Pierre Balmain
Pierre Balmain was born as Pierre Alexander Claudius Balmain in Paris, France on May 18, 1940. He studied architecture at Ecole des Beaux Arts but did not complete his studies and joined fashion designer Edward Moluneux and worked for him from 1934 to 1939. He opened his fashion house in 1945 and showcased long, bell-shaped skirts with small waistlines. This line later on became popular as “Dior’s New Look.” He said, “Dressmaking is the architecture of movement.”“Good fashion is evolution, not revolution,”Pierre Balmain said in 1969. The haute couturier was by then something of a legend, dressing royalty of both the genuine kind (notably Queen Sirikit of Thailand) and the Hollywood kind (Marlene Dietrich, Vivien Leigh, Sophia Loren). He had risen to prominence as one of the young Turks—along with Jacques Fath, Cristóbal Balenciaga and Christian Dior—who brought the glory back to French fashion after the liberation of Paris.