Jacques Fath

Jacques Fath was a fashion designer who celebrated femininity and specialized in glamour. Vogue editor Bettina Ballard said that the charismatic Fath had a gift for “making women look attractive and very sexy.” His tailored daywear and romantic evening gowns highlighted a woman’s sensuality, while strategic details, such as unusual necklines or peplums, emphasized her curvaceous body.

Fath debuted his couture collection in 1937. His career was interrupted briefly (from 1939 to 1940) for military service, but his couture house remained open through the occupation of Paris during the Second World War. He was one of the giants of postwar Paris fashion, and his clothing was very popular in the postwar United States. In 1948, he began a successful collaboration with American ready-to-wear manufacturer Joseph Halpert.

Fath had an acute sense for publicity, and he entertained lavishly, often hosting themed costume parties at his country estate. (Pierre Balmain once called Fath the “Squire of Corbeville.”) High-profile guests included such dramatic beauties as movie star Rita Hayworth, who was also a client.

Life magazine described Fath’s fashions as “wearable glamour.” Like Fath himself, his designs had vitality and youthfulness. He “knew how to dress young women, and could even contrive to give an air of youth to the not-so-young, for he had something of a magician’s qualities of legerdemain and conjuring,” wrote Celia Bertin in Paris à la Mode.

In 1949, Life characterized Fath as “a sort of dauphin, or heir apparent, to Dior’s throne as ruler of fashion.” But Fath died of leukemia only five years later, at age 42. His wife, Geneviève, took control of his collections for a while, but the house closed in 1957. Attempts to revive the house have been largely unsuccessful, but Fath himself is remembered for the verve, beauty, and charm he brought to mid-century fashion.