Paul Iribe (June 18, 1883 – September 21, 1935) was a French
designer,
journalist,
artist, and
fashion illustrator.
Biography
Paul Iribe was born in Angouleme, France in 1883, Iribe received his education in
Paris. From 1908 to 1910 he studied at the
École des Beaux-Arts and the
College Rollin, where his friends included the then-unknown illustrators
George Barbier,
Georges Lepape,
George Martin, and
Pierre Brissaud. In his early twenties he became an apprentice printer at
Le Temps newspaper, and from 1900, he submitted dozens of illustrations and
caricatures to such French satirical papers as
Rire,
Sourire, and
L'Assiette au beurre.
In 1908,
Paul Poiret, the famous
fashion designer, requested that he create a promotional brochure that presented his outfits in an original manner. His works in the
pochoir technique greatly appealed to the couturier because their simple lines and broad, flat, abstract expanses of bright color perfectly captured the simple Empire-style dresses he was then known for. "Les Robes de Paul Poiret", the resulting publication, was highly influential, and brought Iribe great fame, as well as numerous additional requests from other designers, including
Coco Chanel,
Jeanne Lanvin,
Jeanne Paquin, the
Callot Soeurs, and
Jacques Doucet, for whom he was asked to redecorate his apartment in the newly fashionable
Art Deco style. He later established his own studio in Paris, where he produced designs for fashion, fabrics, furniture, and wallpapers.
From 1914, Iribe spent six years in
Hollywood, working on film costumes and theatrical interiors for
Paramount Studios. He served as artistic director for
Cecil B. De Mille's first film version of The Ten Commandments. He returned to Paris in 1920.
In the 1920s and 1930s he published a political journal,
Le Témoin, in which his illustrations satirized the politics of the time.
In 1911 he married Jeanne Dirys (née Jeanne Estelle Seraphine Boiget), a vaudeville performer; they divorced in 1918. A year later he married Maybelle Hogan (1887-1964), an American heiress and the former wife of M. Copius, a theatrical impresario; they had two children: Pablo (1920-1971) and Maybelle (1928-). The couple separated in 1931, due to Iribe's affair with
Coco Chanel, whom he planned to marry.
He died in 1935, in France at the age of only 52.
Works
- Les robes de Paul Poiret, by Paul Iribe. Published by Se trouve a Paris chez Paul Poiret, couturier, 1908.
- Le Témoin..., edited by Paul Iribe. Published by Le Témoin, 1933.
- Bleu, blanc, rouge: France, by Paul Iribe. Published by Etablissements Nicolas.
- PAUL IRIBE-PRECURSEUR DE L'ART DECO. Published by Bibliothèque Forney, 1983
