Christmas came early yesterday at my house! I treated myself to some major design porn and ordered François Catroux, an exquisite pictorial of this French designer’s most memorable work published by Rizzoli.
For those of you who are not familiar with Monsieur Catroux, he was born in Algeria to French parents and attended school with none other than Yves St. Laurent. He migrated to New York in 1960 and was introduced to the great Billy Baldwin and, voila, the inspiration for his future career was born! Catroux never attended design school, rather learning his craft by observing great design while a location scout for Elle magazine in New York during the early 1960’s. Catroux became fascinated with American design in this period, especially the fusion of classic French design with modernism. Photo of Betty and François in 1972, via WSJ.
He returned to Paris and landed the commission of fashion designer Mila Schoen’s Milan showroom. The modern, somewhat futuristic design caused a sensation and landed Monsieur Catroux on the cover of the prestigious French design magazine L’Oeil. He also married Betty Saint, a Chanel model at the time. Betty became one of Yves St. Laurent’s fashion muses and together, Francois and Betty joined St. Laurent’s inner circle of jet-setting friends.
On Madison gives you a peek at some of our favorite rooms in a book full of gorgeous rooms. Pur plaisir!
