Madame Grès - you learn something new everyday!

Irving Penn Photographer; Madame Grès (Alix Barton) Designer - 1974

Germaine Emilie Krebs (1903–1993), known as Alix Barton and later as "Madame Grès", launched her design house under the name Grès in Paris in 1942. Formally trained as a sculptress, she produced haute couture designs for an array of fashionable women, including the Duchess of Windsor, Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo, Jacqueline Kennedy, and Dolores del Río. Her signature was cut-outs on gowns that made exposed skin part of the design, yet still had a classical, sophisticated feel. She was renowned for being the last of the haute couture houses to establish a ready-to-wear line, which she called a "prostitution".^[1] The name Grès was a partial anagram of her husband's first name and alias. He was Serge Czerefkov, a Russian painter, who left her soon after the house's creation.^[1] Grès enjoyed years of critical successes but, after Grès herself sold the business in the 1980s, it faltered. (Wikipedia)