Coqueline Courrèges

Coqueline Courrèges was born Jacqueline Barrière on July 25, 1935, in Hendaye, France. She arrived in Paris at the age of 14 to sit for her dress-making training certificate.[1]

In 1952, she joined Balenciaga, where she met André Courrèges.[2] It was he who first began calling her Coqueline.[3] She enrolled in the commercial dress-making register in 1955.[4] In 1961, André and Coqueline Courrèges opened the André Courrèges Couture house,[5] located at no. 48 Avenue Kléber, Paris.[6] They presented their first collection of 29 pieces in Paris on August 1, 1961.[7] Coqueline Courrèges was André Courrèges's "partner in creativity,"[8] with André acting as the "face of the company" and Coqueline ever-present in the "background."[9]

They were married in 1966. Their daughter, Marie, was born in 1970.[10]

Together with André,[1] Coqueline popularised pure white trouser suits, "second skin" tights, and flat boots.[11][9][12][13] She remained second in command of the company.[14] She embodied the “Courrèges' revolution,” with its image of free independent working women.[15] The house developed clothing using new fabrics and fibres, and Coqueline was in charge of creating these futuristic visions of fashion.[16]

From 1995 to 2010, while André Courrèges spent his days involved with painting and sculpture, Coqueline Courrèges ran the Courrèges Design and Courrèges Parfum companies.[17][18][19] She re-opened the factory in Pau.[9][20] In 1997, the company launched a new perfume, "2020."[21] Coqueline worked with biologists and geneticists on the clothing of the future, organising different events which combined fashion and new technologies.[22][23]

Her childhood passion for cars, the result of memories of her father taking part in races driving Bugattis,[24] led her to start designing cars in 1999.[1] Convinced of the importance of ecological challenges, she focused on electric cars. An initial prototype was designed and presented during a Courrèges fashion show in 1968.[25] In 2002, she introduced her first electric car, the Bulle, followed by the EXE in 2004.[26] Between 2000 and 2008, five prototypes of 100% electric cars were created and built. The Zooop model was exhibited as part of the Bibendum Challenge organised by Michelin in June 2006 in Paris.[27][28] Also in 2006, the International Salon of Inventions in Geneva awarded her a “patent” for Electric cars.[29]

Since 2010, Coqueline Courrèges has devoted herself to the defence of André Courrèges's intellectual and moral rights,[30] whilst simultaneously pursuing her projects involving electric transport.[31]