Jean-Charles de Castelbajac
Jean-Charles de Castelbajac was born with the gift of creative flair and made his first coat from a blanket whilst attending a religious institute. In his youth the famous art school, ‘Ecole des Beaux-Arts’ was attended and de Castelbajac continued on to ‘Ecole Supérieure des Industries du Vêtement’. His passion for both art and fashion continued to grow during this period and the skill to nurture both elements equally grew into a remarkable talent. During the 70’s Jean-Charles forged memorable friendships which deeply impacted his career, Malcolm McLaren, the Sex Pistols and Andy Warhol amongst others… Creating his own brand in 1978 he reached the top ranks in the fashion designer industry and was invited by major international fashion schools to show and to educate young talent. Notable exhibitions were held in New York and London and in 1982 his fashion parade of dresses painted by Jean-Charles Blais, Combas, Hervé Di Rosa, Ben, Annette Messager and Keith Haring caused quite a stir on the catwalk but the Yvon Lambert Gallery firmly supported this revolutionary approach of breaking boundaries between contemporary living art. In 1997 Jean-Charles was asked by the Vatican to design an official cape to be worn by the Pope. The multicoloured cross displayed on the Pope’s ‘chasuble’ was worn by Pope John Paul on World Youth Day. Lady Gaga and Kanye West are others who are fans of Jean-Charles’s designs. In 1999 his first concept store was opened in Paris and de Castelbajac the stylist, designer, illustrator and writer continues to create colourful art as an antidote against norms and doom & gloom.
