Jules-François Crahay (1917–1988) was a Belgian-born French fashion designer who worked for the houses of Nina Ricci (1952–1963) and

Lanvin Lanvin () is a French Luxury goods, luxury fashion house based in Paris. Founded in 1889 by Jeanne Lanvin, it is the oldest French fashion house still in operation. Since 2018, it has been a subsidiary of Shanghai-based Lanvin Group. Bruno Sialel ...

as head designer (1963–1983). He won the

Neiman Marcus Fashion Award The Neiman Marcus Award for Distinguished Service in the Field of Fashion was a yearly award created in 1938 by Carrie Marcus Neiman and Stanley Marcus. Unlike the Coty Award, it was not limited to American-based fashion designers. Recipients of t ...

in 1962.

Early life

Crahay was born in Liège. His mother, Francoise Crahay, was a Belgian couturier who gave her son his first experience as a sketcher for her when he was 13. Between 1934 and 1936, he studied art and fashion in Paris before rejoining his mother in the business. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Crahay was a non-commissioned officer in the Belgian Army before being captured and spending five years as a prisoner-of-war in Germany.

Career

After the War, Crahay opened his own

haute couture ''Haute couture'' (; ; French for 'high sewing', 'high dressmaking') is the creation of exclusive custom-fitted high-end fashion design that is constructed by hand from start-to-finish. Beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, Paris became th ...

house in Paris in 1951, but it was unsuccessful. In Crahay's words, it was a "financial flop after one year," but he was subsequently employed by Robert Ricci as a designer for

his mother ''His Mother'' is a 1912 American silent film produced by Kalem Company. It was directed by Sidney Olcott with Gene Gauntier and Jack J. Clark in the leading roles. It was one of more than a dozen films produced by the Kalem Company filmed in Ir ...

's couture house. In 1959, he was made chief designer for Nina Ricci. While at Ricci, his bell-skirted suits and small-waisted dresses were described as having "charm," and described as the "youngest, most feminine thing in Paris." Crahay joined Lanvin in 1964. Following his first collection, the journalist

Eugenia Sheppard Eugenia Benbow Sheppard (July 24, 1899 – November 11, 1984) was an American fashion writer and newspaper columnist for some 80 newspapers (including the ''Columbus Dispatch'', ''New York Post'', '' The Boston Post'', and most notably, the ''New ...

declared "Crahay's gay, wisecracking style and Lanvin's elegant workroom get together like bread and butter. Lanvin calms down Crahay and Crahay peps up the conservative old house." She also described how his colours stood out among that season's "terribly washed-out" palette, praised his use of abstract, "unromantic" prints, and noted his inventive coatdresses. Crahay was known for combining a wide range of influences and sources of inspiration in his designs, rather than focusing on single sources. Two 1971 ensembles called Málaga (after the Spanish municipality) and Djerba (after the North African island) were made up in exclusive fabrics by the Scottish artist

Eduardo Paolozzi Sir Eduardo Luigi Paolozzi (, ; 7 March 1924 – 22 April 2005) was a Scottish artist, known for his sculpture and graphic works. He is widely considered to be one of the pioneers of pop art. Early years Eduardo Paolozzi was born on 7 March 1 ...

. A 1977 collection combined references to

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...

and North Africa. Crahay's last collection at Lanvin before he retired in 1984 won the Golden Thimble award for the season's best couture collection. The former model Jan Strimple commented: "Couture clothes generally don't fit into our way of life. But these were loose and layered and not at all pretentious. We all wanted to have them."

Later life and death

Following his retirement Crahay divided his time between Saint-Raphaël and

Monte Carlo Monte Carlo (; ; french: Monte-Carlo , or colloquially ''Monte-Carl'' ; lij, Munte Carlu ; ) is officially an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco, specifically the ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is ...

, where he died of a heart attack in 1988.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crahay, Jules-Francois 1917 births 1988 deaths Businesspeople from Liège Belgian fashion designers French fashion designers Belgian emigrants to France