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James Galanos

Born in 1924, Galanos grew up in New Jersey, and attended New York’s Traphagen School of Fashion from 1942 until 1943. After leaving school, he briefly worked for the important American fashion designer Hattie Carnegie and then for the costume department of Columbia Pictures. Galanos traveled to Paris in 1947 to train under couturier Robert Piguet. When he returned to New York the following year, he took a position with Davidow, but left in 1949 because he did not share the firm’s conservative approach to ready-to-wear clothing design. In 1951, Galanos moved to Los Angeles where he launched his own business, Galanos Originals.

Galanos’s career took off when he showed his work on the New York runways in 1953. The following year, he won the Neiman Marcus Award, as well as his first Coty Award, the ultimate honor for fashion designers. His women’s clothing was so well received that he won the Coty Award again in 1959 for his collection. For the overall body of his work, Galanos was inducted into the Coty Hall of Fame in 1959 and received the Council of Fashion Designers American Lifetime Achievement Award in 1985. His fragrance, which bore his name, won The Fragrance Foundation’s FiFi Award in 1978. James Galanos retired in 1998.

With a reputation for exquisite workmanship, Galanos maintained the loyalty of his clients, who came to expect fine details such as silk dress linings and intricate hand-done embroidery. Nancy Reagan, asked Mr. Galanos to design her gown for her husband’s inaugural ball. His trademark was the imaginative use of chiffon. Although most of his fashion was ready-to wear, it was also the height of couture.

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