PACO RABANNE

Paco Rabanne, born in Spain to a mother who was a head seamstress at Balenciaga, rose as an experimental voice in Parisian haute couture of the 1960s and 70s on the strength of his modern dresses in conceptual materials: chain mail, hammered metal, fluorescent leather, fiberglass. Current head designer Julien Dossena balances the house's retro-futuristic legacy with crisp tailoring, mod and athletic accents, and fluid shapes.