Klein

Michel (1957). French designer and brand of prêt-à-porter. He started working very young: at 15, he was selling drawings of fabrics to the Saint Laurent maison; at 17 he worked with Maud Frizon and Dorothée Bis. When just 18 the Group Créateurs & Industriels financed his boutique Toiles in Paris and sponsored his first prêt-à-porter Collection, bringing immediate success. At the age of 20, he designed the costumes for two theater shows by Bob Wilson: Death, Destruction and Detroit and Edison. The 1980s saw the definitive launch of the brand, with new shops and an important licensing contract in Japan. In the 1990s four minor lines were created (Klein d’oeil, Klein Quand, Indigo and Toiles). In 1994 he was employed by Guy Laroche to design its haute couture Collection.
&Quad;1997. He left Guy Laroche to join the American designer Alber Elbaz. Klein was credited with taking Guy Laroche away from haute couture more in the direction of prêt-à-porter. Michel then opened a new space at 330, Rue Saint-Honoré. It is a store-apartment in a typical Parisian building, which can also be used for exhibitions of art, design, photos, and sculpture.
&Quad;2003. Michel Klein’s production is characterized by small pieces (bustiers, shirts, boleros) inspired by the South America of the 1950s. Issue of a new women’s perfume for the Club des Créateurs de Beauté. Other than the Espace Michel Klein in Rue Saint-Honoré, there are almost 20 sales points in France, 2 in the US (Brooklyn and Melrose Place, Los Angeles), plus 10 stores in Europe, half of which are in Italy.