André Courreges was a French designer who worked for Balenciaga before opening his own house in 1961.

Courreges is thought to be the 'father of the mini,' but he did invent the moon girl look. He produced media-grabbing collections with creations such as sheer chiffon tops, with cut-outs and peep holes.

In 1964 he was preoccupied with space age white and he launched his Moon Girl Collection, which contained thigh high skirts in white and silver colours and geometric shapes. He was influential in establishing white and silver as THE colours of the season. His models wore spacemen-like helmets. He created shiny white mid-shin high PVC boots to go with his collection. This look was so popular that everyone everywhere created and sold their own interpretations of the look. He introduced trouser suits into his collection in 1964 and they soon entered main stream fashion on a large scale.

In 1969 he created his 'gladiator girl' look complete with breastplate and helmet. His ethnic look was influenced by ancient Egyptians and contained outfits made from heavily sequined bands held together by transparent silk. His models wore squared off bob wigs in metallic colours.

Last updated: June 01, 2003

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