Nicole Farhi

{{Infobox person

|name = Nicole Farhi

|honorific_suffix =

|birth_date = {{birth year and age|1946}}

|birth_place = Nice, France

|spouse = {{marriage|David Hare|1992}}

|occupation = Fashion designer, artist, sculptor

}}

Nicole Farhi, Lady Hare, CBE (born 1946) is a French former fashion designer. In mid-career in London, she took up sculpture and, on retirement from the fashion industry, became a sculptor.

Early life and education

Born in 1946 in Nice on the French Riviera,[https://web.archive.org/web/20050130220352/https://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/person.asp?LinkID=mp65139 National Portrait Gallery page for Nicole Farhi] "Nicole Farhi (1946-),..."[http://www.designerhistory.com/historyofashion/farhi.html Designerhistory.com] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050324010110/http://designerhistory.com/historyofashion/farhi.html |date=24 March 2005 }} "Nicole Farhi was born in 1946 in Nice, France. She studied fashion at the Studio Bercot in Paris and free-lanced for Agnes B, Pierre D'Alby and Jean-Charles de Castelbajac before moving to England in 1973 to design for the French Connection group." {{cite web |url=http://www.vogue.co.uk/news/2012/01/13/nicole-farhi---kelso-place-new-investor-opengate-sold|work=Vogue|title=Farhi Change|date=2012-05-08|first=Lauren|last=Milligan}} Nicole Farhi is the daughter of Sephardic Jews who immigrated to France from Turkey after World War I. Her father sold rugs and lighting.{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2009/sep/19/fashion-designers-fashion|title = Nicole Farhi: 'Go home alone? I can't'|newspaper = The Guardian|first=Aida|last=Edemariam|author-link=Aida Edemariam|date = 18 September 2009|language=en}} She attended synagogue with her grandparents.{{Cite web|title=Nicole Farhi |url=https://www.jewishlivesproject.com/profiles/nicole-farhi|access-date=2021-08-07|website=Jewish Lives Project|language=en}} Members of her family endured concentration camps during the Second World War.{{Cite web|title='One of my cousins had been in a concentration camp' Nicole Farhi on life and art|url=https://www.heraldscotland.com/life_style/arts_ents/17743624.one-cousins-concentration-camp-nicole-farhi-life-art/|first= Teddy |last=Jamieson|date=7 July 2019|access-date=2021-08-07|website=The Herald|location=Glasgow|language=en}}{{Cite journal|last=Glanville|first=Jo|date=2000-01-01|title=Nicole Farhi |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0449010X.2000.10705201 |journal=Jewish Quarterly|volume=47|issue=3|pages=68–69|doi=10.1080/0449010X.2000.10705201|doi-broken-date=1 November 2024|issn=0449-010X}}

Farhi studied both art and fashion in early 1960s Paris and, needing to be self-sufficient, started her career as a freelancer there in 1967 before moving to London, England, in 1969{{cite web |url=https://www.fashion.net/nicole-farhi|title=Nicole Farhi|publisher=fashion.net|accessdate=10 December 2015}}{{Cite web|title=Nicole Farhi {{!}} Fashion Designer Biography |url=http://www.famousfashiondesigners.org/nicole-farhi|access-date=2021-08-07 |website=Famous Fashion Designers |language=en-US}}{{Cite news |title=Nicole Farhi: 'I love art profoundly in a way I never loved fashion' |url=https://www.ft.com/content/3b64f62a-3141-11e9-80d2-7b637a9e1ba1 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/MtjpP |archive-date=11 December 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|access-date=2021-08-07|newspaper=Financial Times|date=21 February 2019|last1=Cole|first1=Teresa Levonian}} or 1973.

Career in fashion

In 1978, Farhi was employed by Stephen Marks to head up the company's design studio in Bow, East London, on his French Connection label. She was given a free hand to design. She was also commissioned to design theatre and cinema costumes. In 1982, Marks assisted Farhi in launching the eponymous Nicole Farhi high-end fashion label within the French Connection group.{{cite web |url=http://www.fashionencyclopedia.com/Fr-Gu/French-Connection.html |title=French Connection - Fashion Designer Encyclopedia - clothing, women, men, style, new, body, history, footwear, collection |website=www.fashionencyclopedia.com |access-date=2013-02-06}}{{Cite web|title=Nicole Farhi News, Collections, Fashion Shows, Fashion Week Reviews, and More|url=https://www.vogue.com/fashion-shows/designer/nicole-farhi|access-date=2021-08-07|website=Vogue|language=en-US}} The label opened shops worldwide, including London and New York in 1999. The success of her first label was followed by Nicole Farhi for Men in 1989. The Nicole Farhi Home Collection was launched in 1998 and a concept store named 202 opened in 2002, featuring homeware, clothing lines and all day brasserie.

On 15 March 2010, French Connection announced the sale of the brand and retail chains to OpenGate Capital for up to £5 million.{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/2010/mar/15/french-connection-sells-nicole-farhi |title=French Connection sells Nicole Farhi as losses mount |first=Zoe |last=Wood|website=www.theguardian.com |date= 15 March 2010|access-date=2013-02-06}}[http://www.londonstockexchange.com/exchange/prices-and-news/news/market-news/market-news-detail.html?announcementId=10410016 "Regulatory News Service link"]{{dead link|date=February 2018|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}}: "French Connection Group plc, Completion of Strategic Review, Announcement of Sale of a Business and Preliminary Results for the year ended 31 January 2010, released 15 March 2010." Entering administration in 2013, the labels had six stores, supplied major stores such as John Lewis and had concessions in other department stores.{{Cite news|date=2013-07-03|title=Nicole Farhi enters administration|url=http://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/jul/03/nicole-farhi-administration-fashion-jobs|access-date=2021-08-07|newspaper=The Guardian|first=Sarah |last=Butler|language=en}} Administrators Zolfo Cooper were appointed on 3 July 2013 to advise on sale or restructuring of the UK shops and associated retail outlets located within Harvey Nichols, House of Fraser and Selfridges.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23164295|title=Nicole Farhi fashion chain enters administration|publisher=BBC News|date=3 July 2013|accessdate=3 July 2013}}[https://nymag.com/listings/stores/nicole_farhi/ "Nicole Farhi"], Nymag.com.

Midlife pivot into sculpture

In the mid-1980s, Farhi took up sculpture as a hobby,{{Cite web|date=2019-02-19|title=Nicole Farhi on Her 35-Year Love Affair With Sculpture|url=https://www.vogue.co.uk/article/nicole-farhi-sculpture-exhibition-2018|first=Louise|last=Long|access-date=2021-08-07|website=British Vogue|language=en-GB}} under the tutelage of artist Jean Gibson in her private studio.{{cite journal|author=Cook, Grace|title=A London exhibition of Nicole Farhi's curvaceous nudes takes shape|url= https://www.wallpaper.com/fashion/nicole-farhi-exhibition|journal=Wallpaper|date=2022|access-date=2023-05-27}}{{cite AV media|title= This Cultural Life with Nicole Farhi|publisher=www.bbc.co.uk|url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001mbmq|date=2023-05-27|access-date=2023-05-27}} podcast available During her fashion career, Farhi would work one day a week and at weekends in her own studio. After many years of juggling the two, she became a full-time sculptor. She turned her back on fashion and focused on sculpture, with a first solo exhibition in 2019.{{Cite news|title=Nicole Farhi|url=http://www.beauxartslondon.uk/artists-2/nicole-farhi/|access-date=2021-08-07|website=beauxartslondon.uk|language=en-GB}}{{Cite web|title=Nicole Farhi interview: 'Why I've closed the door to fashion'|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/11038583/Nicole-Farhi-interview-Why-Ive-closed-the-door-to-fashion.html|first=Charlotte|last=Williamson|date=17 August 2014|access-date=2021-08-07|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|location=London}}{{Cite web|date=2019-07-15|title=Nicole Farhi: 'I wanted to express things other than just making clothes'|url=https://edinburghfestival.list.co.uk/article/109713-nicole-farhi-i-wanted-to-express-things-other-than-just-making-clothes/|access-date=2021-08-07|website=Edinburgh Festival|language=en-GB}}

Her Edinburgh Art Festival exhibition contained 25 clay busts of her favourite literary figures,{{Cite web|title=Nicole Farhi {{!}} 25 July – 31 August 2019|url=https://www.thefineartsociety.com/exhibitions/93-nicole-farhi-writing-heads/|access-date=2021-08-07|website=The Fine Art Society Ltd|language=en}} including Oscar Wilde, Françoise Sagan, Muriel Spark and Joan Didion, all under 20 centimetres high.

Farhi is a member of the Royal Society of Sculptors.{{Cite web|title=Nicole Farhi|url=https://sculptors.org.uk/artists/nicole-farhi|access-date=2021-08-07|website=sculptors.org.uk|language=en}}

Personal life

Farhi and Marks' professional relationship resulted in a personal relationship, and the couple had a daughter, Candice Marks, before separating.{{Cite web|url=http://www.heraldscotland.com/a-lady-and-a-vamp-1.836088|title = A lady and a vamp|website=The Herald|date=22 March 2009}} Farhi married British playwright David Hare in 1992. They met when she designed the costumes for his play Murmuring Judges. Eduardo Paolozzi, her friend and mentor, was a witness at their wedding.{{Cite web|title=Nicole Farhi on the life and legend of Eduardo Paolozzi {{!}} Art UK|url=https://artuk.org/discover/stories/nicole-farhi-on-the-life-and-legend-of-eduardo-paolozzi|date=22 March 2021|access-date=2021-08-07|website=artuk.org|language=en}}

She is a cousin of the writer and human rights campaigner Moris Farhi.{{cite news |url=http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/style/living/article157878.ece |title=Relative Values: Nicole Farhi and her cousin Moris | the Sunday Times |newspaper=The Sunday Times |access-date=22 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140525195858/http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/style/living/article157878.ece |archive-date=25 May 2014 |url-status=dead}}

In February 2007, Farhi was a signatory to the declaration of Independent Jewish Voices, calling for an open and critical debate on Israel and criticising certain Jewish organisations' unconditional support of Israel in relation to Palestine.{{Cite web|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2007/02/06/group-establishes-new-jewish-voice/|title = Group establishes new Jewish voice| website=Chicago Tribune | date=6 February 2007 }}{{Cite web|date=2007-02-05|title=Prominent Jews call for open debate on Israel|url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/feb/05/israel1|first=Julian |last=Borger|access-date=2021-08-07|website=The Guardian|language=en}}

Honours

2007: CBE, for services the British fashion industry{{cn|date=June 2024}}
2010: Legion of Honour, France{{Cite web |url=http://www.vogue.co.uk/spy/celebrity-photos/2010/09/22/nicole-farhi-legion-dhonneur-dinner|title = Dining with Nicole|website=British Vogue|first= Jessica|last=Bumpus|date = 22 September 2010}}