Jay Jaxon

Born Eugene Jackson, Jaxon trained under Yves Saint Laurent and then Marc Bohan at Christian Dior before taking charge of the Paris house Jean-Louis Scherrer. Research by fashion scholar Rachel Fenderson identifies him as the first American to lead a Paris haute couture house. The photograph here shows coats from his Spring/Summer 1970 collection for Scherrer, shot on a Paris street. After his death in 2006 that achievement was largely ignored, until a 2019 exhibition at the Queens Public Library revived it. He is the clearest case on this list of a first that history simply forgot to record.