French fashion designer and costume designer for theatre and film, and a manufacturer of women’s furs. From 1930 to his death in 1967, he ran the fashion house Jacques Heim, which closed in 1969. He was president of the Paris Chambre Syndicale de la haute couture from 1958 to 1962, a period of transition from haute couture to ready-to-wear clothing.
In June 1946, Heim relaunched his two-piece swimsuit, the Atome, which he advertised as “the world’s smallest bathing suit.” However, on 5 July 1946, Louis Réard, a French engineer, had a Paris stripper pose before reporters in an even briefer two-piece swimsuit, which Réard called the Bikini, and which he promoted as “smaller than the smallest bathing suit”. Réard’s design, unlike Heim’s, for the first time presented a female swimsuit with the navel exposed.
Under the presidency of Charles de Gaulle, he was appointed designer of the president’s wife, Yvonne de Gaulle. His most prominent clients were Sophia Loren, Queen Fabiola of Belgium, Mamie Eisenhower and actress Gloria Swanson. In 1956, Heim made the bikini an international sensation when Brigitte Bardot wore one of his designs.
Heim had a son, Philippe, and a daughter, Arianne. Jacques died in Neuilly-sur-Seine, a suburb of Paris, on 4 January 1967 at age 67. In August 1968, Philippe Heim took over Jacques Heim and all associated companies and stores, but the business was sold in 1969 to French bridalwear concern Henri Michmacher, who owned several boutiques under the name of Pronuptia.
Heim’s grandson, also named Jacques Heim, is a choreographer, director of the DIAVOLO | Architecture in Motion, a Los Angeles-based dance company.
Link to Wikipedia biography