Cacharel
Cacharel was founded by Jean Louis Henri Bousquet who was born in Nimes, France on 30 March 1932. The company was created in 1964.
Jean Bousquet was the son of a sewing machine seller, so it is perhaps not surprising that he chose to design clothes as a career after being surrounded by clothe making in his early years. He trained as a tailor at Ecole Technique in Nimes between 1951-1954, before working as a cutter / stylist for Jean Jourdan in Paris until 1957. He adopted the name of Jean Cacharel and started designing womenswear for the mass market. This was a brave decision at the time, as prior to that the view was that to succeed in fashion design you needed to cater for the established old-monied customers who were loyal to Parisian haute couture.
The emerging youth culture of the 1950s and early 1960s inspired Cacharel, and the clothes were modern, pretty, bright, jaunty and young. The introduction of the seersucker blouse and taking centre stage on the front cover of Elle magazine in 1963, catapulted Cacharel onto the international circuit. This was further enhanced when Cacharel began working with Liberty of London and he updated their previously considered frumpy floral prints into fashionable and feminine clothes, which were more flattering.
The children’s range was added in the early 1970s, later to be followed by perfume, cosmetics and menswear. Both Cacharel‘s son and daughter have been involved in the company.
