Pauline Trigre

Franco-American couturière whose award-winning styles reached their height of popularity in the United States during the 1950s and 1960s. Recognized early in her career as an innovator of cut and construction, Trigère brought to women of all ages all over the world such novelties as the jumpsuit, the sleeveless coat, the reversible cape and the embroidered sheer bodice. She reinvented ready-to-wear fashion, matching form to function with bold prints and architectural silhouettes to create a distinctly modern female aesthetic. Trigère’s loyal clients included Grace Kelly, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Elizabeth Taylor, Kay Wiebrecht, and Evelyn Lauder. Her fashions were also worn by Lena Horne, Angela Lansbury, Bette Davis, and Wallis Simpson. Trigère also designed many of Patricia Neals costumes for Breakfast at Tiffanys, additional dresses were designed by Edith Head. After graduating from Collège Victor Hugo in Issy-les-Moulineaux at age fifteen, Trigère apprenticed as a trainee cutter at Martial et Armand in the Place Vendôme, Paris. She arrived in Manhattan, New York on 24 December 1936 with her husband, Lazar Radley, and two young children. With the aid of her brother Robert (she and her husband divorced shortly prior), Trigère launched her first collection of eleven dresses in January 1942. Trigère won the first of her three Coty Awards in 1949, by which point she had expanded from custom dresses, suits and coats into womens read-to-wear. She also designed scarves, jewelry and mens ties, and developed a perfume line called Trigère. By 1958, annual sales at Trigère, Inc. had reached over $2 million; in the mid-1980s, they exceeded $6 million. Like Chanel and Lanvin, Trigère did not sketch her designs; she cut and draped from bolts of fabric directly on models or mannequins. Although she was considered "a designer of classy, frill-less ready-to-wear," Trigères work was inventive in many ways. In the 1940s, Trigère was among the first designers to use common fabrics such as cotton and wool in evening wear. Although her palette tended to be subdued, Trigère experimented with prints later in her career, as well as added unique accents to her dresses, capes, and coats, like fur trims and jewels. Her signature turtle appeared in many of her printed fabrics. In the 1960s, she introduced the jumpsuit as a fashion staple and, in 1967, designed the first rhinestone bra. Trigère became the significant designer to employ an African-American fashion model when in 1961 she hired Beverly Valdes for a permanent position in her store. In response, one major Memphis store threatened to pull their business but when Trigère held firm, the store relented and continued to buy her fashions. In 1993, Trigère received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America. In 2001, she was awarded the Order of the Legion of Honor. Pauline Trigère died in New York on 13 February 2002, aged 93. Link to Wikipedia biography Read less