Griffe

Jacques Griffe (1909-1996). French designer. The best student, the dauphin, the spiritual heir of Madeleine Vionnet, the queen of fluid oblique cutting and draping. She was already his mentor when he started his apprenticeship in the maison Mira of Toulouse, specialized in the reproduction of haute couture models. In 1935 he decided to move to Paris and he found a job beside Vionnet. He remained there until the closing of the atelier in 1939. The great dressmaker was at his side when, in 1948, he opened his own maison in Rue du Faubourg St. Honoré when, accepting Molyneux‘s heritage, he continued his business. Theirs was an extraordinary example of friendship and professional partnership. A super mastership in the oblique cutting, taste and inexhaustible fantasy in draping, tested on a wooden dummy, a gift by Mme Vionnet, before turning the fabrics into clothes, coats, and evening dresses. The designer, who retired in 1974, was also considered a master of colors.