Last modified on Tue 4 May 2021 13.18 EDT
Of all the designers who resuscitated a Paris label during 40 years of fashion necromancy, none was better than Alber Elbaz at the house of Lanvin, where he was creative director from 2001 to 2015.
Even Karl Lagerfeld channelling Gabrielle Chanel never had the rapport with or respect for his foundress that Elbaz, who has died aged 59 of Covid-19, did with Jeanne Lanvin. Founding her company in 1889, she had had initial success when clients wanted for their own children the dresses she confected for her daughter before the first world war; after the war, adult women wore similar easy garments, and Lanvin’s were the prettiest and kindest.