Spanish fashion designer Paco Rabanne (1934-2023) is dead. He died on Friday (February 3) at the age of 88, his company confirmed. “He was one of the most important fashion figures of the 20th century and his legacy will remain a constant source of inspiration,” it said. According to media reports, he is said to have died in the Breton community of Portsall, where he last lived.
Rabanne was known, among other things, for its perfume series. The spectacular green costume he designed for Jane Fonda (85) in the science fiction film “Barbarella” (1968) made him world famous.
Paco Rabanne was born in the Basque Country in 1934, his mother was a seamstress at Balenciaga. In 1939 she fled to Paris with her son. The Spaniard began his career in the mid-1960s as a jewelry designer for Givenchy, Dior and Balenciaga. In 1966 he created his own brand, Paco Rabanne. Alongside Yves Saint Laurent (1936-2008), he is regarded as the most style-defining designer for 1960s fashion.
In 1969, Paco Rabanne entered into a perfume collaboration with the Spanish cosmetics group Puig. Until the 1990s, Rabanne developed numerous fragrances, some of which are still available today. In 1987, Puig bought the entire Paco Rabanne company. From 1999 the Spaniard gradually withdrew from the company. In the same year, the haute couture division of the fashion house was abandoned.
