French fashion designer Christian Lacroix studied at the University of Montpellier and at the at the École du Louvre. He has been a major force in the international fashion world since opening his own haute couture house in 1975.

He has also frequently designed costumes for major opera companies throughout Europe. He has designed costumes for productions of Otello (Salzburg Festival, Dresden Semperoper), Aida (Cologne Opera), La Fanciulla del West and Madama Butterfly (Hamburg Opera), Pelléas et Mélisande (Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Stadttheater Klagenfurt, Opéra de Dijon), Le Postillon de Lonjumeau and Fortunio (Opéra Comique, Paris), Adriana Lecouvreur (Frankfurt Opera), and Un Ballo in Maschera (Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona)