Sighs & Whispers

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Remembering Tan Giudicelli: Part II

Remembering Tan Giudicelli: Part II

Paris's Favourite Party Designer & Party Friend, 1934-2024

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Laura McLaws Helms
Sep 22, 2024
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Sighs & Whispers
Sighs & Whispers
Remembering Tan Giudicelli: Part II
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Continuing my elegy for Tan Giudicelli, who passed away at age 90 in April. Read Part I here.

“Tan Giudicelli likes garbage strikes, American mannequins, Italian politics, Japanese fiction, underground films, Brazilian bodies, Lauren Bacall, Army-Navy surplus stores, Brasserie Lipp, houseguests, Bloomingdale’s, and just about every other subject you might care to take up.” – Marian McEvoy, Women’s Wear Daily, December 31, 1975

Tan designed the costumes for Just Jaeckin’s 1975 film adaptation of Histoire d’O (The Story of O), an erotic novel of female submission that was highly controversial from the time of its publication in 1954. Jaeckin was fresh off the success of soft-core Emmanuelle (1974) and he went all in on Histoire d’O with soft focus, glamorous imagery, and hardcore BDSM. Banned in the UK for twenty-five years, when it was finally released in 2000 Sight & Sound magazine described it as looking “like a cross between a Biba commercial and a progressive-rock video, awash with knee-booted, shaggy-haircut ‘chicks’ drifting across misty landscapes in pseudo-medieval frocks…” Giudicelli’s gowns help create the fantasy of the world of the super wealthy sex parties (one character even wears his black-and-white devoré ensemble), while the day clothes he made for Corinne Cléry’s character are exactly the type of chic MicMac style items that a cool fashion photographer would wear. His only other costume credit was for the Rated-X porn, Change pas de main (Don’t Change Hands).

Corinne Cléry wearing Tan Giudicelli in Histoire d’O (The Story of O), 1975.
Corinne Cléry wearing Tan Giudicelli in Histoire d’O (The Story of O), 1975.

After eight years, Tan left MicMac in January 1975 to focus on his own brand. He explained to Women’s Wear Daily, “I learned technique and taste at Dior and I learned fantasy at Chloe. But the MicMac experience was probably the most important for me. Many people say that French sportswear with an American spirit started at MicMac. I think so. But I stayed there too long. Two years too long.” The Tan Giudicelli label, which the owners of MicMac had backed, took on new investors. WWD reported that Didier Primat (a Schlumberger oil heir) backed his new sportswear collection, T13. For Tan it was a good opportunity: “I love the look of casual American clothes—and I have been very inspired about what’s going on in the streets of New York. My collection will have a very easy, put-together spirit.” He retained his large boutique on the Rue de Tournon, opening ones down the street for perfumes and T13 in 1976—Bonwit Teller had the New York exclusive for both lines.

Tan Giudicelli. Photo by Guy Marineau, Women’s Wear Daily, December 31, 1975.

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