French fashion designer Christian Lacroix was born in Trenteille, Arles, France, on May 16, 1951. He currently lives and works in Paris and Arles. He studied classical literature and art history at the University of Montpellier, the Sorbonne, and the École du Louvre before switching to fashion and pursuing a career in stage costume design. In 1978, he joined Hermès, where he designed accessories. After gaining experience at Byblos and Guy Paulin in Japan, he became chief designer of haute couture at Jean Patou in 1981. He then went independent and, with the backing of Bernard Arnault of Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH), launched his own brand, Christian Lacroix, in 1987. Since then, he has signed costume design contracts with numerous theaters, operas, and ballet companies, including the Paris Opera and the New York Metropolitan Opera. In the 2000s, he also worked on industrial design projects for the French TGV train and hotels, and created backgrounds for museum exhibitions of his own costumes.

In 1994, he launched the casual wear line "BAZAR," followed by the denim line "Jeans de Christian Lacroix" in 1996 and a men's line in 2004. In 2005, LVMH sold the brand to the Falic Group. Lacroix closed his maison in June 2009 and ceased his activities as a couturier. Since then, the brand has operated solely under license, with only the men's collections shown at Paris Men's Fashion Week. Sasha Walkov, Lacroix's assistant, is the designer. Lacroix's archive dresses were donated by the Falic Group to the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in 2010. Lacroix is currently designing exhibitions for European museums, stage costumes, hotels, and more. In July of this year, it was announced that he would be designing a 15-piece couture collection for an event honoring Elsa Schiaparelli, founder of the legendary couturier house Schiaparelli. Image courtesy of Getty Images