Robert Piguet

Piguet was born in Yverdon-les-Bains in Switzerland,{{cite book|last=Reeder|first=Jan Glier|title=High style : masterworks from the Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art|date=2010|publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art|location=New York|isbn=9781588393623|page=225|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IeGP78Z2SdcC&pg=PA225}} in 1898, according to the Swiss Fashion Museum, the Musée suisse de la Mode, which holds his archives,{{cite web|title=Collections: Musée suisse de la Mode|url=http://www.museemode.ch/collections.html|publisher=Musée suisse de la Mode, Switzerland|access-date=24 April 2014|language=French}} although many other sources give an alternative birth year of 1901.{{cite book|last=Lambert|first=Eleanor|title=World of fashion : people, places, resources |date=1976 |publisher=R.R. Bowker Co.|location=New York|isbn=9780835206273|page=333|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q-jbAAAAMAAJ&q=%22thin+suits%22}} In Paris Couturiers and Milliners, published in 1949, Piguet is said to have been 17 in 1918.{{cite book|last=Perkins|first=Alice K.|title=Paris Couturiers and Milliners|date=1949|publisher=Fairchild Publications|page=35}}

Piguet died at Lausanne, Switzerland, on 22 February 1953.{{cite book|title=Contemporary fashion|date=2002|publisher=St. James Press|location=Detroit [u.a.]|isbn=9781558623484|page=537|edition=2.|editor=Taryn Benbow-Pfalzgraf}} Jean Cocteau, a close friend of Piguet, wrote upon his death: "he loved, he invented, he gave...a generous and vibrant member of our team."{{Cite web |title=Robert Piguet |url=https://www.lesecretdumarais.com/en/robert-piguet?srsltid=AfmBOoq0p37q8noUBt4a-u4h-p-N4Zu2oMluIFXQ5UNP9xEa3fazzobX |access-date=2024-12-15 |website=Le Secret du Marais |language=en}}

The young Piguet originally trained to be a banker, like his father, but preferred fashion design, much to his father's disapproval. In late 1918, just after the end of World War I, he decided to go to Paris to pursue his vocation.

Initially, Piguet began working with Paul Poiret, before being poached by the Paris branch of Redfern.{{cite book|last=Wilson|first=Robert Forrest|title=Paris on Parade|date=1932|publisher=R. M. McBride & Company|location=Paris|pages=69–71|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-qU-AAAAYAAJ&q=%22Robert+Piguet%22+Redfern|quote="When Redfern took young Robert Piguet away from Poiret, it was a great business stroke for the house, which had fallen into one of those aristocratic declines which sooner or later overtake all the older establishments when their designers grow conservative and come to regard the latest fancies as just a little bit mad if not actually out of taste."}} In 1932, an American author writing on Paris fashion commented that the American cartoonist 'would probably select Robert Piguet, the designer at Redfern's, as the ideal Parisian dressmaker.'

In 1933, Piguet launched his own fashion house. Eleanor Lambert described him as known for '"thin suits" and tasteful day dresses,' whilst Vogue declared him the 'master of the little wool dress'.{{cite book |last=Watson |first=Linda |title=Twentieth century fashion designers, N-Z |date=2001 |publisher=Chelsea House Publishers |location=Philadelphia |isbn=9780791061961 |page=11 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LWcbAQAAMAAJ&q=%22Robert+Piguet%22}} He is perhaps best known for giving Christian Dior his big break in 1937, allowing him to design for three collections.{{cite book|last=Marly|first=Diana de|title=Christian Dior|date=1990|publisher=B.T. Batsford|location=London|isbn=9780713464535|page=12|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-OvxAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Cafe+Anglais%22|quote="Dior designed three collections while at Piguet's, and the most famous dress he created then was the Cafe Anglais..."}}{{cite book|last=Pochna|first=Marie-France|title=Christian Dior : the man who made the world look new|date=1996|publisher=Arcade Pub.|location=New York|isbn=9781559703406|pages=[https://archive.org/details/christiandiorman00poch/page/62 62], 72, 74, 80, 102|url=https://archive.org/details/christiandiorman00poch|url-access=registration|edition=1st English language |translator=Joanna Savill}} Dior later said: 'Robert Piguet taught me the virtues of simplicity through which true elegance must come.'{{cite book| last=Grainger |first=Nathalie |title=Quintessentially perfume.|date=2010|publisher=Quintessentially Pub. Ltd. |location=London |isbn=9780955827068 |page=125|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e_46gh0ddVIC&pg=PA125}}{{cite book|last=Picken|first=Mary Brooks |title=Dressmakers of France: The Who, How, and why of the French Couture |date=1956 |publisher=Harper |page=105 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vJHOAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Robert+Piguet+taught+me+the+virtues+of+simplicity+through+which+true+elegance+must+come%22|author2=Dora Loues Miller }} One of Dior's designs for Piguet, a day dress called 'Cafe Anglais' with a short and full skirt was particularly well received. While at Piguet, Dior worked alongside Pierre Balmain, and was succeeded by Marc Bohan as house designer. In addition to Dior, Bohan and Balmain, other designers who had an early start with Piguet included James Galanos and Hubert de Givenchy.{{cite book|last=Clade|first=Jean-Louis|title=Se vêtir : Art et histoire de plaire|date=2008|publisher=Cabédita|location=Yens-sur-Morges|isbn=9782882955265|page=165|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oHMN-B7-MFEC&pg=PA165}}{{cite book |last=Pendergast |first=Sara |title=Contemporary designers |date=1997 |publisher=St. James Press|location=Detroit|isbn=9781558621848|page=48|edition=3rd}} He also collaborated with the Italian fashion illustrator René Gruau, whose artwork depicted many of Piguet's designs and was featured in promotional materials of the time.{{Cite web |title=Robert Piguet 1946 René Gruau Fashion Illustration Evening Gown |url=https://hprints.com/en/item/18359/Robert-Piguet-1946-Rene-Gruau-Fashion-Illustration-Evening-Gown |access-date=2024-12-15 |website=hprints.com |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Robert Piguet: A Prince of Fashion |url=https://dsfantiquejewelry.com/blogs/journal/robert-piguet-a-prince-of-fashion?_pos=1&_sid=3fd40c70d&_ss=r |access-date=2024-12-15 |website=DSF Antique Jewelry |language=en}}

In 1938, Piguet relocated his fashion house to the Rond-Point des Champs-Élysées. The salon, known for its grand design and pastel-colored rooms, attracted Parisian elites and members of the artistic community.{{Cite web |title=Robert Piguet |url=https://www.lesecretdumarais.com/en/robert-piguet?srsltid=AfmBOoq0p37q8noUBt4a-u4h-p-N4Zu2oMluIFXQ5UNP9xEa3fazzobX |access-date=2024-12-15 |website=Le Secret du Marais |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Robert Piguet |url=https://www.fragrancefoundation.fr/societes-membres/robertpiguet/?utm_source=chatgpt.com |access-date=2024-12-15 |website=The Fragrance Foundation France |language=fr}}

Piguet's archive, consisting of 3,000 original designs, photographs and documents, is held by the Musée suisse de la Mode, in his birthplace, Yverdon-les-Bains.

In collaboration with Germaine Cellier, Robert Piguet launched his first perfume Bandit (created 1942) in the USA in 1944,{{cite web|title=The Encyclopaedia of Perfume: Perfume Houses Volume P / Chapter 1 / Page 5 |url=http://www.perfumeintelligence.co.uk/library/perfume/b/b1/b1p4.htm |publisher=Perfume Intelligence|access-date=24 April 2014}} with a dramatic presentation featuring models with guns and knives, one of whom is said to have smashed a bottle of the fragrance on the floor.{{cite book|last=Herman|first=Barbara|title=Scent and subversion decoding a century of provocative perfume.|date=2013|publisher=Globe Pequot|isbn=9781493002016|page=101|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UVFYAQAAQBAJ&pg=PT101}} His most successful fragrance was Fracas (1948), also co-developed with Cellier - an updated version of which was inducted into the FiFi Awards's Hall of Fame in 2006. Other fragrances developed under Piguet's supervision were Visa (1945) and Baghari (1950). Following Piguet's death, fragrances such as Cravache (1963) and Futur (1960s) continued to be developed under his name, although 'Robert Piguet' gradually fell from public awareness until being bought by the American company Fashion Fragrances & Cosmetics Ltd in 1993.Williams, Tessa (2013). Cult Perfumes, The World's Most Exclusive Perfumeries, p.151. Merrell, London. {{ISBN|978-1-8589-4577-4}}

{{reflist|2}}

• {{cite web|title=Robert Piguet Parfums|url=http://www.robertpiguetparfums.com/}} - Official site for the current company
• {{cite web|title= Robert Piguet at Fragrantica|url=http://www.fragrantica.com/designers/Robert-Piguet.html}}
• {{cite web|title= Interview with Joe Garces, creative director of Robert Piguet Parfums|url=http://www.cafleurebon.com/cafleurebon-creative-directors-in-perfumery-joe-garces-of-robert-piguet-parfums-an-american-in-paris-draw/}}

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Category:1898 births

Category:1953 deaths

Category:French fashion designers

Category:Swiss fashion designers

Category:Perfume houses

Category:Swiss emigrants to France

Category:People from Yverdon-les-Bains