Gucci (1921) Guccio Gucci
Like many other high-fashion companies, Gucci began as a small, family-owned saddlery and leather goods store. Guccio Gucci was the son of an Italian merchant from the country’s northern manufacturing region. As a young man, he travelled to Paris and London, where he “gained an appreciation of cosmopolitan culture, sophistication, and aesthetics.” Gucci opened his first boutique in the family’s native Florence in 1921 and quickly built a reputation for quality, hiring the best craftsmen he could find to work in his atelier.

La Chemise Lacoste (1933) René Lacoste
Founded in 1933 and headquartered in Paris, Lacoste is an apparel company that sells high-end clothing, footwear, perfume, leather goods, watches, eyewear, and most famously tennis shirts. René Lacoste founded La Chemise Lacoste in 1933 with André Gillier, who owns the largest French knitwear manufacturing firm at the time. The popular green crocodile logo has been the company’s emblem which was embroidered on the chest of the revolutionary tennis shirts Lacoste had designed and worn on the tennis courts. Today, Lacoste operates a large number of Lacoste boutiques worldwide and is distributed by many leading high-end shops.

Christian Dior (1946) Christian Dior
By 1938 he had turned to dress design but because of his tour of duty in World War II, he was not able to develop his design business until 1946. His first collection released in 1947 featured a “New Look”; a richer look in contrast to the austerity of war styles which featured luxury rather than comfort. His creations helped re-establish formerly occupied France as the capital of world fashion.