Culture & Heritage

Pierre BALMAIN, great French fashion designer

18 May 1914 - 29 June 1982

Born on 18 May 1914 in Saint-Jean-De-Maurienne (Savoie), Pierre Balmain left this town at the age of 11 to study in Chambery and then in Paris in order to become an architect, as his mother wished.

In 1945, Pierre Balmain opened his own boutique on Rue François 1er. He dressed the stars of the entertainment industry: Germaine Montero, Marlène Dietrich, Michèle Morgan, Katherine Hepburn, Brigitte Bardot, Sophia Loren, Dalida... and he was called upon to create the outfits for royal weddings.

When he died, his ashes were scattered in the Combe de la Balme, in the Maurienne, at the foot of the Saint Sorlin d’Arves glacier.

Evelyne DOMPNIER

Old architecture

Old housing :

• The walls of the old houses were very thick, consisting of two pyramidal dry-stone walls separated by a layer of earth serving as thermal insulation.
• At the base they were 1.10 to 1.20 metres thick, at the top 0.70 metres. The very heavy framework rested on the walls.
• In the past, all the roofs were thatched. The hamlets were destroyed by fire on numerous occasions. Slate and then galvanised sheet metal replaced the thatched roofs.
• The roof with its wide canopy protected the balconies which housed the pile of wood reserves used for meal preparation, heating being assured by animal heat.