The designer, who was born in Normandy, France, opened his couture house in 1919 after serving in WWI. He became known for eradicating the flapper look by lengthening the skirt and returning introducing sportswear for women, and is considered the inventor of the knitted swimwear and the tennis skirt. Jean Patou was born in Normandy, France, in 1880. He was also very well known for his bathing suits.
Patou's clothes were marketed mostly to wealthy American women.[citation needed] When the stock market crashed, however, so did the market for luxury fashion.The world's second best-selling scent (the first is Chanel No. 5), Joy was created by Henri Alméras for Patou at the height of the Great Depression (1935) for Patou's former clients who could no longer afford his haute couture clothes.
Jean Patou was fortunate in having many friends and family members who worked with him and kept him in touch with Parisienne life. Foremost was his sister Madeleine, who was 7 years younger than he. She was his source of inspiration, his ideal, a small, neat, dark, chic, active modern woman.
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