Paco Rabanne – innovative, genius and revolutionary: we remember his first collection “12 unwearable dresses made of modern materials”.

The death of Paco Raban, the legendary designer and master futurist of the 1960s, became known a few hours ago. The press called him “High Fashion Jules Verne”, Coco Chanel once jokingly called him a locksmith, and Francisco Rabaneda himself (the real name of the fashion designer) considered himself an ordinary craftsman and in every possible way suppressed legendary speeches.

Paco Raban was born in the Basque Country in 1934 and his mother worked as a tailor in the workshop of the legendary Cristobal Balenciaga. When the war began, they moved to Paris, where the future designer spent all his childhood. He was interested in architecture from an early age, and while he was a student he began to produce accessories and jewelry from atypical materials (an innovative approach to business can already be traced in this). He got a job as an accessories designer at Balenciaga in the 1950s, then went to Givenchy and then Christian Dior. At the age of 30, a completely new chapter began in the life of Paco Raban – he opened his own brand and began to make history.

Her futuristic dresses were worn by the main style icons of the last century: Audrey Hepburn, Brigin Bardot and Françoise Hardy. He is the author of Jane Fonda’s outfit in the iconic Barbarella. And they say that the surrealist Salvador Dali once held a demonstration in the heart of Barcelona and shouted that their country could be proud of only two geniuses.

To honor Paco Raban’s memory, we decided to recall his first collection, Manifesto: 12 unwearable dresses made from modern materials. Spoiler alert: It made unwearable dresses long before they went mainstream.

So, back to the collection shown in 1966. Then the guests of the show saw only 12 pictures, but each of them hit the mark. The models took the runway in chain-knit dresses, tops made of plastic discs, and paper outfits. Surprisingly, the conservative Parisian public was delighted with the collection, and Paco Rabanne began his ascent towards Olympus fashion.

“Century threads and needles are a thing of the past, replaced by a desk with pliers, wire, staples and punches for punching holes. Many believe that this is perhaps the greatest fashion sensation of the current generation, ”wrote the editors of glossy magazines.

Although the first dresses were created as an experiment to show the world the possibilities of working with plastic, the public loved them so much that they began to be sold in the most famous fashion stores in the United States.

By the way, it was impossible to sit in them. This is all due to the risk of crushing discs and wire rings. Therefore, additional parts were always included in the kit. The designer herself explained her dresses very simply: “My dresses are popular because they are shocking. No woman can wear them and go unnoticed.”