Jacques Fath

Before there was Jean Paul Gaultier, there was Jacques Fath. Known as the enfant terrible of the fashion world in the 1940s and 1950s, Fath injected a sense of levity and joie de vivre into the buttoned-up world of Paris couture. Handsome, charming, youthful, and irreverent, Fath channeled his temperament into his designs. With swooping necklines and sweeping hems, Fath won over such clients as Greta Garbo, Ava Gardner, and Rita Hayworth. The house's famous hats--one featured walnut shells whose contents were consumed by Fath--displayed the same insouciance as the clothes. Although Fath was struck down by leukemia at the age of forty-two, his legacy lives on. Jacques Fath pays homage to this master during his early-fifties peak.