The definitive monograph on the most illustrious haute-couture embroidery house in the world, featuring specially commissioned photography of Maison Lesage’s Paris archive collections
The most famous embroidery house in the world, Maison Lesage has collaborated with the greatest names in the history of fashion, from Madeleine Vionnet, Elsa Schiaparelli, Cristóbal Balenciaga and Christian Dior to Yves Saint Laurent, Hubert de Givenchy and, of course, Chanel, which counts Lesage as one of its Métiers d’Art ateliers.
Fashion legends such as Elsa Schiaparelli (with her famous Circus and Zodiac collections) and Yves Saint Laurent (whose Van Gogh iris-embroidered jackets number over 200,000 pearls and 250,000 sequins) worked exclusively with Maison Lesage, but the embroiderer also collaborated with a raft of international designers, including Balmain, the House of Worth, Vionnet and Lacroix. Perhaps best known today for the masterpieces it created for Karl Lagerfeld's Chanel collections, Maison Lesage was bought by Chanel in 2002 to ensure the survival of its unique history and extraordinary skills.
Illustrated with specially commissioned photography of Maison Lesage’s historic creations and illuminated with texts by Patrick Mauriès, Maison Lesage is both a tribute to exceptional craftsmanship and a journey through 100 years of fashion at its most sumptuous and inventive.
Contents List:
1. Providers of excellence • 2. The birth of luxury • 3. A stroke of luck • 4. Handover 5. Bias cut • 6. Mainteuses and Lunévilleuses • 7. Marie-Louise • 8. A house is born 9. A change of address • 10. Schiaparelli • 11. Acrobats and butterflies • 12. The unexpected • 13. Survival • 14. Embroidery, trimmings and textiles • 15. François 16. American adventures • 17. Return to Paris • 18. Asparagus and flowers • 19. Old and new regime • 20. Six hundred hours • 21. When fashion is in fashion • 22. 29 and 92 • 23. A passage to India • 24. A long friendship • 25. Changes
About the Author:
Patrick Mauriès is a writer and publisher of many notable titles on fashion and design, including Jewelry by Chanel, A Cabinet of Rarities, The World According to Karl and Fashion Quotes to name a few, all published by Thames & Hudson.
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The most prestigious Parisian Haute Couture artisans, Maison Lesage has collaborated with the biggest names in fashion, from Chanel, Schiaparelli, and Yves Saint Laurent, to Cristobal Balenciaga, Valentino, and Alexander McQueen. Founded in 1924, when the Lesage family bought the eminent firm of Michonet (then a supplier to such fashion legends as the House of Worth), Maison Lesage has created exceptional embroidery motifs ― often requiring hundreds, if not thousands, of hours of precise beadwork ― for star fashion designers for decades.
Perhaps best known today for the masterpieces it creates for Karl Lagerfeld’s Chanel collections, the house was bought by Chanel in 2002 as part of its Paraffection group to ensure the survival of the house’s unique history and extraordinary skills.
Illustrated with specially commissioned photography of the house’s historic creations and illuminated with texts by Patrick Mauries, who has written extensively on Chanel, Maison Lesage is both a tribute to exceptional craftsmanship and a journey through more than one hundred years of fashion at its most sumptuous and inventive. This book will be coveted by anyone interested in luxury fashion.
