Christian Audigier, Ed Hardy & Von Dutch Designer, Dead at 57

Christian Audigier at one of his stores. Photo: Getty Images

Christian Audigier, the French designer best known for building up the Ed Hardy brand, has sadly died at the age of 57 following a battle with cancer.

In April, he revealed that he had been battling a form of cancer known as MDS (Myelodysplastic Syndrome). Diagnosed in January, Audigier was said to be “doing much better” following a bone marrow transplant, but he was reportedly admitted to Cedars-Sinai soon thereafter and slipped into a coma. His longtime publicist Michele Elyzabeth told LATF USA: “I just heard the news and I am truly devastated. Christian was an incredibly brilliant man. He will be missed.” He is survived by his daughter and two sons.

Kim Kardashian pre-Keeping Up With the Kardashians was a big fan of Von Dutch. Photo: @kimkardashian-lifestyle/Twitter

Audigier dropped out of school at 14 to toil at the Jean Machine shop in the South of France. He went onto design his own line on the side that was inspired by the Rolling Stones, which was subsequently discovered by a fashion executive, who is credited for helping the budding designer’s precipitous rise.

In his twenties, Audigier relocated to New York and worked with brands including Guess, Levis, Diesel, American Outfitters, Fiourucii, Bisou Bisou and XOXO. But he really made a name for himself when he partnered with Kenneth Howard, the owner of Von Dutch, popularizing the trucker hats seen on the heads of Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears, Ashton Kutcher, Jay Z and more.

It could be said that Audigier was one of the first designers to put celebrities who used the paparazzi, and thus, media outlets like People and Us Weekly, to catapult his brand, making the photographed items the ones to covet.

Jon Gosselin in n Ed Hardy T-shirt. Photo: TLC

Post Von Dutch domination, Audigier went on to popularize Ed Hardy, the tattoo lifestyle clothing brand loved by Jon Gosselin of Jon and Kate Plus Eight, in 2004. Audigier came across the moto-brand and licensed it from the man Ed Hardy, turning it into Ed Hardy by Christian Audigier. The line, like Von Dutch before it, became popular almost overnight thanks to innovative marketing and relationships with Macy’s and Hot Topic.

GQ called him “arguably the most successful independent clothing designer of the past decade,” in a profile written in 2009. But the glossy adds that his popularity was more mainstream as opposed to being accepted within the exclusive fashion industry. Just because Paris Hilton, her then assistant Kim Kardashian, and sidekick Nicole Richie wore denim embellished with rhinestones in shapes of bulldogs, skulls, angel wings, or roses—and even though the company earned millions of dollars per year—apparently didn’t mean New York Fashion Week had to embrace the designer and allow him a runway show. In fact, the magazine called him “an inconvenient truth.” Still, his empire’s said to be worth around $250 million.

Audigier had a long list of celebrity friends  and collaborated with many of them. In addition to a children’s clothing line he was supposedly creating with Gosselin, the fashion entrepreneur also created a collection with Madonna and designed and an outfit for Michael Jackson’s comeback tour.

Audigier is survived by his three children—a daughter and two sons.