Countess Jacqueline de Ribes, an icon of Parisian elegance and muse to major couturiers, died on Tuesday at the age of 96 in Switzerland. Nicknamed the 'last queen of Paris,' she influenced international fashion with her style and designs. Her secretariat announced the news on Wednesday to AFP on behalf of the family.
Jacqueline de Ribes, born Jacqueline de La Bonninière de Beaumont on July 14, 1929, was an aristocrat passionate about fashion from childhood. At 19, she married Vicomte then Comte Edouard de Ribes (1923-2013), with whom she amassed an art collection. A close friend of Yves Saint Laurent and Valentino, she became a patron and philanthropist, embodying the French art of living.
As early as 1956, she was listed among the world's best-dressed women. In 1962, she was inducted into fashion's 'Hall of Fame' and celebrated by top photographers. That same year, after ventures in journalism, theater, television, and interior design, she launched her own fashion house, encouraged by Yves Saint Laurent, a client of hers. Her first collection received international acclaim, with the United States becoming her primary market.
She led her fashion house until 1995, stopping for health reasons. In 2015, the Metropolitan Museum of New York dedicated an exhibition to her featuring about sixty outfits, the oldest from 1962. In late 2019, the auction of her collection with her husband fetched 22.8 million euros at Sotheby's France, including purchases by the Louvre and Versailles Palace.
A stylist, businesswoman, and jet-set figure, Jacqueline de Ribes symbolized Parisian elegance, especially in the United States. Her death in Switzerland, confirmed by her assistant Stéphanie Mouly to AFP, signals the end of an era for French fashion.
