Franciscus Petrus Adrianus "Frank" Govers (6 March 1932 – 14 January 1997) was a Dutch fashion designer.
Partner Uwe Murau
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Amsterdam Begraafplaats Zorgvlied
Amsterdam, Amsterdam Municipality, Noord-Holland, Netherlands
Franciscus Petrus Adrianus "Frank" Govers (6 March 1932 – 14 January 1997) was a Dutch fashion designer.
Govers was born in Tiel, where his parents ran a shoe business. After visiting a fashion show in Wassenaar by the French couturier Jacques Fath, Govers knew he wanted to become a fashion designer. [1] Initially, Govers worked as a window dresser in Eindhoven and 's-Hertogenbosch from 1949 to 1956, interrupted by his military service. From 1956 he worked as a window dresser in Amsterdam. In 1959 he opened the couture house Kamphuis Govers Couture with tailor Jan Kamphuis, but this company had to close its doors in 1964 due to debts. In the second half of the 1960s, Govers was inspired by the hippies who had their own fashion with clothes from India, jackets from Afghanistan, shawls with fringes and tassels, and ethnic jewelry.
In 1966, Frank met 22-year-old Uwe Murau, a goldsmith from Cologne, with whom he began a relationship. After Frank asked Uwe's parents for his hand, they went to live and work in the Valeriusstraat. Apollonia van Ravesteijn, together with several other mannequins, showed the first winter collection. Willy Dobbe, Liesbeth List and Tante Leen were among the first customers. Uwe got a job at Goldstoff, for which he made the most ingenious settings for diamonds at the Diamond Exchange. Frank and Uwe moved to the Westeinde, then to the Weteringschans. Mrs. W., a customer, and Govers then started a business together: Boutique Frank Govers on the Van Baerlestraat, but it was not long before bankruptcy came, after which the house on the Weteringschans had to be sold to repay W's investment. Uwe never recovered from the spiritual wound, the sale of their beloved home. Their next place was on the Keizersgracht near the Leidsestraat, which Uwe considered 'a kuthuis'. He sulked about the friends who had abandoned him, now that booze and entourage were no longer available. The sensitive and erratic boy, sometimes unfaithful, but very attentive, spent a lot of money.
In 1974 Govers started again with couture, characterized by exuberant colors, excessive use of fabric and a lot of embroidery. Through licensing agreements with a perfume factory and with women's and men's clothing manufacturers, his couture house had a good financial basis. Govers, in turn, was an example for the designers who perfectly represented the bohemian chic of the 1970s in ingenious designs. In the 1980s, Govers was inspired by Parisian fashion in which everything was big and wide at that time. Govers applied this in clothing he designed for stage artists. Violinist Emmy Verhey never went on stage without his clothes. In 1995 he retired as a couturier in the Amsterdam Beurs van Berlage with a final fashion show ("The Power of Style"). At the end of this evening he received a royal decoration pinned by Mayor Patijn of Amsterdam. In 1995 he also presented his book My Life in Fashion. [2] In an interview from the time, Govers said of himself: "I pretend to make haute couture and not ready-to-wear. I don't have to show my dresses with a lot of guns, because I have a loyal clientele that appreciates my talent."
In March 1992, just before a show in Moscow, Uwe was fatally struck by a sudden aortic hemorrhage. He was laid down in a white box and he was given his favorite clothes, including the croco belt with the silver buckle he made himself.
Frank Govers died on 14 January 1997 in Amsterdam. He lies in the grave of Uwe Murau (24 January 1944 – 17 March 1992). His youngest sister Ida (Iet) Petronella Hendrika Maria Govers (1 May 1943 – 17 July 2008) is buried with her brother and his boyfriend.
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