American Designer James Galanos Dies at 92 Inline
Photographed by Bruce Davidson / Magnum Photos, Vogue, March 1, 19621/18“James Galanos, one of the most avant-garde designers, is equally good at pure flattery—as here: navy blue worsted that looks like a charming suit, is actually a charming dress, with a white linen dickey across the front.”
Illustrated by Rene Bouché with a photo by Bert Stern, Vogue, March 1, 19632/18“ ‘The thing about Jimmy,’ said a woman to her companion moments after the show had begun, ‘is that he has an absolute genius for the contemporary.’ Jimmy, of course, is the designer, James Galanos, a wiry, quick-smiling man who works in California and comes to New York twice a year to demonstrate that he has, as noted by the lady commenting on his newest designs, a special feeling for contemporary fashion.”
Photographed by Bert Stern, Vogue, May 1, 19653/18“Sudden colours, vibrant geometries, restless silks all interfered with marvelous fling and feeling—this is the Galanos collectsion, striking forth to summer, prescient at every turn.”
Photographed by Horst P. Horst, Vogue, October 15, 19654/18“Triumphs of Galanos’s new collectsion: a feeling of luxury and excitement so strong, ‘it was like a waft of some fascinating perfume’—said one observer at the opening. The expected beauty of cutting and construction, with a sensitive awareness of the small-bones body under the clothes. . . . The surge of talent, creative, original, even joyous: Galanos at his sizzling best.”
Photographed by Bert Stern, Vogue, March 15, 19665/18“A seeming absence of colour, a seeming innocence of line: Galanos’s look for a woman this summer is unequivocal in its purity. Clean, cool, easy along the body. Simplicity itself. But achieved only through a fantastic mastery of cloth.”
Photographed by Bert Stern, Vogue, September 15, 19666/18“Galanos triumphant. Day and evening, some of the most beautiful clothes in America.”
Photographed by Gianni Penati, Vogue, April 1, 19677/18”Everything hops, skips, and jumps at Galanos this year—the most beautifully made clothes imaginable, with a new buoyance and ease that couldn’t be more lovable.”
Photographed by Bert Stern, Vogue, October 15, 19678/18“From the Wow dynasty—the marvelous Galanos looks of covered dresses, belted close, with high collars in the mandarin manner.”
Photographed by Alexis Waldeck, Vogue, April 1, 19689/18“Nothing easier on eye, on body—the Galanos beauty of line.”
Photographed by Bert Stern, Vogue, November 1, 196810/18“What Galanos knows about the workings of cloth brings to evening such effortless beauty that his great skill is scarcely perceived—it is sensed rather than seen: the pure and perfect line infusing the most deceptively simple cut.”
Photographed by Gianni Penati, Vogue, June 1, 196911/18“Galanos goes soft all over—not a single hint of the construction that has gone into making these clothes and not the slightest trace of constraint. Just chiffon, Air Pleats. Smocking. Tucks. Marvellous freedom. No wonder Galanos sets such store by his craft’s most difficult skills in order to give beautiful cloth his own pure line…and this time, if possible, he surpasses even himself.”
Photographed by Gianni Penati, Vogue, June 1, 197012/18“Galanos looks toward summer with a fresh far-seeing eye, and his Greek prints carry beauty of line to new softness, new proportion, and new length.”
Photographed by Francesco Scavullo, Vogue, April 197413/18“Galanos is the most special—the most single-minded of American designers—the passionate craftsman! He stands for a perfection and consistency of thinking that most people don’t believe possible in American fashion. . . .”
Photographed by Horst P. Horst, Vogue, May 198114/18“Mrs. Reagan, when asked, opted for the Red Room (red, her reported favorite color) and for her much-reported-on Galanos Inaugural dress (a clothes lover’s last chance to wear it; soon by custom, the dress will go to the Smithsonian to join the other First Ladies’ gowns on display).”
Photographed by Arthur Elgort, Vogue, December 198115/18“Great style and a real change in proportion—from Galanos.”
Photographed by Arthur Elgort, Vogue, November 198316/18“At Galanos, a truly memorable collectsion—a collectsion that had onlookers nearly breathless with its all-out luxury, its sophistication . . . and the most body-conscious shapes, the incredible narrowness everywhere!”
Photographed by Sheila Metzner, Vogue, June 198517/18“ ‘Design is wonderful; but design with no taste level has no purpose, it becomes totally incomprehensible,’ Galanos told André Leon Talley in 1985. At the time of Madeleine Vionnet (introducer of the bias cut), fashion had a timeless quality, as well as a marvelous taste level. Today, many designers make clothes that are extreme, clothes that are simply statements of fashion news.”
Photographed by Andrea Blanch, Vogue, November 198718/18“A strong Galanos collectsion where the level of design was matched by the level of luxury. With a strong evening statement: the ‘important’ short dress as an ongoing fashion idea.”
