GUESS was founded by Georges,
Armand, Paul, and Maurice Marciano, four Jewish Moroccan brothers raised in
Marseille, France. They moved to California from France in 1977 and founded the
company in 1981. Seed money to start the business came from the Nakash family,
owners of the Jordache denim empire. Their first product was a three-zipper
style of jeans they named "Marilyn" (Style # 1015). Department stores
and fashion critics were initially reluctant to carry the new 'stone washed
denim' jeans, but in December when Bloomingdale's finally agreed with Georges
to stock two dozen pairs of the new jeans as a favor to the brothers. They sold
out quickly.
They began advertising in 1982
and introduced their iconic black-and-white ads in 1985. The ads have won
numerous Clio Awards. Their fashion models have included a number of
supermodels, many of whom, such as Claudia Schiffer, Eva Herzigova, Valeria
Mazza, and Laetitia Casta, first achieved prominence via these ad campaigns.
In the 1985 Robert Zemeckis
movie, Back to the Future, Marty McFly (Michael J Fox) wore distinctive Guess
denim clothing, reportedly designed specifically for the film.
The Guess emblem with the famous
question mark in the center.
During the 1980s Guess was one of
the most popular brands of jeans. The company was one of the first companies to
create designer jeans. While the first jeans were for women, in 1983 a men's
line debuted. In 1984 Guess introduced its new line of watches known as
"Guess", "Guess Steel", and the "Guess
Collection". The watch line is still in existence today, and has been
joined by a number of other accessory sidelines. In 1984, they also introduced
a line of baby's clothes, called "Baby Guess". The line is now
incorporated with clothing for toddlers and kids called GUESS kids. (reference: Wikipedia)
 |
| reference: GOOGLE's image |
