Louis Feraud

I love this piece but Feraud seems to be so up and down in people's opinions. I'd love to hear more opinions over here too!! :)

<img src="http://members.sparedollar.com/talentedamateur/P6180031.jpg"><img src="http://members.sparedollar.com/talentedamateur/P6180040.jpg"><img src="http://members.sparedollar.com/talentedamateur/P6180037.jpg">

<img src="http://members.sparedollar.com/talentedamateur/P6180035.jpg"><img src="http://members.sparedollar.com/talentedamateur/P6180032.jpg"><img src="http://members.sparedollar.com/talentedamateur/P6180039.jpg">

<img src="http://members.sparedollar.com/talentedamateur/P6180001b.JPG">
 
I *love* Louis Feraud's 1960s outfits, they combine the geometric pop-art style with class and style.

I'm mad on brightly coloured mid 1960s outfits with micro mini skirts so I frequently wear Louis Feraud outfits when I need to go somewhere and act a bit more dignified and stylish - like weddings. It's always a Louis Feraud or a Petite Francaise for a wedding. :-)

I got so into the 1960s outfits that I decided to check out the later clothing as I was so into the Feraud style... but I really hate anything I've found from the 1980s onwards. It seems as though Louis Feraud designed for the young, groovy and stylish in the 1960s, and then in the 1980s began designing for middle-aged mumsy people. :-( It's not even a case of growing with your audience. Surely someone who wore a really swinging Feraud dress into the sixties couldn't have become so plain and dowdy when they reached the 1980s. I really just don't get it at all. :-(

But I'm still totally mad on the 1960s designs!

love, moons and starrs,
Senti.*
 
Oh!!!

This is wonderful! I agree with Senti (welcome btw :) )
on the early LF pieces. Very chic mod. I have a couple of
LF's that are later that I also like, but the early work has an added punch that really appeals to me, and I think the small details (like the buttons and buckle on this one) are part of
the overall draw.

Don't let this go too low. I would also wait and list this
in a couple of weeks, unless you are putting a reserve on it.

Thanks for sharing this!

Sue
 
Liz,
I LOVE this, and I can see why you'd be concerned. Senti pretty much nailed it as far as Feraud is concerned. I see the same sort of problem with Pierre Cardin, and to a lesser extent, Courreges.

But this is prime Feraud. I just hope his fans can find it and that you get a worthy price.

And I'll snitch the label, if you don't mind!

Lizzie
 
I love Feraud too and have a number of pieces that I just will not sell at today's prices. Yours is an especially great piece for all the reasons listed by the others. Very modish cool. I really like it a lot...what punch and tailoring!
joey
 
Its the cute details that I like best on my Feraud outfits too.. the way that little details on the dresses are mirrored on the jackets in a similarly understaed way but which really makes them go together so well... and the buttons are always lovely and really unusual. And the lining is always lovely too, very soft and silky and with Louis Feraud printed all over it too, not just in any old material. :-)

I do have one complaint about Feraud though - and this is a silly one. It's the impracticality of cleaning some of them.

I have a *beautiful* dress which is a vivid red all over except on the bodice which is lots of individual fine pannels of cream and black fabric and I used to wear it to death. I had to be surgically removed from the thing I loved it so much. It's a dry-clean only and it's terribly impractical the way I had to remove all the buttons before taking it to be cleaned, and then re-sew them all back on again. And one night I went to a mod party and got rained on while walking back home... and the red fabric bled into some of the cream panels at the back of the dress where the zip is and it totally wrecked it. The front is beautiful but the back is ruined. I can't find any way of getting the stains out as it really had dyed the cream fabric red. I'm quite devastated.

What a stupid thing to do though, design a dress to go on sale in England that you can't wear in the rain! :-(

The dress was ruined about four years ago but I've still kept it because it's far too beautiful to throw out. I'm for too sentimental.

love, moons and starrs,
Senti.*
 
Hello Senti from a fellow Englander :)

Thankyou everyone! I'm relieved to hear such praises for Feraud, he seems like a wholly under-appreciated designer - I really am blown away by the quality! I might wait 'til the weather cools down a bit and people are shopping for autumn. It's sad really, I think that the personality of a designer has a lot to do with their desirability 30 years down the line - rather than just the clothes. Look at Ossie Clark and John Bates, Bates was arguably more innovative but lacked the public persona of Ossie. Paco Rabanne is a bit loopy, therefore more desirable than Feraud, Cardin and Courreges....;)

Lizzie, I was going to post it on the label thread anyway so be my guest!! :) Did you get the other two I posted there?

Liz
 
Liz - that is wonderful. Thanks so much for sharing it!! I have only ever seen a more contemporary Feraud.

Hey - the belt buckle looks like our member Kevin's avatar!!

Bonnie
 
I really think it's smashing. I haven't seen any early Feraud either. Very space age chic!

That's funny about the avatar Bonnie! I hadn't noticed. Mine is from the back of an Elsa Schiaparelli/Jean Cocteau embroidered jacket. I love that detail on the Feraud! And the enamel buttons too. Very nice attention to detail!

Kevin
 
love it! modalicious!

On the small bit of upside though, we can more afford to buy items like this now - esp with ebay being sloooow. i will keep my eyes open. but around here, i am more likely to find nasty housecoats with that color combo than an actual feraud : )
 
About Clark and Bates - I really prefer the style that Bates created, he was much more of the swinging-sixties that Clark, and really put a new slant on sharp dressing for modettes... some even suggest it was him who invented the mini-skirt but I think that Quant and Courreges are still battling that one out!

But I think the reason Clark is more sought after and remembered these days was because he brought the feminine touch back into fashion, and made beautiful clothing that you could wear without having to be part of the in-crowd or being brave enough to wear something really striking. Ossie's designs were eye-catching but not in a far-out way so more people felt comfortable wearing them.

A lot of the geometric styles Bates brought out just don't look right on the curvy modern woman, but sometimes if they can squeeze into an Ossie Clark it enhances their figure. With Bates you've either got the figure for it or you haven't... and there's not too many girls out there who can look as good in a clingy catsuit as Mrs. Peel did. ;-)

I didn't half laugh when I read "Paco Rabanne is a bit loopy, therefore more desirable" - I wish that were the way in every case as I'd be exceedingly desirable as most people think I'm totally loopy with my vintage fashions, time-warped house and bizarre taste in music! :-)

Oh, and it's nice to know I'm not the only Brit-chick around too. :-)

love, moons and starrs,
Senti.*
 
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