Today Peter Knapp is regarded as the art director and fashion photographer who popularised Parisian prêt-à-porter in the 1960s.
Born in Bäretswil, near Zurich, in 1931, he first attended the Zurich School of Applied Arts before becoming one of the most influential figures in the international fashion world during the 1960s and 70s.
From 1959 to 1966 – and then again from 1974 to 1977 – Knapp was the art director of French Elle, which became a leading medium for emancipation under editor-in-chief Hélène Lazareff: “Prêt-à-porter instead of haute couture, miniskirts instead of corsets, functionality instead of stiff elegance, self-confident women on the streets instead of mannequins in the studio”. The modern, fresh layout created by art director Peter Knapp and the dynamic fashion photographs taken by photographer Peter Knapp conveyed this new attitude to life, making French Elle the flagship of a new lifestyle.
Following his departure from French Elle in 1966, Peter Knapp pursued a career as a freelance fashion photographer working with magazines such as Vogue, the Sunday Times Magazine, and Stern. Around this time, he started working closely with French fashion designer André Courrèges, founder and catalyst of the 1960s Space Age movement. One of the most revolutionary figures in the fashion world at the time, Courrèges was responsible for liberating women from the strict, feminine silhouettes of the 1950s by having them wear miniskirts, A-line dresses, and his infamous white ankle boots instead. André Courrèges brought the Space Age to the catwalk and into the wardrobes of women such as Catherine Deneuve and Jacqueline Kennedy.
© 2025, Birgit Filzmaier