James Galanos

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James Galanos : biography

1925 –

Many of the world’s most socially prominent women were Galanos customers. "James Galanos designs for wealthy women who go to luncheons and cocktail parties, dine at the finest restaurants and are invited to the best parties," reported The New York Times. "His clothes are rarely seen in business offices. It isn’t only because of the five-figure price tags, although they are daunting to all but the highest-paid executives. It’s also the glamour quotient of the clothes." Galanos agreed, "I design for a very limited group of people," he told Time magazine in 1985. In the 1980s, he made national headlines as First Lady Nancy Reagan’s favorite designer. The fact that Mrs. Reagan wore a 14-year-old Galanos gown to her first state dinner at the White House attested to the timelessness and durability not only of his workmanship, but more importantly, of his design. This type of occurrence was commonplace among his faithful customers, which included Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, Jackie Kennedy, Lady Bird Johnson, Grace Kelly, Diana Ross, Betsy Bloomingdale, Rosalind Russell, Marlene Dietrich, Dorothy Lamour, Judy Garland, Loretta Young, Ali MacGraw, Ivana Trump, Carolyne Roehm, Kim Basinger, Arianna Huffington and many other notable personalities and film and media stars. In 1982, John Duka, the New York Times columnist, described in his column, Notes on Fashion, a black tie party in Galanos’ honor attended by his A-list fans, "James Galanos, the designer whose clothing is unmatched in quality and price in this country, was in town, and almost immediately the level of social exchange seemed elevated as if by ripple effect. Betsy and Michael Kaiser – he is the photographer – gave a black tie buffet dinner for the designer Saturday. Among those at table were Lyn Revson, Gordon Parks, Barbara Walters, Arianna Stassinopoulos, former Senator Abraham A. Ribicoff and his wife, Casey, Freddie and Arlette Brisson, Mary McFadden, Tammy Grimes, Stephen Paley, John Loring, Gloria Vanderbilt, William Macomber, Sybilla Clark, Alex Gregory, Frank and Gloria Schiff and Bob Colacello. Mr. Galanos was the center of attention: Almost every woman in the room was wearing one of his designs."

1998 – present

Despite his retirement in 1998, Galanos continues to make his presence known in the fashion world. In 2002, he blasted the fashion industry for catering to only young women with perfect bodies. In an interview with WWD over lunch at the Pierre Hotel in New York he asked the reporter, Eric Wilson, shaking his head in contempt, "How many women can wear just a patch over their crotch and a bra? Aren’t you embarrassed when you see a young girl walking down the street practically naked? Fashion is geared only to young people today," Galanos continued. "All we see is Levi’s and bare bellies to the point of nausea. There are no clothes for elegant women. Let’s face it, some of the things you see in the paper are absolutely monstrous looking – and I’m not squeamish. God knows I made sexy clothes in my day, but there’s a point when you have to say, ‘Enough, already’."Wilson, Eric. "GALANOS: OUT OF HIS SHELL," Women’s Wear Daily, 11 June 2002, U.S. Retrieved 8 March 2011. Of contemporary designers, he admires Ralph Rucci, who shares Galanos’ views of the state of fashion at the beginning of the new millennium. "I think we’re in a state of mediocrity," Rucci told design students at the San Francisco Academy of Art University. Since early 2000s, Galanos has been attending most of Rucci’s shows in New York and Paris. "I thought what he was doing was really terrific," Galanos told Cathy Horyn of The New York Times in 2002, "he has the same kind of concept that I had – beautiful details that you don’t see in ready-to-wear." "Ralph Rucci makes clothes like no one else, taking pains to make things that are beautifully finished," he told Harper’s Bazaar in 2004.Middleton, Wiliaml (April 2004). "The Rise of Ralph Rucci.", Harper’s Bazaar, U.S. Retrieved 8 March 2011. On his side, Rucci considers Galanos a major influence in his work and a continuing inspiration. "If we were in Japan, we’d have an expression and call [Galanos] our national living treasure," Rucci told a group of distinguished guests that included Nancy Reagan, Betsy Bloomingdale and Peggy Moffitt, at an event honoring Galanos at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills.