Profligate yardage - gowns by Jacques Griffe, 1950-59

The photographs here are by Willy Maywald, Regina Relang, Richard Avedon, and others.

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Griffe demonstrating his design method using a miniature mannequin. Photograph by Georges Saad, 1949.

Jacques Griffe (29 November 1909, Conques-sur-Orbiel - 24 June 1996, Castelnaudary), French couturier and costume designer. He first served as an apprenticeship for a tailor in Carcassonne, beginning at the age of sixteen, before relocating to Toulouse where he worked for Mirra, a dressmaker who followed the Paris collections. After fulfilling his military service in 1936, he went to work as a cutter with Madeleine Vionnet in Paris. In the three years spent under her supervision and mentorship, he perfected his technical skills, eventually following the example of Vionnet in his use of a miniature mannequin to work out his design ideas, and becoming a master of draping and cutting, particularly known for his tour de force execution of complicated - shirring, pleating, tucking, etc. - fabric manipulation.

In 1941 - or 1942, depending on the source - he opened his own couture house on place Gaillon. He was later mobilized though, captured, and spent eighteen months in a Pomeranian prison camp. After the war, he relocated his couture house to 29, rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré and then moved once again, in 1951, when he took over Edward Molyneux's salon at 5, rue Royale. During this period he also, like other couturiers, became known for his fragrances, with names like Enthusiasme, Griffonnage, Mistigri, Doodle, and Grilou. He closed his business in 1968 - or 1973, depending on the source - and retired to Villesiscle, near Carcassonne. When he died, at the age of eighty-four, he was buried nearby in Conques-sur-Orbiel, the place of his birth.

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For even more of his designs, including daywear and less "floofy" gowns, visit this Flickr album.