Scarf Magic: Madame Grès

The house of Grès was an old school couture house. I remember my old boss Kate telling me that her aunt took her there when she was a young girl. It was a salon, with perfect Parisienne sales ladies and the kind of chairs you see illustrated on the covers of chick-lit books. I think she said she bought a cardigan.

Madame Alix Grès started in fashion in the 1930s (making dresses for her beloved daughter) and continued until 1988. was best known for her bias-cut, Grecian-inspired gowns made of matte silk jersey. In 1994, the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York held a big retrospective of her designs and she was rediscovered—for a while. Her house has never been reclaimed those of her contemporaries Jeanne Lanvin or Coco Chanel, but now the names of Alber Elbaz and Karl Lagerfeld have eclipsed those of the women who created the labels.

Because she never expanded into ready-to-wear, I like to think that somehow my little scarf passed through Grès’ salon, just like Kate did.