LIFE Magazine legend - Mark Shaw goes to the Paris of 1953 to capture the fantastic creations of fashion gods: Givenchy, Dior, Fath, Schiaparelli, Desses and Griffe

In the sun room of Dior's house in Passy, Sophie Malgat, a model turned fashion editor, wears the newest of Dior;s "big" ball growns. The gigantic skirt has 12 layers, is separate from bodice because of its weight. The house, bought by Dior last year, was built early in the century as a gift for an actress in the Comedie Francaise. It has been redone in early 1900 style with contemporary details like the leather upholstery on the 12-foot curving sofa and Louis XVI chair. Curtains are draped a l'Italienne, a fashion of 50 years ago. Chinese embroidery conceals push-button door.

Most imposing couturier home is Jacques Fath's 40-room chateau of Corbeville, 36 miles from Paris, which was built in 16th Century by Charles IX's banker. Royal hunting parties rollicked there in its early heyday and 200 years later Andre Lenotre, landscape architect for Versailles and Tuileries, laid out its gardens and 145-acre park. But Corbeville slowly fell apart, and when Fath bought it there were cracks in walls and rubbish in the moat. Fath restored it in 18th Century french style, has also installed seven 20th Century bathrooms and a swimming pool.

Fath's ball gowns lean to pale polished satin, with shoulders covered and the skirt's fullness drawn to the back in a modified bustle. On the marble checkboard floor of the foyer at Corbeville, Irish beauty Anne Gunning wears a white satin gown with velvet ribbon outlining bosom. Commode behind her once belonged to Louis XIV, bears his coat of arms. Next, Fath's even simpler design adorned only by darker gloves and colored earrings, is worn by Jane Sprague, an American who has lived abroad for six years. Original paneling in salon is 16th Century and the room is decorated in a favorite Fath color, blue.

In Balmain's Paris apartment, in front of wall covered with 19th Century wallpaper, the Marquise de Levis-Mirepoix wears one of the designs which have made his clothes popular among stylish young French women - a traditional tulle and lace dress. Behind her are 19th Century bronze statues Balmain converted into lamps for larger of his two rooms. Gros point rug was once in apartment of King of Italy.

Schiaparelli's cozily cluttered living room in her home near the Champs Elysees harbors a Bessarabian carpet from a Russian church, a contemporary Italian painting (on the table) and a Dali sand scene (on wall). On an elongated causeuse, her best-known model, Ghislaine de Boisson, wears Schiaparelli's characteristic "shocking" pink in an ankle-length dress and designer's heavy shoulder-slung gold necklace.

Jean Desses two-floor apartment is above his business in a house worth a half million dollars once occupied by Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel. Desses draped chiffon is worn with heweled collar by Vicky Reynaud, who has just finished high school and begun modeling. She is in a dahlia-bedecked dining room containing 18th Century Manila leather screen and collection of English silver.

Still in the throes of being decorated, Jacques Griffe's two-room apartment will show off 18th Century antiques. Amid temporary debris, Belgian Gigi de Terwalngne wears his empire-waisted chiffon, one of Paris' most popular dresses. Leopard skin will eventually become a rug in the entrance hall.