French fashion designer Lucien Pellat-Finet, whose brash, frivolous and outrageously expensive sweaters earned him the nickname King of Cashmere, died Feb. 26 in Trancoso, Brazil, where he had owned a home for more than 20 years. He was 78 years old.
Niece Camille Dauchez said Ms Pellat-Finet (pronounced pel-a-phi-NAY), who suffered from Parkinson's disease, died in a swimming accident.
Released in 1994, Mr. Sweaters from the Pellat-Finet collection combine two seemingly disparate elements. This means combining the highest quality cashmere with provocative symbols such as marijuana leaves, peace symbols and, most frequently, skulls. crystal. Sometimes skulls were further modified with details such as protruding tongues, aviator sunglasses, or tilted sailor hats.
It was presented in neutral colors such as black and navy, and vivid colors such as orange, pink, green, and camouflage print. Instead of the somewhat boxy cut of a traditional sweater and ribbed cuffs on the arms and waistband, the Lucien Pellat-Finet pullover was essentially a luxury T-shirt with a “Fruit of the Loom shape,” as makeup artist Tom Pecheux put it. ”
“He made cashmere informal,” said Natasha Fraser-Cavassoni, author of “Super F**king Lucky,” a 2019 book about the designer. “He really made people look at cashmere in a completely different way.”
The sweater's aesthetic was casual, but the price tag was extreme. In 1998, a four-ply cashmere cardigan cost about $1,500, the equivalent of less than $3,000 today.
The brand's high prices have become part of its appeal. Owning a Lucien Pellat-Finet sweater was a symbol of prestige for wealthy, stylish women and men.
“It became a symbol of success, a symbol of cool, a symbol of wealth,” said Julie Gilhart, a fashion consultant and former fashion director at Barneys New York, a department store that was an early adopter of the brand.
The casual style of the Lucien Pellat-Finet sweater is both precious and perfect for everyday wear.
“The key was to buy it, spend a lot of money and wear it,” said Jeffrey Kalinsky, founder of fashion boutique Jeffrey, which runs the brand.
Fans who could afford sweaters often bought them in multiples, “like eggs,” Ms. Pellat-Finet told Women's Wear Daily in 1996.
“When someone wears a sweater, I think they’re addicted,” he said.
Mr. Pellat-Finet's love of marijuana leaf designs was more about provocation than intoxication. He preferred a glass of good Bordeaux or Champagne, which he often enjoyed over dinner with his friends. He believed that marijuana leaves were a better symbol of luck than four-leaf clovers. Hence the title of his biography.
Regarding the skull, Fraser-Cavassoni is quoted in the book as saying, “Life is a kind of circus and my skull shows this with a touch of black humour.”
Lucien Paul Pierre Pellat-Finet was born on February 11, 1946 in Nice, France. His father, Roger Pellat-Finet, worked in his family's paper bag manufacturing business. His mother, Manette (Ménier) Pellat-Finet, was a wealthy housewife with a great sense of style. For example, long before those jeans became popular in France, she wore Levi's jeans that she purchased thanks to her sister who lived in the United States. Lucien and his sisters grew up in a wealthy family. There were ski holidays and overseas holidays, but their mother ran them with restrained frugality.
He is survived by his sisters, Isabelle Dauchez and Christine Guerin;
Lucien showed an early interest in fashion, even if it was expensive. When he was 8, his mother protested when his paternal grandfather tried to buy him expensive shoes, Frazier-Cavassoni said. “My grandfather said, ‘Buy it if you want. 'He said, 'Because it shows that my grandfather had great taste and that his quality paid off,'” he recalled.
Mr. Pellat-Finet moved to Paris soon after earning a degree from a local business school in 1967. He was openly gay and began modeling after meeting a man he dated, who was also a model, at a casting call where designer Pierre Cardin recruited him.
A few years later he transitioned into styling fashion shows and photo shoots. During one of his assignments, he met designer Philippe Guibourgé, who was working at Chanel at the time, and they began a relationship. They became a married couple and remained together until Mr. Giburje's death in 1986.
Ms. Pellat-Finet also designed costume jewelry for the respected line La Porte Bleue. For several years he and Ms. Guibourgé ran a Parisian boutique offering a variety of sophisticated items. When the store closed, he took a break.
In an interview with the New York Times in 2004, he said, “I enjoyed the bohemian life for four years, but then I went broke.” Eventually, he said, “I felt attracted to fashion again.”
His sense of sewing inspired his line of sweaters.
“He really designed things for himself and dressed women in the clothes he would wear,” said Marie-Hélène de Taillac, a jewelry designer and friend for more than 40 years.
His brand was a huge success, with Lucien Pellat-Finet boutiques in New York, Paris and Tokyo, with Japan being a particularly strong market. He began introducing a variety of items with a similar sensibility to sweaters, such as jackets, scarves, and pillows. His signature skull image also appeared on sneakers, baseball caps, belt buckles, and tote bags.
Years before his image was plastered on Perrier bottles, Vans sneakers, and Louis Vuitton handbags, there were also sweaters with images of artists like Takashi Murakami.
In 2019, Mr. Pellat-Finet sold his brand to Thierry Gillier, founder of fashion brand Zadig & Voltaire. The brand is now known as Pellat-Finet without the founder's name.
“The fashion industry has changed and he has had enough,” Mr. de Taillac said.
Ms. Pellat-Finet then moved to Brazil, a country she had loved since her first visit in 1968.
He settled in Trancoso, a luxury resort community in Bahia, about 1,000 miles northwest of Sao Paulo, and built a large home there in 2011.
“When he started building Trancoso, he always knew in his head that this was where he wanted to relax and do something different,” said his nephew, Mr. Dauchez.
Not long after celebrating her 78th birthday in February, Ms. Pellat-Finet gathered friends and relatives for a family reunion at her home in Brazil. On the afternoon of February 26th, while preparing for an outdoor lunch, I decided to go for a walk on the beach, as is my custom, and go for a swim in a place popular with surfers. He didn't come back.
Almost a decade ago, he told the media outlet FashionTV that he hoped his designs would endure.
“I always say I work for vintage. And I hope this collection will hit the streets in about 20 years.”