French fashion designer who popularised an ethereal, space-age look in the 1960s
A radical future was in fashion for a while in the 1960s, its girls gleaming ethereal in silver and white. The lead designer of this brave – and brief – new world was André Courrèges, who has died aged 92.
He was not an absolute beginner when he launched the look, although its success depended on his rapport with young people. He had been born in Pau, in the French Basque country (and kept the accent); studied as a civil engineer keen on architecture and textiles; and served as a pilot in the French air force during the second world war, recalling especially the sky-blue flannelette of the pyjamas issued to US forces who landed in France in 1944 – such good cloth.
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