PARIS — French fashion designer Thierry Colson, whose eponymous label became known for its romantic cotton dresses, has died.
His death was revealed on the brand’s Instagram account Thursday.
“It is with the deepest sorrow that we announce the passing of Thierry Colson. His family, friends and team are united in grief. Thank you for the support you gave him in his lifetime,” the statement read.
No cause of death was disclosed.
Born in 1961, Colson graduated from Studio Berçot in Paris, where he later returned as a teacher.
Before launching his own label, he built a career across fashion, working as a stylist and editor for publications including Vogue Homme, Numéro Homme, Madame Figaro, Glamour, Mixte and Air France Magazine.
He also served as a consultant to fashion houses, including Chloé.
His influence extended beyond his own collections through his years of teaching at the legendary Studio Berçot.
“He was a very handsome man, always impeccably dressed and naturally elegant, whose charm drew students to him,” said Marie Rucki, who was the school director from 1970 until its closure in 2023.
“Thierry had an almost childlike enthusiasm when it came to staging fashion shows in the great capitals of fashion and mystery — Moscow, Rome, Baghdad, Quito, and so on. He was curious about anything outside the ordinary. His mind was always alert and inquisitive. He loved adventure in fashion and was uncompromising with himself.
“With talent and patience, he shared his freedom of thought and his sense of style with them. He encouraged his students to be themselves by refining their eye, and he had no tolerance for easy or superficial work,” she added.
Designer Vanessa Seward credited Colson with inspiring her as a student and helping her develop her own creative voice, reflecting the lasting impact he had on a generation of French designers through his work at the fashion school.
Seward, who studied under Colson there in the late 1980s, remembered him as her favorite teacher and credited him with shaping her creative identity.
“He was very sensitive, and he took a lot of time with his students,” she told WWD. “What was really great about Thierry was that he helped you identify what was already strong in you and cultivate it. He made a big impression on me, artistically and aesthetically.”
Seward added that Colson’s own label was inspiring. “I thought, ‘My god, he’s so talented,’” she said. “I loved his clothes and still have pieces from his collections. He always stayed incredibly coherent in his aesthetic.”
She also credited him with helping launch her career, introducing her to designer Martine Sitbon during her years at Chloé, and securing her an internship at the house. “He really made a big difference for me,” Seward said.
Sitbon and Colson had known each other for decades, first crossing paths through Studio Berçot, and remained friends over the decades.
“I cared about him deeply because he was an incredibly sensitive person, but at the same time he was very funny and wonderfully eccentric,” Sitbon told WWD. “He had so many qualities that I admired. He was very romantic, but he could also be quite tough,” she said. “I found him to be an extraordinarily interesting person.”
Their professional relationship included several seasons working together at Chloé, as well as collaborations on personal projects. Sitbon said she admired how he developed his brand as one based on travel and craftsmanship.
“I thought what he created was beautiful,” she said. “I especially loved what he was doing with his collections inspired by India. He would tell me about his trips there, from the challenges to the rewarding moments as well.”
Sitbon added that Colson could combine fun and focus. “When he was working, he was very concentrated,” she said. “It was a nice way to try things, have fun together, and at the same time be very concentrated and do the best we could.”
Reflecting on his legacy, Sitbon cited his imagination. “He was a great person, and he was talented,” she said. “He had this imagination. He was like that — what was nice with him was that he had all these dreams.”
Thierry Colson, spring 2012
DOMINIQUE MAITRE
Colson founded his namesake label in 2005. Initially introducing boxer shorts and shirts, he soon shifted exclusively to women’s ready-to-wear, centered on the idea of endless summer.
His brand built a following over the next two decades with collections that blended French elegance with handcrafted textiles from India. Colson worked independently, with clothes rooted in natural textiles, hand-block prints and craftsmanship.
Rather than follow the industry’s traditional seasonal calendar, Colson initially produced a single annual collection before expanding to a spring pre-collection, a main summer collection and a high summer capsule.
Colson traveled to India several times a year, working with artisans who produced intricate embroideries and traditional hand-block prints using carved wooden blocks.
WWD named Colson among its “ones to watch” ahead of his first Paris runway show for spring 2011, describing his romantic collections as inspired by French classicism and handcrafted Indian fabrics, imagining his muse as “a mix of Marie Antoinette, Josephine and Talitha Getty.”
Despite remaining independent, the label established distribution in around 20 countries through a network of premium multibrand retailers.
His collections were carried by Opening Ceremony in the United States and by British luxury retailer Matches, which at one point accounted for roughly half of the brand’s sales. Japan became another key market, where his understated aesthetic and artisanal approach found a particularly loyal clientele.
In France, he held summer pop-ups in Cannes and Saint-Tropez and maintained his own-brand boutique in Paris.
Colson also collaborated beyond his own label. In 2021 he partnered with Fragonard, the Provençal fragrance and lifestyle house, on a capsule collection inspired by the company’s museum archives.
