Jeanne Lanvin

Biography

Jeanne-Marie Lanvin (1 January 1867 – 6 July 1946) was a French haute fashion designer. She founded the Lanvin fashion house and the beauty and perfume company Lanvin Parfums.

In 1909, Lanvin joined the Syndicat de la Couture (fr), which marked her formal status as a couturière. The clothing Lanvin made for her daughter began to attract the attention of several wealthy people who requested copies for their children. 

Soon, Lanvin was making dresses for their mothers, and some of the most famous names in Europe were included in the clientele of her new boutique on the rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré in Paris.

From 1923, the Lanvin empire included a dye factory in Nanterre. In the 1920s, Lanvin opened shops devoted to home décor, menswear, furs and lingerie. Her most significant endeavor was the creation of Lanvin Parfums SA in 1924. Her signature fragrance, Arpège, introduced in 1927, was inspired by the sound of her daughter Marguerite practicing her scales on the piano. (Arpège is French for arpeggio.)

In 1922, Lanvin collaborated with celebrated French designer Armand-Albert Rateau in redesigning her apartment, her homes, and her businesses. The living room, boudoir, and bathroom of the apartment were reassembled in 1985 in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris. For this home, Rateau designed some remarkable 1920–22 furniture in bronze.

The pair developed a friendship. Rateau came aboard Lanvin's empire as manager of Lanvin-Sport, designing the Lanvin spherical La Boule perfume flacon for Arpège, originally produced by the Manufacture Nationale de Sèvres. 

To this day, the Arpège perfume globe, designed by Rateau, is imprinted with Paul Iribe's gold image (rendered in 1907) of Lanvin and her daughter Marguerite. Rateau also managed Lanvin-Décoration, an interior design department established in 1920, in the main store on the rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré.