Louis Feraud was born in 1921 in Arles, France. He left his job as a ski instructor in the Alps to open his first boutique in the 1950s in the French Riviera city of Cannes, where he sold clothes to the sun-worshipping jet set.
His shop was patronized by many movie stars visiting the Film Festival. He met Brigitte Bardot in 1953, and after she wore one of his dresses in public, it started a run of Feraud. In a week 500 dresses were sold. After that, he dressed Brigitte for several of her films. In all he designed for some 20 films. In 1955 he moved to Paris where he opened a ready-to-wear salon. He and his wife were dubbed “the Gypsies” because of their brightly coloured, gypsy-inspired look of the 60’s.
In 1956 he opened a boutique in Paris for clients including actresses Kim Novak and Ingrid Bergman as well as Danielle Mitterrand, wife of the late French president Francois Mitterrand. The effortless sophistication of Féraud’s creations lives on today, offering wearers an instant slice of Parisian style.