Paco Rabanne Dies: Spanish ‘Barbarella’ Fashion Designer Was 88

Spanish-born fashion designer Paco Rabanne, who was best known for his metallic space-age outfits, has died in France. He was 88.

The self-taught designer broke into the Parisian Haute Couture scene in the early 1960s with a collection composed of 12 unwearable experimental metallic dresses.

His designs soon became favorites with stars and models of the time such as France’s Anouk Aimée, Françoise Hardy, Brigitte Bardot and the U.K.’s Twiggy.

He soon connected with the cinema world, designing the iconic costumes for Jane Fonda in Roger Vadim’s 1968 cult film Barbarella, which are still on display in MoMA in New York.  

Other cinema credits included Roberto Enrico’s The Last Adventure and Joël Le Moigné’s Les Ponyettes.

Rabanne also created individual pieces for Jean-Luc Godard’s 1967 drama Two Or Three Things I Know About Her…, Stanley Donen’s Two For The Road (for Audrey Hepburn, for which he received a wardrobe credit) and John Huston’s Casino Royale.

Rabanne retired in 1999 but his mothballed label was revived by Spanish company Puig in 2011, which relaunched it as a fashion house and fragrance business that it now controls.

“The House of Paco Rabanne wishes to honour our visionary designer and founder who passed away today at the age of 88,” the company said in a statement posted on its website.

“Among the most seminal fashion figures of the 20th century, his legacy will remain a constant source of inspiration.”