Spanish fashion designer Paco Rabanne has died

The fashion designer Paco Rabanne is dead. He died on Friday at the age of 88, as the Spanish cosmetics group Puig confirmed to the German Press Agency.

“He is one of the most important personalities in the fashion world of the 20th century and his legacy will remain a constant source of inspiration,” the fashion house paid tribute to him on Instagram. “We are grateful to Monsieur Rabanne for establishing our avant-garde heritage and defining a future of unlimited possibilities.”

Paco Rabanne known since the 1960s

Rabanne, born in San Sebastián, Spain, in 1934, became known in the 1960s for his extravagant clothing designs. Unlike other fashion designers at the time, he used little satin or velvet, instead playing with materials such as aluminum or plastic. In the science fiction film “Barbarella” Jane Fonda wore his costumes and made him world famous. In recent years he has been best known for his perfume line.

Rabanne was considered a self-taught fashion designer. His mother worked for fashion designer Cristóbal Balenciaga. His father was killed by Franco troops in the Spanish Civil War.

In the 1960s, Rabanne founded his eponymous company, which has been fully owned by the Spanish cosmetics group Puig for several decades. “Who but Paco Rabanne could dream up a fragrance called ‘Calandre’ – the word means grille, you know – and make it an icon of modern femininity? That radical, rebellious spirit set him apart: there is only one Rabanne,” shared Puig to his death with. He shaped generations with his radical ideas about fashion.

According to media reports, the fashion designer died in Brittany near Brest.