Janine Robin and Kabbaz-Kelly's CustomShirt1:
A Story of Two Families

Janine Robin was founded in 1948 by the grandmother of the current generation of the Tiba family. Back then she made swimsuits in the basement of her Paris shop where she sold them on the floor above, a labor of love which continues today under the watchful eyes of her grandchildren. The Kabbaz-Kelly tradition of creating top quality clothing was begun by Kabbaz's great grandmother in her Paris atelier. Kabbaz' grandmother, Lucia, continued the family heritage, first in Beirut, then back in Paris where, in 1935, she designed a corset called Scandal which became the rage of the town.

Sponsored by philanthropists Sara and Gerald Murphy - models for the couple in F. Scott Fitzgeralds's Tender Is The Night, Lucia emmigrated in 1938 to Manhattan and, later, East Hampton. Her textile designs became a Park Avenue standard; her clothing and jewelry regularly in the repertoire of Bergdorf's and Lord & Taylor. Similarly, the 1960's saw Janine Robin move their workrooms to Gironde in the Southwest of France and join together with famous corseterie Le Furet, widely known as one of the world's finest. Though corsets disappeared in the '70's, the knowledge and talent gained from creating one of the most difficult garments did not.

Today as Kabbaz and Kelly continue to create exclusive designs in furnishings, accessories, and clothing - enhanced by Kelly's lifelong experience in knitting, Janine Robin uses more than a half-century of knowledge to create the world's finest swimsuits and, more recently, has renewed their forward-looking line of exquisite lingerie. Surely the Tiba, Kabbaz, and Kelly families lay claim not only to quality traditions and creative experience, but also to a unique partnership for the new Millennium.