The fashion world has lost yet another giant, just weeks following the passing of Vivienne Westwood. The sad passing of legendary designer Paco Rabanne at age 88 was announced by Puig, the parent company of his brands.

Born in Spain in 1934, Rabanne’s father was executed by Francoist troops during the Spanish Civil War. His mother was a chief seamstress at the first couture house of Cristobal Balenciaga. Due to her work for the celebrated house of Balenciaga, Rabanne’s family moved to Paris in 1937. While studying architecture at l'École Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Rabanne used his artistic flair to earn money designing fashion sketches for Givenchy and Dior. Although he showed talent, he went on to work in concrete for over ten years.

Eventually, Rabanne refound his desire for fashion and began to design jewellery for the houses of Balenciaga, Dior and Givenchy before founding his own house in 1966. His designs immediately attracted praise for his inventive use of metals, but also controversy. His debut collection entitled 12 Unwearable Dresses in Contemporary Materials did not go down well with the French fashion press. The unconventional use of materials like metal and plastic was ahead of their time and greatly linked with the 1960s trend for space-age style. The green costume worn by Jane Fonda in the sci-fi classic Barbarella (1968) is not just one of his most well-known designs, but one of the most famous sci-fi costumes in history.

"I have always had the impression of being a time accelerator," he said of his designs in 2016. "Of going as far as is reasonable for one's time and not indulge in the morbid pleasure of the known things, which I view as decay."

Paco Rabanne is also known globally for his fragrances which were conceived in collaboration with Puig in 1968.

After the passing of Pierre Cardin, Rabanne was one of the last of a very specific generation in fashion history. He will be remembered as a revolutionary of material, fabric and couture.

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