place Gaillon, near the Opera. In 1948, he moved to 29 rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, where he launched his ready-to-wear Jacques Griffe Evolution line.
In his salon, the elegant women of café society would congregate along with crowned heads, who adored his rainbow dresses, his skillfully layered muslin. "We were looking for one effect and we found another," said the cutting technician.
Jacques Griffe worked like Vionnet, on a miniature wooden mannequin provided by the seamstress, which allowed him to test, twist and drape a fabric in all possible ways.
Beyond his elaborate cutting work, the designer is renowned for his colorist work, successfully mixing nuances that are sometimes difficult to reconcile. He sought his inspiration in Paris and created several perfumes - Doodle, Enthusiasm, Mistigri and Grilou.
In 1951, he was entrusted by the British designer, Edward Molyneux, who had retired, with the responsibility of his fashion house located on the Rue Royale.
In 1961, Griffe’s "Jet" line won all the accolades and, in 1962, the newspaper Le Monde evoked "the perfect Griffe technique", and described his collections in these terms: "It is young, alert, casual and very Parisian.”
In the 1960s, Jacques Griffe was one of the “new wave” stylists who decided to make an “off” seam, the bias cut, free from the constraints of the elitist designers. The evening dress was his great specialty. "Elegance is pushing the art of being yourself to the end," he said.
In 1973, he ended his professional activities and retired to Villesiscle, near Carcassonne, formerly owned by Madeleine Vionnet. Many contemporary designers, like Issey Miyake, are inspired by the work of Jacques Griffe.
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