Just as the full scope of her work remains little known, Madame Grès herself is a mysterious figure in fashion history. Perpetually swathed in a turban, Madame Grès lived up to her nickname, the “Sphinx of Fashion,” and has been described as an “Abbess riding in a Mercedes.” Private and secretive, she was “more Garbo than Garbo” – in stark contrast to her work, which was clear and pure and accessible. Her influence has been great and her innovations have earned unparalleled respect, but the details of her life are muddled and confusing.

Born Germaine Emilie Krebs in Paris on November 30, 1903, she claimed to have studied art, and to have had hopes of becoming a sculptor. Dissuaded by her bourgeois family, however, she took up the craft of dressmaking. At some point in the early 1930s, she renamed herself “Alix” and appropriated the last name “Barton” from an early employer and business partner. In 1937, she married a Russian artist who signed his paintings “Grès” and that was the name she chose to use when she opened her own couture house. Her business prospered and she became a wealthy woman, until, decades later, poor management and the sale of her company led to its closure in 1988. She died penniless one week before her ninetieth birthday. 

More important than her personal history is her legacy. The last of the “Golden Age” couturiers, Grès did not sketch or leave the technical process to assistants, nor did she promote herself or rely on stylists to create her image. She crafted her public persona by means of omission, hiding many details of her life, so that what remains is not the memory of a celebrity but an extraordinary, living body of work. The slow and meticulous evolution of her style, her embrace of the female form, and her love of craft have given us enduring objects of sublime beauty and refinement that transcend time.   

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