Jeanne Lanvin

Biography

Jeanne Lanvin opened a millinery shop at 16 rue Boissy d'Anglas in 1889. The shift to couture happened because her young daughter Marie-Blanche (born 1897) was the most photographed child in Paris and the dresses Lanvin made for her created their own demand. By 1909 she had moved to 22 rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré and opened a children's department. By 1923 she had a perfume business (Arpège, named for Marie-Blanche's piano practice, launched 1927 and still in production). She invented or codified the 'robe-de-style' — a full-skirted evening dress in the eighteenth-century shepherdess tradition that became her signature throughout the 1920s. The house outlived her — she died in 1946; the brand continues to today, though most of the technical content is post-founder. Lanvin's surviving 1920s and 1930s pieces are the most collected category from her tenure; the 'Lanvin blue' (a specific deep ultramarine) is a recognised fashion-history colour.

Signature pieces

• Robe-de-style — full-skirted evening dress with eighteenth-century reference
• Mother-and-daughter matching outfits (the original Lanvin commercial proposition)
• Heavy beadwork using French jet, glass beads, and metallic thread
• 'Lanvin blue' silk pieces — a specific ultramarine she returned to throughout her career

Silhouette

• Robe-de-style: dropped waist with full skirt supported by panniers
• Slim columnar evening dresses in the late 1920s
• Bias-cut influence from Vionnet in the 1930s but with characteristic ornament

Fabric repertoire

Silk taffeta (peak weight for robe-de-style) · Silk faille and gros de Naples · Lanvin blue silk (custom-dyed) · Hand-applied beadwork (often jet on blue)

Label history

Often the fastest way to date a piece.

Current market ranges

Ranges reflect 2024–2026 transaction data. Condition, provenance, and original labels remain dominant variables.

Authentication notes

• Lanvin blue is a specific dye; the colour reads slightly violet in raking light and is not perfectly reproduced by modern dyes.
• Robe-de-style construction uses a separate pannier underpinning at the hips — original pieces have the pannier attached internally, not as a separate garment.
• Iribe's mother-and-daughter logo is the strongest post-1923 authentication signal.

Known forgery patterns

• Modern 'flapper-style' robe-de-style reproductions are widely sold; construction (pannier integration) and fabric weight distinguish.

Museum holdings

• · Patrimoine Lanvin (the house's own archive)
• · Palais Galliera, Paris
• · The Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute, New York

Primary sources

Public collections and archives we cross-reference for Jeanne Lanvin attribution. Search by maker name or browse the costume collection.

• [1]The Metropolitan Museum of Art — Jeanne Lanvin collection search
• [2]Victoria and Albert Museum — Jeanne Lanvin maker records
• [3]Palais Galliera (Paris Musées) — Jeanne Lanvin holdings
• [4]Kerry Taylor Auctions archive — Jeanne Lanvin lot history
• [5]Invaluable cross-auction archive — Jeanne Lanvin comparable sales

Adjacent designers