Marie-Jacques Perrier
Encyclopedia
Marie-Jacques Renée “Jacotte” Perrier (born 22 November 1924) is a French singer, fashion journalist, voice actress, author and art collector. She is best known for her musical collaborations with the Quintette du Hot Club de France
and her fashion reporting for Fairchild Publications. She is the daughter of Robert Perrier, musical composer and founder of the haute couture supplier Société de Textiles Robert Perrier. She remains one of the few living figures of Continental jazz
and one of the last surviving fashion journalists of 1950s haute couture.
district of Paris in 1924, Marie-Jacques Perrier was raised among the regulars of her parents’ R-vingt-six (R-26), the informal musical gathering based in the family’s apartment and frequented by artists such as Josephine Baker
, Stéphane Grappelli
, Django Reinhardt
, Henri Salvador
, Jean Tranchant and Mary Lou Williams
. Perrier began her singing career at the age of ten using the stage name Jacotte Perrier, performing in variety theaters
and on French radio. She began her recording career with Pathé Records
in 1937, producing singles with Reinhardt and his Quintette du Hot Club de France
including the series Chansons de Jacotte, written by Jean Tranchant, and ‘Ric et Pussy’, written by Perrier’s parents.
Perrier was equally introduced into the milieu of her father’s haute couture business, affording her a visit in 1944 with the then-destitute and moribund Paul Poiret
.
After graduating from the École du Louvre
in 1944, Perrier was variously employed by couturière Marie-Louise Bruyère, film producer Fred Orain, the Embassy of Pakistan in France and Panair do Brasil
(Pan American Airways).
Perrier’s musical collaborations with Stéphane Grappelli continued until 1950, recording music written by Perrier’s parents such as the single ‘La pluie sur le toit’.
. Her contributions from Paris, London and New York City to the company’s Women's Wear Daily
and the Daily News Record
soon became extremely popular, earning Perrier’s reputation as one of Fairchild’s most distinguished journalists of haute couture. Perrier earned wide acclaim for her interviews with many of the decade’s most fashionable women, including Jacqueline Kennedy, Estée Lauder
, Princess Margaret and Farah Diba Pahlavi
. An interview with Maria Callas
first quoted the singer’s famous assertion, “Paris dicte la mode au monde entier" (“Paris dictates fashion to the whole world”).
Through the course of her seven years with Fairchild Publications, Perrier interviewed most of the major Paris-based fashion designers, including Pierre Balmain
, Hubert de Givenchy
, Nina Ricci
and Elsa Schiaparelli
. She was also one of the first to feature interviews with many future luminaries, among them James Galanos
, Karl Lagerfeld
, Yves Saint Laurent
and Emanuel Ungaro
. Perrier was a member of the Fashion Group Paris alongside colleagues Eugenia Sheppard
and Diana Vreeland
. Throughout Perrier’s career, she maintained a close professional relationship with designers such as Pierre Cardin
, André Courrèges
and Givenchy, contacts that were much in demand by Perrier’s publishers.
In 1962, Fairchild Publications underwent a major restructuring resulting in the departure of most of the Paris office’s journalists, Perrier included. Perrier then moved to Los Angeles to work as a foreign correspondent and freelance for the Hollywood Reporter, though the birth of her daughter encouraged Perrier to return to Europe. Later writing for a variety of publications in Paris, London, Milan, Sydney and Buenos Aires, she continued to report on haute couture shows, interviewing a new generation of then up-and-coming designers including Calvin Klein
, Thierry Mugler
, Oscar de la Renta
and Kenzo Takada
.
Perrier’s career as a fashion journalist is remarkable in that it has spanned essentially three distinct eras of haute couture, from that of Schiaparelli to Saint Laurent to Mugler. She has contributed reporting to a total of eighty-seven publications worldwide, in addition to co-authoring numerous books on the subject of fashion.
Perrier was the inheritor of her father’s art collection, including numerous paintings by Sonia Delaunay
. To this she added many seminal works of abstractionism
, surrealism
and minimalism
, most notably favoring Yves Klein
. The collection was eventually dispersed by auction and donation.
She has been the subject of several television documentaries for History and ITV
.
In 2004, Perrier renewed her singing career to record an anthology of her parents’ music, Echos du R. 26.
Perrier maintains strong connections with Paris’ international student community, frequently receiving students at her home. She also organizes student dialogues with members of the French leadership, including a recent student conference with politician Alain Juppé
.
Quintette du Hot Club de France
Quintette du Hot Club de France was a jazz group founded in France in 1934 by guitarist Django Reinhardt and violinist Stéphane Grappelli, and active in one form or another until 1948....
and her fashion reporting for Fairchild Publications. She is the daughter of Robert Perrier, musical composer and founder of the haute couture supplier Société de Textiles Robert Perrier. She remains one of the few living figures of Continental jazz
Continental Jazz
Continental jazz is a term used to describe early jazz dance bands of Europe in the swing medium, to the exclusion of Great Britain. The genre was generally practiced until the conclusion of World War II. By the time bebop came to popularity, the style became more or less obsolete.-Revival...
and one of the last surviving fashion journalists of 1950s haute couture.
Early life and singing career
Born in the MontmartreMontmartre
Montmartre is a hill which is 130 metres high, giving its name to the surrounding district, in the north of Paris in the 18th arrondissement, a part of the Right Bank. Montmartre is primarily known for the white-domed Basilica of the Sacré Cœur on its summit and as a nightclub district...
district of Paris in 1924, Marie-Jacques Perrier was raised among the regulars of her parents’ R-vingt-six (R-26), the informal musical gathering based in the family’s apartment and frequented by artists such as Josephine Baker
Josephine Baker
Josephine Baker was an American dancer, singer, and actress who found fame in her adopted homeland of France. She was given such nicknames as the "Bronze Venus", the "Black Pearl", and the "Créole Goddess"....
, Stéphane Grappelli
Stéphane Grappelli
Stéphane Grappelli was a French jazz violinist who founded the Quintette du Hot Club de France with guitarist Django Reinhardt in 1934. It was one of the first all-string jazz bands....
, Django Reinhardt
Django Reinhardt
Django Reinhardt was a pioneering virtuoso jazz guitarist and composer who invented an entirely new style of jazz guitar technique that has since become a living musical tradition within French gypsy culture...
, Henri Salvador
Henri Salvador
Henri Salvador was a French Caribbean singer.-Biography:Salvador was born in Cayenne, French Guiana. His father, Clovis, and his mother, Antonine Paterne, daughter of a native Indian from the Caribbean, were both from Guadeloupe, French West Indies...
, Jean Tranchant and Mary Lou Williams
Mary Lou Williams
Mary Lou Williams was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger. Williams wrote hundreds of compositions and arrangements, and recorded more than one hundred records...
. Perrier began her singing career at the age of ten using the stage name Jacotte Perrier, performing in variety theaters
Music hall
Music Hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment which was popular between 1850 and 1960. The term can refer to:# A particular form of variety entertainment involving a mixture of popular song, comedy and speciality acts...
and on French radio. She began her recording career with Pathé Records
Pathé Records
Pathé Records was a France-based international record label and producer of phonographs, active from the 1890s through the 1930s.- Early years :...
in 1937, producing singles with Reinhardt and his Quintette du Hot Club de France
Quintette du Hot Club de France
Quintette du Hot Club de France was a jazz group founded in France in 1934 by guitarist Django Reinhardt and violinist Stéphane Grappelli, and active in one form or another until 1948....
including the series Chansons de Jacotte, written by Jean Tranchant, and ‘Ric et Pussy’, written by Perrier’s parents.
Perrier was equally introduced into the milieu of her father’s haute couture business, affording her a visit in 1944 with the then-destitute and moribund Paul Poiret
Paul Poiret
Paul Poiret was a French fashion designer. His contributions to twentieth-century fashion have been likened to Picasso's contributions to twentieth-century art.-Early life and career:...
.
After graduating from the École du Louvre
École du Louvre
The École du Louvre is an institution of higher education and French Grande École located in the Aile de Flore of the Musée du Louvre in Paris, France, and is dedicated to the study of archaeology, art history, anthropology and epigraphy....
in 1944, Perrier was variously employed by couturière Marie-Louise Bruyère, film producer Fred Orain, the Embassy of Pakistan in France and Panair do Brasil
Panair do Brasil
Panair do Brasil is a defunct airline of Brazil. Between 1945 and 1965 it was considered to be the largest carrier not only in Brazil but in all of Latin America.-NYRBA do Brasil :...
(Pan American Airways).
Perrier’s musical collaborations with Stéphane Grappelli continued until 1950, recording music written by Perrier’s parents such as the single ‘La pluie sur le toit’.
Fashion journalism career
Leveraging her father’s contacts within the fashion industry, Marie-Jacques Perrier became employed in 1955 as an English-language journalist for the Paris office of Fairchild Publications, partnering her with the budding illustrator Kenneth Paul BlockKenneth Paul Block
Kenneth Paul Block was one of the foremost fashion illustrators of the 20th century. For nearly forty years, he was an in-house artist for Fairchild Publications, owner of Women's Wear Daily, the garment industry trade paper, and its offshoot, W magazine...
. Her contributions from Paris, London and New York City to the company’s Women's Wear Daily
Women's Wear Daily
Women's Wear Daily is a fashion-industry trade journal sometimes called "the bible of fashion." WWD delivers information and intelligence on changing trends and breaking news in the fashion, beauty and retail industries with a readership composed largely of retailers, designers, manufacturers,...
and the Daily News Record
Daily News Record
Daily News Record was an American fashion trade journal published by Fairchild Publications, Inc.. DNR started in 1890 when Edmund Fairchild used the wealth he had accumulated selling soap to purchase the Chicago Herald Gazette, a newspaper which focused on the men’s clothing business...
soon became extremely popular, earning Perrier’s reputation as one of Fairchild’s most distinguished journalists of haute couture. Perrier earned wide acclaim for her interviews with many of the decade’s most fashionable women, including Jacqueline Kennedy, Estée Lauder
Estée Lauder
Estée Lauder may refer to:* Estée Lauder * Estée Lauder Companies...
, Princess Margaret and Farah Diba Pahlavi
Farah Pahlavi
Farah Pahlavi is the former Queen and Empress of Iran. She is the widow of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran, and only Empress of modern Iran...
. An interview with Maria Callas
Maria Callas
Maria Callas was an American-born Greek soprano and one of the most renowned opera singers of the 20th century. She combined an impressive bel canto technique, a wide-ranging voice and great dramatic gifts...
first quoted the singer’s famous assertion, “Paris dicte la mode au monde entier" (“Paris dictates fashion to the whole world”).
Through the course of her seven years with Fairchild Publications, Perrier interviewed most of the major Paris-based fashion designers, including Pierre Balmain
Pierre Balmain
Pierre Alexandre Claudius Balmain was a French fashion designer. Known for sophistication and elegance, he once said that "dressmaking is the architecture of movement."...
, Hubert de Givenchy
Hubert de Givenchy
Count Hubert James Marcel Taffin de Givenchy is a French aristocrat and fashion designer who founded The House of Givenchy in 1952. He is famous for having designed much of the personal and professional wardrobe of Audrey Hepburn, as well as clothing for clients such as Jacqueline Kennedy...
, Nina Ricci
Nina Ricci (designer)
Maria Nina Ricci was a French fashion designer of Italian origin.-Life and work:Maria Nielli was born in Turin, Italy in 1883, she moved to Florence, Italy with her family at age 5 and then to France in 1895 at age 12. She was nicknamed Nina. At the age of 13, she began an apprenticeship at a...
and Elsa Schiaparelli
Elsa Schiaparelli
Elsa Schiaparelli was an Italian fashion designer. Along with Coco Chanel, her greatest rival, she is regarded as one of the most prominent figures in fashion between the two World Wars. Starting with knitwear, Schiaparelli's designs were heavily influenced by Surrealists like her collaborators...
. She was also one of the first to feature interviews with many future luminaries, among them James Galanos
James Galanos
James Galanos is an American fashion designer, widely considered to be one the world's foremost 20th century couturiers.-Early life:James Galanos was born September 20, 1924 in a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the only son of Greek-born parents...
, Karl Lagerfeld
Karl Lagerfeld
Karl Lagerfeld is a German fashion designer, artist and photographer based in Paris. He has collaborated on a variety of fashion and art related projects, most notably as head designer and creative director for the fashion house Chanel...
, Yves Saint Laurent
Yves Saint Laurent
Yves Saint Laurent may refer to:* Yves Saint Laurent , French fashion designer* Yves Saint Laurent , a luxury fashion house founded by Yves Saint Laurent and his partner, Pierre Bergé...
and Emanuel Ungaro
Emanuel Ungaro
Emanuel Ungaro is a French fashion designer.-Early life:Ungaro's Italian father fled to France from Francavilla Fontana of Brindisi province because of the fascist uprising in Italy...
. Perrier was a member of the Fashion Group Paris alongside colleagues Eugenia Sheppard
Eugenia Sheppard
Eugenia Sheppard was an American fashion writer and newspaper columnist for some 80 newspapers Eugenia Sheppard (July 24, 1900 - November 11, 1984) was an American fashion writer and newspaper columnist for some 80 newspapers Eugenia Sheppard (July 24, 1900 - November 11, 1984) was an American...
and Diana Vreeland
Diana Vreeland
Diana Vreeland was a noted columnist and editor in the field of fashion. She worked for the fashion magazines Harper's Bazaar and Vogue and the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.Born as Diana Dalziel, Vreeland was the eldest daughter of American socialite mother Emily Key Hoffman...
. Throughout Perrier’s career, she maintained a close professional relationship with designers such as Pierre Cardin
Pierre Cardin
Pierre Cardin Cardin was known for his avant-garde style and his Space Age designs. He prefers geometric shapes and motifs, often ignoring the female form. He advanced into unisex fashions, sometimes experimental, and not always practical...
, André Courrèges
André Courrèges
André Courrèges is a French fashion designer, known for his ultra-modern designs. At the age of 25, after studying to be a civil engineer, he went to Paris to work at Geanne Lafaurie fashion design house...
and Givenchy, contacts that were much in demand by Perrier’s publishers.
In 1962, Fairchild Publications underwent a major restructuring resulting in the departure of most of the Paris office’s journalists, Perrier included. Perrier then moved to Los Angeles to work as a foreign correspondent and freelance for the Hollywood Reporter, though the birth of her daughter encouraged Perrier to return to Europe. Later writing for a variety of publications in Paris, London, Milan, Sydney and Buenos Aires, she continued to report on haute couture shows, interviewing a new generation of then up-and-coming designers including Calvin Klein
Calvin Klein
Calvin Richard Klein is an American fashion designer who launched the company that would later become Calvin Klein Inc. in 1968. In addition to clothing, Klein has also given his name to a range of perfumes, watches, and jewelry....
, Thierry Mugler
Thierry Mugler
Thierry Mugler is a French fashion designer and creator of several perfumes.-Childhood:Mugler was born in Strasbourg, France on 21 December 1948. His passion led him to focus more on drawing than on school and at the age of 9, he began to study classical dance...
, Oscar de la Renta
Oscar de la Renta
Oscar de la Renta is one of the world's leading fashion designers. He was named to the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame in 1973.-Career:...
and Kenzo Takada
Kenzo Takada
Kenzo Takada is a Japanese fashion designer. He is also the founder of Kenzo, a worldwide brand of perfumes, skincare products and clothes....
.
Perrier’s career as a fashion journalist is remarkable in that it has spanned essentially three distinct eras of haute couture, from that of Schiaparelli to Saint Laurent to Mugler. She has contributed reporting to a total of eighty-seven publications worldwide, in addition to co-authoring numerous books on the subject of fashion.
Later life
Now approaching her late eighties, Marie-Jacques Perrier continues to work as a reporter from Paris while managing the archives of both her parents’ music and her father’s Société de Textiles Robert Perrier.Perrier was the inheritor of her father’s art collection, including numerous paintings by Sonia Delaunay
Sonia Delaunay
Sonia Delaunay was a Jewish-French artist who, with her husband Robert Delaunay and others, cofounded the Orphism art movement, noted for its use of strong colours and geometric shapes. Her work extends to painting, textile design and stage set design...
. To this she added many seminal works of abstractionism
Abstractionism
See also Abstract artAbstractionism is the theory that the mind obtains some or all of its concepts by abstracting them from concepts it already has, or from experience. One may, for example, abstract 'green' from a set of experiences which involve green along with other properties...
, surrealism
Surrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....
and minimalism
Minimalism
Minimalism describes movements in various forms of art and design, especially visual art and music, where the work is set out to expose the essence, essentials or identity of a subject through eliminating all non-essential forms, features or concepts...
, most notably favoring Yves Klein
Yves Klein
Yves Klein was a French artist considered an important figure in post-war European art. He is the leading member of the French artistic movement of Nouveau réalisme founded in 1960 by the art critic Pierre Restany...
. The collection was eventually dispersed by auction and donation.
She has been the subject of several television documentaries for History and ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
.
In 2004, Perrier renewed her singing career to record an anthology of her parents’ music, Echos du R. 26.
Perrier maintains strong connections with Paris’ international student community, frequently receiving students at her home. She also organizes student dialogues with members of the French leadership, including a recent student conference with politician Alain Juppé
Alain Juppé
Alain Marie Juppé is a French politician currently serving as the Minister of Foreign Affairs. He also served as Prime Minister of France from 1995 to 1997 under President Jacques Chirac and the Minister of Defence and Veterans Affairs from 2010 to 2011...
.
Partial discography
- La Ferme enchantée (incl. ‘Le Coq’, ‘Le Petit cheval’) - 1937
- Chansons de Jacotte (incl. ‘Les salades de l'oncle François’) - 1938
- Ric et Pussy - 1938
- La pluie sur le toit - 1950
- Tu m’as dit – 1983
- Les cinglés du Music Hall – 1995
- Intégrale Django Reinhardt - 1999
- Echos du R. 26 - 2004
- Chansons d’enfance - 2007
- Soirées à Montmartre – 2007
- Django et la chanson - 2008
See also
- 1945–1960 in fashion
- 1960s in fashion1960s in fashionThe 1960s featured a number of diverse trends. It was a decade that broke many fashion traditions, mirroring social movements during the period. In the middle of the decade, culottes, box-shaped PVC dresses and go-go boots were popular...
- 1970s in fashion1970s in fashion1970s fashion, which began with a continuation of the mini skirts, bell-bottoms and the androgynous hippie look from the late 1960s, was soon sharply characterized by several distinct fashion trends that have left an indelible image of the decade ...
- Continental jazzContinental JazzContinental jazz is a term used to describe early jazz dance bands of Europe in the swing medium, to the exclusion of Great Britain. The genre was generally practiced until the conclusion of World War II. By the time bebop came to popularity, the style became more or less obsolete.-Revival...
- Django ReinhardtDjango ReinhardtDjango Reinhardt was a pioneering virtuoso jazz guitarist and composer who invented an entirely new style of jazz guitar technique that has since become a living musical tradition within French gypsy culture...
- Eugenia SheppardEugenia SheppardEugenia Sheppard was an American fashion writer and newspaper columnist for some 80 newspapers Eugenia Sheppard (July 24, 1900 - November 11, 1984) was an American fashion writer and newspaper columnist for some 80 newspapers Eugenia Sheppard (July 24, 1900 - November 11, 1984) was an American...
- Fairchild Fashion Group
- Musée de la Mode et du TextileMusée de la Mode et du TextileThe Musée de la Mode et du Textile is a museum of fashion and textiles located in the Louvre in the Ier arrondissement, 107, rue de Rivoli, Paris, France...
- Musée GallieraMusée GallieraThe Musée Galliera, also known as the Musée de la Mode de la Ville de Paris, is a fashion museum located in the 16th arrondissement at 10, avenue Pierre 1er de Serbie, Paris, France. It is open daily except Tuesdays; an admission fee is charged....
- Petit Mirsha
- R-vingt-six (R 26)
- Société de Textiles Robert Perrier
- Women's Wear DailyWomen's Wear DailyWomen's Wear Daily is a fashion-industry trade journal sometimes called "the bible of fashion." WWD delivers information and intelligence on changing trends and breaking news in the fashion, beauty and retail industries with a readership composed largely of retailers, designers, manufacturers,...