Paul Iribe

Paul Iribe (born 1883 - died 1935) was a French designer, journalist, artist, and fashion illustrator.

Born Paul Iribarnegaray in Angouleme, France in 1883, Iribe received his education in Paris. From 1908 to 1910 he studied at the École des Beaux-Arts and the College Rollin, where his friends included the then-unknown illustrators George Barbier, Georges Lepape, George Martin, and Pierre Brissaud. In his early twenties he became an apprentice printer at Le Temps newspaper, and from 1900, he submitted dozens of illustrations and caricatures to such French satirical papers as Rire, Sourire, and L'Assiette au beurre.

In 1908, Paul Poiret, the famous fashion designer, requested that he create a promotional brochure that presented his outfits in an original manner. His works in the pochoir technique greatly appealed to the couturier because their simple lines and broad, flat, abstract expanses of bright color perfectly captured the simple Empire-style dresses he was then known for. "Les Robes de Paul Poiret", the resulting publication, was highly influential, and brought Iribe great fame, as well as numerous additional requests from other designers, including Coco Chanel, Jeanne Lanvin, Jeanne Paquin, the Callot Soeurs, and Jacques Doucet, for whom he was asked to redecorate his apartment in the newly fashionable Art Deco style. He later established his own studio in Paris, where he produced designs for fashion, fabrics, furniture, and wallpapers.

From 1914, Iribe spent six years in Hollywood, working on film costumes and theatrical interiors for Paramount Studios. He served as artistic director for Cecil B. De Mille's first film version of The Ten Commandments. He returned to Paris in 1920.

In the 1920s and 1930s he published a political journal, Le Témoin, in which his illustrations satirized the politics of the time.

He dated, and was engaged to Coco Chanel, though they never did get married.

He died in 1935 at the age of only 52.