Fashion designer Ted Lapidus, whose career soared in the 1960s and 1970s with the unisex and safari look, died Monday at age 79 in a hospital in Cannes on the French Rivera. "He died at 2:30 pm. He had suffered for several years from leukemia and died of respiratory failure," said Rose Torrente-Mett, his sister, also a fashion designer. Lapidus will be buried on Friday at Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris. Edmond Lapidus, known as Ted, was born on June 23, 1929 in Paris. He was the son of a Russian immigrant tailor who opened his fashion house in 1958. His customers included French film stars Brigitte Bardot and Alain Delon. French president Nicolas Sarkozy paid homage to Lapidus as "the poet of high fashion" and extended his condolences to Olivier Lapidus, the designer's son who continues his father's work.

A fashion model displaying a creation by fashion designer Ted Lapidus in 1975.