About

the designers

Chantal Thomass was born in Paris, France, in 1947.

Thomass had no formal training in fashion design, but as a child, dressing up proved enough of a motivation for her to design her own clothes, which were made by her mother. She began her fashion career at 18, designing clothes for girls of her own age. A year later, she married Bruce Thomass, who had studied at the École des Beaux Arts in Paris. Together they formed a small fashion company called Ter et Bantine manufacturing and selling young and unusual clothes. They created dresses from hand-painted scarves, designed by Bruce, and succeeded in selling them to Dorothée Bis. Thomass also designed dresses with flounced pinafores, schoolgirl collars, and balloon sleeves that were sold from their first boutique on Boulevard Saint Germain in 1967. Actress and French cultural symbol Brigitte Bardot became a regular customer, as did designer Jacqueline Jacobson, who ordered over a hundred dresses in one season alone.

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The Look

Chantal Thomass has built a reputation for her tantalizing, flirtatious clothes. Much of her work pays a titillating homage to exotic underwear; there is, however, never a blatant display of overt sexuality. Instead there is always a hint of the naughty schoolgirl or a sensuous allusion to the charms of the teenage seductress, like Carole Baker in Baby Doll or Sue Lyon in Lolita. The clothes are often fitted or skimpy, trimmed in frills, ribbons, and flounces, and always produced in the most sophisticated fabrics.

Perfumes

2002 Chantal Thomass Eau de Parfum (W)
2004 Chantal Thomass Ame Coquine (W)

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