Rabanne at Shop 17: the metalworker of fashion comes to Cannes

New collection

Rabanne

There are houses that follow fashion. And there is one that decided, one day in 1966, to stop sewing and start riveting metal.

The man behind that idea was called Francisco Rabaneda y Cuervo. Born on 18 February 1934 in Pasaia, in the Spanish Basque Country, he grew up in a home where couture was second nature: his mother was head of the atelier at Cristóbal Balenciaga.

His father, a Republican colonel, was executed by Franco's forces in 1937. Two years later, the child fled Spain with his mother and became Paco Rabanne in France.

In Paris, he did not study fashion. He studied architecture, at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, for more than ten years. That detail explains everything that followed: when he made dresses, he would not cut them, he would build them.

In 1966, he presented a collection whose title was a manifesto: « 12 unwearable dresses in contemporary materials ». Sequins, metal rings, Rhodoid plates. No pattern, no stitching: pieces assembled by riveting, the way you build a structure. The scandal was immediate, and so was the legend.

Coco Chanel would nickname him the « metalworker of fashion ». The jibe was mocking; it became a definition.

Metal, cinema and the Croisette

Aluminium, plastic, paper, fluorescent leather: the house spent the 1960s proving that a garment could be born from any material at all, except perhaps fabric. In 1968, Paco Rabanne designed the costumes for Jane Fonda in Barbarella, and dressed Audrey Hepburn on screen. Couture entered science fiction and never entirely left.

1969 saw the birth of Calandre, the house's first fragrance, whose typography would later be used to draw the current logo. It is also the number carried today by the brand's most emblematic line of bags.

The founder closed his couture career with the autumn-winter 2000 collection. He passed away on 3 February 2023, aged 88. A few months later, in June 2023, the house shortened its name and became simply Rabanne, with a logo drawn from its own archives.

The house today

For thirteen years, from 2013 to 2026, Julien Dossena turned chainmail into an object of contemporary desire rather than a relic of the sixties, and made Rabanne shows one of the most sought-after tickets of Paris Fashion Week. Under his direction, in 2023 the house became the first brand in the Puig group to pass one billion euros in sales.

Since 14 July 2026, Olivier Rousteing, who led Balmain for more than thirteen years, has taken over as creative director. His first collection is expected in 2027. Which means the pieces available today belong to a chapter that has just closed, and that will not be written again.

Metal, in store

Shop 17 has selected the pieces where the house's DNA reads instantly: the disc, the link, the ring, the light that catches.

Jewellery and wardrobe

Alongside metal, the house develops an evening wardrobe that plays the same tune: lamé draping, lurex, lace, and always that taste for light worn against the skin.

See the full Rabanne collection

A metal piece is worn, not guessed at

That is what makes this house particular: metal cannot be judged from a photograph. You have to feel the weight of chainmail in your hand, see how the discs move as you walk, understand how a link catches the light on a Croisette terrace as day turns to evening.

On evening pieces, trying them on in store changes everything: the drape of a lurex or the fall of a lamé can only be read on a body in movement.

Come and discover Rabanne in Cannes

The Rabanne selection can be seen in store at 15 rue Notre-Dame, 06400 Cannes, Monday to Saturday from 10am to 7pm. For a question about size, availability, or to arrange a fitting, the Shop 17 team can be reached on +33 (0)4 93 39 46 46, by email at info@leshop17.com, or on WhatsApp. You can also follow the boutique on Instagram, @leshop17.

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