Designer Profile: Jacques Fath

I was excited to see the other day that actress Jennifer Morrison from House wore a vintage Jacques Fath dress to a film premiere the other day. And then I realised that I've never really blogged about Jacques Fath who, along with Christian Dior and Pierre Balmain, was one of the great French couturiers of the Golden Age. He started his small couture business in 1937 but it soon grew to be a large one after his creations proved so popular. In 1949 he signed an agreement with American manufacturer Joseph Halpert to design two ready-to-wear collections, which was one of the first such licensing deals (something that Dior would go in for in a big way).
Jacques was known for his hourglass designs and his genius with pleats, but alas he died young in 1954. His very chic wife, former model Genevieve Boucher de la Bruyere (see second from last pic) took over the running of the house until 1957, after which time it was closed. The label was reincarnated later as a perfume house, for a time it produced apparel again, and these days it makes luxury leather goods only, which is why the name doesn't have quite the same ring to it as the continuously run couture houses like Chanel and Dior. But Jacques creations were truly wow. Here are just a few examples ...

There is a great clip of a Fath show from 1956 on You Tube. The embedding function has been disabled, but you can check it out here. Oh that final gold evening gown.