Countess Jacqueline de Ribes died on Tuesday at the age of 96. Considered the “Last Queen of Paris,” she was a designer, businesswoman, and icon of Parisian elegance, particularly in the United States. Her secretariat announced this to the AFP news agency on Wednesday on behalf of the family. She died in Switzerland, her assistant Stéphanie Mouly told AFP.
As a friend of Yves Saint Laurent and Valentino as well as a patron and philanthropist, she was honored by the Metropolitan Museum in New York in 2015. The exhibition featured around 60 of her haute couture and ready-to-wear ensembles, which were kept by the “last queen of Paris”. The oldest pieces were from 1962.
Back in 1956, Jacqueline de Ribes was included in the list of the best dressed women in the world. In 1962 she was elected to the Fashion Hall of Fame and celebrated by the greatest fashion photographers.
The aristocrat was born Jacqueline de La Bonninière de Beaumont on July 14, 1929. She was freedom-loving and had a passion for fashion since childhood. At the age of 19 she married the viscount and later count Edouard de Ribes (1923-2013).
In 1962, she successively tried her hand at journalism, theater, television and interior design. Encouraged by Yves Saint Laurent, whose client she was, she announced to her family that she was starting her own fashion house.
Her first collection was celebrated by the international press and the United States quickly became her most important market. She ran her fashion house until 1995 before retiring for health reasons.
At the end of 2019, the auction of the art collection she compiled with her husband at Sotheby’s France brought in 22.8 million euros. This also included advance purchases of the Louvre and the Palace of Versailles.
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