Lanvin

The history of Lanvin starts with the founder of the fashion house, Jeanne Lanvin, born on the 1st of January of 1867 in Paris, eldest of 11 children. At the age of 13, Jeanne enters the workforce as a seamstress and milliner. As the years pass, Jeanne earned herself an apprenticeship at Félix and later at Cordeau's, working in Barcelona. In 1895, Jeanne Lanvin married her first husband, Count Emilio di Pietro, an Italian nobleman and two years later gave birth to a daughter, Marguerite, the couple's only child. Marguerite became an Opera singer and married Count Jean de Polignac and eventually became the director of the Lanvin fashion house. Jeanne Lanvin and di Pietro divorced in 1903. Jeanne Lanvin's second husband, whom she married in 1907, was Xavier Melet.

In 1909, Jeanne Lanvin joined the Syndicate de la Couture, which marked her formal status as a couturiere. Jeanne Lanvin made beautiful clothes for her daughter that they began to attract the attention of a number of wealthy people who requested copies for their own children. Soon, Jeanne Lanvin was making dresses for their mothers and some of the most famous names in Europe were included in the clientele of her new boutique on the rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, Paris. She became known for her mother-and-daughter outfits and exquisite robes, as well as her modern and global approach to the fashion industry.

From 1923, the Lanvin empire included a factory in Nanterre. In the 1920s, Lanvin opened shops devoted to home decor, menswear, fur, and lingerie but her most significant expansion was the creation of Lanvin Parfums in 1924 and the introduction of her signature fragrance Arpege in 1927, inspired by the sound of her daughter's practicing her on the piano "Arpège" is French for "arpeggio".

Jeanne Lanvin died at the age of 79. The direction of the fashion house was passed on to Marguerite till her own death in 1958. Successors to the designer seat included several people and after a long hibernation and the passing into too many hands, the L'Oreal Group and the Vuitton family bought out the Lanvin fashion house, organising the first re-orchestration of the classic Arpège fragrance 1993.

Other fragrances from the fashion house include Oxygen (2000), Oxygen Homme (2001), Eclat E’arpege (2002), Arpege Pour Homme (2005) and Jeanne Lanvin (2008).

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