August Getty plans to bring glamour back to Paris couture

By

Godfrey Deeny

Published
Nov 12, 2018

August Getty, one of the few couturiers who hails from Los Angeles, is on a mission: to bring glamour back to Paris.

 
His house, named August Getty Atelier, will stage its debut Paris haute couture collection during the next Paris season over two days, January 22 and 23, at the Ritz Hotel.
 
“I hope people will leave with a glimmer of hope that glamour is alive and well,” said Getty who flew into Paris Monday for several meet and greets with local media.

“We’ve tried different markets. But Paris just feels right in terms of the caliber of what I design; the market I want to design for and the glamour of the city,” said Getty, dressed in Giuseppe Zanotti boots, Tom Ford tuxedo pants and felt jerkin and a T-Shirt off Ebay.
 
Though still only 24, Getty has already dressed an Oscar nominee: Rachel McAdams wore his slinky green satin halterneck when nominated for Spotlight in 2016, and he has also dressed Miley Cyrus, Cher, Kate Hudson, Jennifer Lopez, Zendaya and various Kardashians. His style is grand modern glam with a twist.
 
Getty first got the idea of being a designer aged three, when he began putting paper napkins onto forks in restaurants, and turning his mum’s Roger Vivier shoe bags into mini-dresses on Barbies. Mum being Ariadne Getty, a famed fashion plate in her own right and granddaughter of Standard Oil heir J. Paul Getty, for several decades the richest man in the world.
 
As a child, August spent eight years in England, living in Wormsley Park, a giant mansion in Buckinghamshire before moving back to LA. Aged 18, he dropped out of New Roads High School in Santa Monica.
 
Today, his atelier of some 20 people is based in Culver City. He commutes there daily in a chauffeur-driven Escalade or Jeep from his apartment tower home in Century City. To August, his team is like the latest generation of LA studio artisans who dressed stars in the Golden Age of Hollywood.
 
Asked about  dressing such an impressive array of stars, he responds: “We are an LA based team. So we have great relationships with local stylists. But also because the people I dress are also my peers.  For the most part, my age. We all kind of work together… In my heart, my design heroes will always be Gianni Versace, Donatella Versace and Alexander McQueen.”
 
Getty first showed at the tender age of 19 in the Mercedes Benz season of New York. His Paris presentation will be his tenth collection. The show for his third collection, entitled Thread of Man, starred over 60 models, working with David Lachapelle in a Universal Studio back lot, and featured a fake truck accident; a topless woman at a bus stop and a gospel choir singing Oh Happy Day.
 
“It was mind-blowingly stressful, but I was fan of David and I wanted an incredible juxtaposition, between the softness of couture and its beauty mixed with his radical apocalyptic vision of celebrity.”
 
Getty is the nephew of Jean Paul Getty III, whose kidnapping in 1973 ignited huge international outcry. Last year, Ridley Scott filmed All the Money in the World, the story of his uncle’s brutal experience being kidnapped; and the intense media coverage that surrounded it. 

Asked whether that led to a life lived behind high walls and surrounded by security, Getty groans faintly and responds quietly.
 
“Our family grew up a very quiet way with each other. No reason for security because we did not lead a lifestyle that necessitated it. But I probably should have had someone in LA, since seeing a 14-year-old out at clubs is not great for a mother’s heart.”