Rene Gruau

 

Rene Gruau became famous and favourite artists of haute couture world during the 1940s and 1950s. He began to work with Femina, Marie Claire, L’Officiel, L’Album Du Figaro and an assortment of ‘high-style’ magazine. He was born in Italy on February 4, 1909 as a son of an Italian count but he did not follow in his father’s footsteps and accept the job of royal military commander and became an artist. At 14 , He began to sell his mother’s and his drawing to Milanese fashion journal Lidel and began to illustrate for fashion magazines such as Femina, Marie Claire and Vogue in Paris when he was early 20s. Gruau had difficulties because of World War II however found a little work for unestablished designer such as Christian Dior. When he reached 18, he became famous internationally such as United States, Italy and France. Gruau gave life to haute couture clothing and expand their popularity with his illustration. He created the marketing images for Miss Dior perfume and for Rouge Baiser lipstick . Gruau's first position as artistic director for advertising was in 1947 with Christian Dior. The two together formed the "New Look" of the time, partially a result of Dior's designs, and partially a result of Gruau's combined interpretation and upgrading of old-style graphic illustration. Gruau formed a friendship with Dior that contributed to their successful collaboration and further enlargement of fashion advertisement. Gruau moved to the United States in 1948 to work for Vogue and Harper's Bazaar. He remained with the magazine for two years, and then went to work as sole illustrator for Flair. There were exhibitions of Gruau's work at the Paris Musée du Costume in 1989 and Musée de la Publicité in 1999. Rimini, Italy's Riviera, has a permanent collection in its city museum. Today Gruau’s works are collected and exhibited by the finest art institutions including the Louvre in Paris. René Gruau is one of the most well known and best fashion Illustrators known due to his flair and unique approach. With his new style of art and fashion, Gruau reshaped marketing for the fashion industry forever and has set the scene for marketing for this industry for many years to come. Fashion Illustration has been around for nearly 500 years.