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| Fernando Sanchez working with a model, September 1965. |
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Obituary
Designer Fernando Sanchez Dies at 70
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July 5, 2006 –
Fernando Sanchez, the designer who established the concept of luxurious at-homewear that could be worn as eveningwear, was remembered as having as colorful a personality and way of life as the clothes he created.
Sanchez died June 28 at his Manhattan home at the age of 70. The cause of death was complications from a sand fly bite. He had been battling the parasitic disease visceral leishmaniasis, which he contracted in Morocco two years ago.
Sanchez was renowned in international circles for his eccentricity, dry sense of humor and love of a good party, whether it was hanging out in the Seventies at Studio 54 with Andy Warhol, Halston, Liza Minnelli, Bianca Jagger and Paloma Picasso; dancing until dawn at La Palace in Paris with Pierre Bergé and Loulou de la Falaise, or throwing live jazz-quartet parties at his Moroccan-decorated home at the landmark New York building, The Osborne.
But for Sanchez, the allure and excitement of nonstop parties was not just a way of life, it was a constant source of inspiration for his prolific designs, which for five decades spanned leisurewear, accessories, lingerie, furs, ready-to-wear and eveningwear. Dividing his time between New York, Paris and Marrakech, where he maintained a villa near a vacation home of longtime friend Yves Saint Laurent, Sanchez was fond of saying he was "stimulated by the pulse and mystery of city streets, both by day and night."
He said he often gleaned ideas for his rich and colorful at-homewear—caftans and robes reminiscent of Moroccan silhouettes in desert neutrals or deep, vibrant hues of a sunrise, sunset or the ocean—from music, especially the guitar, and what he described as "the indolent dreams of harem life as it must have been."
Born in Spain, but having lived much of his early life in Antwerp, Belgium, where his grandfather owned a shipping company, Sanchez was fond of saying his formative years were a "secluded life of books and imaginary travels."
Jano Herbosch, Sanchez's cousin and business partner, recalled on Friday, "His mother was very influential in exposing him to fashion, culture and the arts."
A thirst for travel and adventure led Sanchez to the City of Light, where at age 17 his mother, Yull, took him to see his first Parisian fashion show, a couture collection by Jacques Fath.
That was the turning point for Sanchez, who presented his own fashion designs to Fath and was encouraged by the couturier to enroll in the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture in Paris. Sanchez, who befriended fellow classmate Saint Laurent, pursued an internship at the House of Nina Ricci and later followed Saint Laurent to the House of Dior. Earlier, he worked for the design house Maggy Rouff, then Hirsch of Brussels.
That fashion education led to several major honors: three Coty Awards in the Seventies—one for Excellence in Furs [1975], and two for elevating lingerie as high fashion products, as well as a Council of Fashion Designers of America Award in 1981 for Excellence in At-Homewear and Lingerie.
This article has been edited for Style.com and reprinted with permission from Women's Wear Daily.
–Karyn Monget
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