Born in Queens, New York, Jay Jaxon (August 30, 1941 -July 19, 2006)
“The first American to be honored with the job of designer for a French couture house is black,” reads the opening sentence of a news clipping from The Pittsburgh Press-January 24th, 1970.
Jay Jaxon, a twenty-four-year-old from Philadelphia, had been newly charged with saving the crumbling house of Jean Louis Scherrer. Jaxon was attending New York University as a law student when he discovered a talent for tailoring: his girlfriend needed her party dress altered at the last-minute before a Saturday night out.
As is the case with so many American pioneers, an unexpected event lead to a shift in focus and before long, he was swimming in sketches. He dropped out of school and worked as bank teller to earn the money for design school. His early work was sold in luxury New York City clothing stores like Bendel’s and Bonwit Teller. Once in Paris, he trained under Yves St. Laurent and Christian Dior in addition to Jean-Louis Scherrer. His ambition, he shared, “was to get to Paris and be part of, or even near to, the French Couture.” His work and legacy at Yves Saint Laurent and Christian Dior, and the rest… has gone relatively unsung.
Mr. Jaxon was the very first Black haute couturier. He designed his first collection under the house of Jean-Louis Scherrer in the 1970s. Jaxon was not only the first African American haute courtier, he was the first American designer of any color to have the honor of working in a couture house.
Though this accomplishment was significant enough to earn him a congratulatory telephone call from the First Lady of the United States, “Lady Bird” Johnson, it is not celebrated, or even mentioned, during contemporary discussions of the evolution of haute couture. There is no mention of him in the prestigious Berg Fashion Library database. He is not mentioned alongside others who shattered barriers and blazed trails.
Jaxon, at only 24 years of age, was brought on to save the failing Scherrer house. Though much has been recorded about the Parisians eventual loss of his company, there is no mention of Jaxon and his attempt to prevent it from happening. He is not mentioned in connection with Dior or St. Laurent, either.
Although the French celebrated his arrival in Paris as the first black couturier, the emphasis on his race troubling to Jaxon, he has been virtually erased from their history. His New York Times obituary in 2006 details his work on films as recent as Mr. and Mrs. Smith, but his IMDB.com listing only features him as costume designer for one film.
His obituary in the New York Times, reveals that he worked as a costume designer later in his career, for several television shows and major motion pictures, including “Ally McBeal” and “Mr. & Mrs. Smith.”
Today we remember JAY JAXSON