Georges de Paris, tailor to US presidents, dead at 81
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Georges de Paris, a French tailor who came to America and ended up broke and homeless before resurrecting his career, making suits for US presidents from Lyndon Johnson to Barack Obama, died Sunday at the age of 81.
De Paris died in a hospice in Arlington, Virginia near Washington after a long illness, a friend of his, Dimasito Pereira, told AFP.
Another friend of the tailor, Alain Trampoglieri, told AFP in France that de Paris had been diagnosed with a brain tumor two years ago.
But de Paris continued working at his Washington shop up until two months ago, said Pereira.
In his heyday, de Paris worked for Ronald Reagan, among others, who shared with de Paris some of his trademark jelly beans, and with Johnson, who introduced the suit maker to his wife and daughters.
Reagan talked a lot and knew good fabric, de Paris once told AFP.
De Paris, a native of Marseille in southern France, was a diminutive man with a striking, unruly mane of thick, white hair. He had a tailor shop just a few blocks from the White House, and always dressed impeccably.
He learned his trade in France and came to the United States in the late 1950s at the age of 27 with his life savings of $4,000.
In a photograph taken at the White House last year, de Paris is seen with his arm around a smiling Obama and a tape measure draped around his shoulders.
De Paris told AFP he also made suits for big name Frenchmen such as former president Nicolas Sarkosy and Dominique Strauss-Kahn while he was head of the International Monetary Fund.
