George Barbier (1882 - 1932) George Barbier was one of the great French illustrators of the early 20th century. Barbier subsequently swept to the forefront of his profession with commissions to design theater and ballet costumes, to illustrate books, and to produce haute couture fashion illustrations. For the next 20 years Barbier led a group from the Ecole des Beaux Arts who were nicknamed by Vogue "The Knights of the Bracelet"—a tribute to their fashionable and flamboyant mannerisms and style of dress. During his career Barbier also turned his hand to jewelry, glass and wallpaper design, wrote essays and many articles for the prestigious Gazette du bon ton. In the mid 1920s he worked with Erté to design sets and costumes for the Folies Bergère and in 1929 he wrote the introduction for Erté's acclaimed exhibition and achieved mainstream popularity through his regular appearances in L'Illustration magazine. Barbier died in 1932 at the very pinnacle of his success.