If you follow the fashion news, you may have heard that designer James Galanos died on October 30, at the age of 92.
Born in 1924 in Philadelphia from Greek-born parents, Galanos had his first glimpse at well-dressed women at his parents' restaurant.
After graduating in 1942 he went to New York City hoping to enroll at a school headed by Russian stage designer and costumer Barbara Karinska. As the school didn't open, he enrolled at the Traphagen School of Fashion, but left a few months later, feeling he would have acquired the same skills from practical experience.
In 1944, Galanos worked at the New York East 49th Street emporium of Hattie Carnegie, but, disappointed as the job wasn't creative enough for him, he left and started selling his sketches to individual manufacturers on Seventh Avenue for less than $10.00 per sketch.
Jean Louis, head costume designer at Columbia Pictures, hired him as a part-time assistant sketch artist when a job with textile magnate Lawrence Lesavoy failed to materialise. Lesavoy eventually sent him to Paris, where Galanos worked with Robert Piguet.
In 1948, Galanos decided to return to the U.S and accepted a job with Davidow, a dress-making firm in New York.
He resigned from it (once again the job allowed him very little creativity...) three years later to open his own company - Galanos Originals.
Galanos launched in 1952 a small collection that was immediately ordered by Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills, but he also attracted the attention of a Neiman Marcus buyer at his New York showroom.
As the years passed he became known for creating ready-to-wear pieces that had the quality of Haute Couture designs: he was considered a wizard with chiffon, a fabric he learnt to drape, pleat and layer, obtaining great effects.
Magazine editors, actresses and celebrities became fans and, in 1953, Galanos began designing for movies. His first job was to create costumes for Rosalind Russell in Never Wave at a WAC.
The actress became his friend and a loyal client, but he also designed pieces for Judy Garland (for General Electric Theater and Judy Garland Musical Special) and his customer base eventually included Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, Jackie Kennedy, Grace Kelly, Marlene Dietrich, and many more.
Galanos' atelier was often compared to the Parisian ones linked with prestigious fashion houses: he had the most talented craftsmen in his workrooms and delicate stages, such as beadwork and embroidery, were made by hand in California by his skilled collaborators.
The designer was also known for creating his own fabrics and, though he often employed sequins, feathers, metallic brocades and laces, he mainly favoured a sort of muted elegance and small, hidden details that truly made a difference to a design.
He became also famous for his innovative mink, sable and lynx furs: his fitted coats incorporated special tricks such as carving the hemline in a back-dipping curve to give them a sculptural silhouette.
In the 1980s, he made national headlines as Nancy Reagan's favorite designer: the First Lady became another of his loyal fans, and even stated that you could have worn Galanos' dresses inside out and they would still have looked beautiful since they were extremely well made.
Galanos received many fashion awards in his career and continued to make his presence known in the fashion world even though he officially retired in 1998, reinventing himself as an abstract photographer in 2006.
He wasn't a great fan of contemporary fashion, but admired Ralph Rucci (it was the designer's sister, Rosina Rucci, who confirmed Galanos' death).
Though he dressed many celebrities, Galanos didn't like fame but seemed to prefer a loyal clientele. The designer often highlighted in interviews that elegance was refusal, so let's try to look at three pieces designed by him that perfectly fit in with this style motto.
Many Galanos designs are preserved in archives all over the world, but some interesting ones can be spotted at the Museum of Art in Philadelphia, where he was born.
The first design featured in this post for example is a symbolical one since it is a cocktail dress from 1959 in Galanos' signature fabric - silk chiffon. This one is particularly beautiful since it features a vertically ruffled skirt made with bias-cut strips of fabric that perfectly illustrates Galanos's masterful use of chiffon.
The next piece is a walking suit consisting in a tunic top, skirt, and jacket. Also this design is dated from 1959 and it comes in the same olive green shade as the previous one. The sculpted jacket, with three-quarter-length sleeves, features an interesting architectural line around the shoulder area that adds a subtle dynamic element to the design.
In October of that year, Galanos and designer Pauline Trigère were inducted into the Coty Hall of Fame, the highest designation awarded by the Coty American Fashion Critics, and this timeless jacket proves that he genuinely deserved the award.
The third Galanos design included in this post is not taken from a musuem archive, but from the 1stdibs.com auction site. It is a black velvet helmet hat from the 1960s that still looks extremely modern and desirable.
This could be considered as James Galanos' version of the Space Age helmet so popular in those years: the hat fits close to the head, ties at the chin with black silk ribbons and features decorative top stitching throughout.
Though created decades ago, thanks to their simple yet well-designed lines and elegant details, these three pieces still look extremely modern and more desirable than some of the garments featured in current collections. Looks like Galanos was right then - the real magic in fashion is in the hidden details.
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