Ted Lapidus was born in Paris, the son of a Russian-Jewish tailor. He studied medicine until 1950, when he gained the opportunity to briefly intern at Dior, after which he worked as a tailor at Club de Paris. In 1951 he founded his maison, and in 1958, he opened his boutique on Rue Marbeuf in the 8th, allegedly with the help of his friend Charles Aznavour.
Lapidus believed more than anything in the democratization of fashion. He, along with Yves Saint Laurent’s Rive Gauche line, was a pioneer of luxury prêt-à-porter. He was admitted to the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture in 1963, the same year he signed a deal to mass produce his designs with Belle Jardinière.
In 1969 Lapidus worked with John Lennon, creating the white vinyl bag that cased the set of erotic lithographs that recounted Lennon and Yoko’s wedding and honeymoon, titled “Bag One,” limited to 300 copies. He also created the white suit that Lennon wore on the cover of Abbey Road.
Ted Lapidus was also an early proponent of unisex fashion, incorporating very masculine tailoring, often in plaid, and very straight cuts. He was known for introducing military and marine fashion to the runways. He was the first to utilize military-style shoulder pads, and he is credited with popularizing the “saharienne,” as well as with being the first to incorporate denim into mainstream fashion. All of Lapidus’ sketches featured a sort of doll face, dubbed “Kookla.”
After the decline of haute couture in the 70s and a slew of licensed products, Ted Lapidus passed the baton over to his son Olivier Lapidus in 1989, and the maison continued to create haute couture collections until 2000.
“Couture is for the rich. I want young people to have... Beauty”
