Louis Féraud adore les femmes
Louis Féraud was born in the southern French town of Arles in 1921 and opened his first boutique in Cannes in 1950.
When, in 1955, Brigitte Bardot visited his shop with the paparazzi in hot pursuit and bought a white sundress, the rest of Cote d’Azur elite immediately flocked to buy his clothes, assuring his success as a designer.
By the mid 1950s he had established a couture house in Paris, designing for Bardot and other film stars such as Ingrid Bergman and Kim Novak, and he presented his first haute couture collection Paris in 1958.
Féraud subsequently hired up and coming designers Jean-Louis Scherrer and Per Spook, going from strength to strength throughout the 60s and signing up with Fink of Germany in 1970 to design a ladies’ prêt-à-porter collection.
“Fashion is not created to separate people but to bring them together; it is a rendezvous of love,” he famously declared. His aim, he said, was always “to please women”, and he invariably succeeded with his sophisticated designs and fine French tailoring, coining the slogan “Louis Féraud adore les femmes”.
An accomplished fine artist as well as a designer, Féraud was heavily influenced by his colourful Provencal roots and he continued to paint throughout his life, exhibiting in Europe and the USA. He also created a number of perfumes.
Féraud twice won the ‘Golden Thimble Award’ for his haute couture collections in 1978 and 1984, and his designs were favoured throughout the glamorous 80s by stars like Joan Collins in her ‘Dynasty’ role as Alexis Colby. In 1991, he was elected Prince de l'Art de Vivre and was made an Officier de la Légion d'Honneur in 1995 by the French President.
Following his retirement in 1995, the House of Féraud was run by his daughter Kiki until 1999, when it was acquired by the Dutch group Secon. Féraud died that same year at the age of 79, but his label, famous for its elegance and sophistication, continues to delight new generations of women from across the globe.
Just as “Féraud adore les femmes”, it is undoubtedly still the case that “les femmes adorent Féraud”. The Frockery does too and we can never resist this particular label.