René Gruau

René GRUAU, pseudonym of Renato Zavagli-Ricciardelli delle Caminate, born February 4, 1909 in Rimini (Italy), and died March 31, 2004 in Rome (Italy), was a Franco-Italian illustrator, poster artist and painter renowned for his illustrations for fashion and advertising.
Renato Zavagli was born to an Italian aristocrat father, Count Zavagli-Ricciardelli delle Caminate, and a French mother from the Parisian aristocracy, Marie Gruau de la Chesnaie, whose maiden name he later kept. The couple separated when Renato Zavagli was still a young child, and he lived with his mother in Milan.
In 1924, at the age of fifteen and abandoning his plans to become an architect, René Gruau - he used his mother's name and Frenchized his first name - moved to Paris and published his first fashion drawing on the advice of an Italian fashion editor. His drawings subsequently appeared in Italy, particularly for the fashion magazine Lidel, but also in Germany and England. At the time, magazines used illustrations rather than photographs. In 1930, he produced his first illustration for Balmain.
From 1935 to 1939, his reputation grew, and he was published in Femina, Marianne, Marie Claire, Silhouettes, L'Officiel, Le Figaro magazine, and other publications in the United States and England.

During World War II, he lived in Lyon and then in Cannes. While settled in Cannes, 1946 truly marked the beginning of his success and his first collaboration with International Textiles, for which he would design all the covers until 1984.

In 1947, he began a long collaboration with Dior, helping to launch the post-war New Look. The following year, he traveled to the United States, working for Harper’s Bazaar and occasionally for Vogue, before becoming the exclusive artist for Flair.

From 1956 onward, he focused on cabarets, designing for the Lido (where he would work until 1994), the Moulin Rouge starting in 1961, the Casino de Paris, and collaborating with Jacques Fath, the Boussac company (owner of Christian Dior), as well as Eminence and Blizzand (rainwear). Over his career, 167 luxury brands used his illustrations. He also contributed to various men’s magazines such as Adam, Club, or Sir. In addition, he created theater set and costume designs.

These years also marked the rise of photography over illustration in the press; René Gruau then began to specialize in fashion advertising, alongside his continued work for the theater, occasionally returning to fashion illustration.

From 1950 until his death in Rome in 2004, Gruau—nicknamed "the last of the great fashion illustrators" as illustration lost its dominance in magazines to photography—worked with the most prestigious names in fashion, including Balmain, Balenciaga, Givenchy, and Rochas. He continued to illustrate fashion for Elle, Vogue, Madame Figaro, and L’Officiel de la Couture.

Starting in 1977, and especially from 1986 onward, many exhibitions of his work were held in France and abroad, tracing a career of illustration that designer Stéphane Rolland described as “an infinite grace, the image of a worldly, detached, and insolent Parisian spirit.”

René Gruau’s story is closely tied to the Dior brand and its designer. Both were young illustrators in their twenties when they met in 1930 at Le Figaro. In 1947, his friend Christian Dior commissioned him to design the advertising image for the first perfume, Miss Dior, as well as the famous Bar jacket, symbol of the New Look. He also designed campaigns for the second perfume, Diorama, lingerie, and stockings.

In the 1950s, while in high demand among all the top couturiers, Gruau created the launch poster for Diorissimo and for the lipstick Rouge Baiser. Even as photography increasingly replaced illustration in advertising, Dior remained loyal to him. In 1968, he signed the campaign for Eau Sauvage, with his drawings adapted for television ads. Other iconic works followed: the Diormatic makeup line in 1971 and the perfume Diorella the next year, portraying a modern woman in trousers.

He remained loyal to Parfums Christian Dior for forty years, up until the 1980s, when he designed the ad campaign for the men’s fragrance Jules. According to John Galliano, René Gruau “captured the style and spirit of Dior” through movement, representing a chic Parisian woman using his three signature colors: red, black, and white.

In early 2011, Galliano presented his final haute couture collection as a tribute to Gruau’s style—its flowing lines, contrasting shaded effects, chiaroscuro tones, and bold black outlines that defined the silhouette.

Gruau’s work is immensely rich; his commanding line accompanied representations of femininity for nearly sixty years. A true witness of his time, Gruau visually influenced several generations with a timeless body of work. Toward the end of his life, he developed a more personal body of painting, moving away from the feminine realm he had celebrated throughout his career.