Paco Rabanne, best known for his perfumes and fashion designs, dies aged 88

Paco Rabanne, a Spanish fashion designer who was best known for his Space-Age style, use of plastics and metallics, and top-selling fragrances, passed away on Tuesday at the age of 88.

The Spanish conglomerate Puig, which holds the Paco Rabanne fashion label as well as the fragrance business, announced his passing. Rabanne, who rose to international stardom in the middle of the 1960s, resigned from the fashion industry in 1999.

The designer, who was born in Spain, rose to popularity in the 1960s thanks to his imaginative use of postwar industrial materials such as aluminium plates, PVC, and metallic discs. He was considered one of the most influential designers of the era. After making a stir with his 1966 couture show named ‘Twelve Unwearable Dresses’ Rabanne would famously go on to equip Jane Fonda in the 1968 sci-fi thriller ‘Barbarella.’ In 1969, he introduced the first scent in what is now a lengthy and successful line of bestselling perfumes.

According to José Manuel Albesa, president of fashion beauty at Puig (Rabanne’s parent business), Paco Rabanne “made transgression magnetic.” Who else could make the chic women of Paris beg for clothes composed of plastic and metal? Who else but Paco Rabanne could conceive of a fragrance to be named Calandre, which, as you probably well know, means “automobile grill,” and then make it into an icon of contemporary femininity? This bold and defiant character distinguished him as unique; there can be only one Rabanne.”

The House of Paco Rabanne wishes to honour our visionary designer and founder who passed away today at the age of 88. Among the most seminal fashion figures of the 20th century, his legacy will remain a constant source of inspiration.

We are grateful to Monsieur Rabanne for establishing our avant-garde heritage and defining a future of limitless possibilities.