Trained as an architect, Paco Rabanne’s mind shocked the fashion world when he began designing accessories for haute couture houses in 1962. He established the eponymous Paco Rabanne fashion house in 1966, where his designs became renowned for a mélange of unexpected materials and glamorous, linear silhouettes. Rabanne broke the boundaries of fabric research and streamlined shapes, integrating materials like panels of linked ‘rhodoid’ metal (not sewn with needle and thread but worked with pliers), and moulded Giffo plastic into his collections. His chainmail dresses have become iconic heirlooms of the house.
