Hervé L. Leroux

Hervé L. Leroux (; 30 May 1957 – 6 October 2017) was a French fashion designer and founder of the Hervé Léger fashion house.

Biography

Leroux was born Hervé Peugnet on 30 May 1957 in Bapaume, in northern France. One of three children, he excelled in art in school, leaving his hometown at age 18 to study sculpture in Paris at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts.

Leroux died on 6 October 2017, aged 60.

Early career

After leaving art school, Leroux turned to hairdressing, qualifying as a hairstylist with Jean-Marc Maniatis. His first show was doing hair backstage at Chloé. From there, beginning in 1978, he began making hats and bags. After creating some hats for a Tan Giudicelli Leroux "molded his fabric to the female form, rather than draping and cutting it." Though various designers have staked a claim as to who did the bandage dresses first, and Leroux often pointed out that in the modern era the late American couturier Charles James set the standard, he also took a far longer view of any attribution, telling style.com, "Bands belong to history. They come from Cleopatra, Queen of the Egyptians."

In the late 1990s, he lost control of his company Hervé Léger and the commercial use of the name in 1999.

Becoming Hervé L. Leroux The "Léger" name was itself Lagerfeld's suggestion, on the grounds that "Peugnet" would be too difficult for Americans to pronounce. The design studio and store were, and still are, located at 32 rue Jacob in the heart of Paris' Left Bank, in the former boutique and store of the late famed antique dealer and decorator Madeleine Castaing, a location and enterprise he dubbed "the smallest couture shop in the world." In 2007, the firm branched into ready-to-wear.

In November 2012, Leroux teamed with the NYC based, boutique fragrance brand Joya to create a candle which comes in a matte black glass container cut on a slant to mimic a bias drape.

Theater work 1995 – Designed stage costumes for Zizi Jeanmaire for her show with the Ballet de Marseille, directed by Roland Petit, in Marseille, Paris and Toulon. 1995 – Costumes for the ballet "Camera Obscura" directed by Roland Petit at the Opéra de Paris. 1997 – Costumes for the ballet "Le Lac des Cygnes" (Swan Lake) directed by Roland Petit in Marseille.