Lapidus proved influential outside France, too, and was the first designer to persuade Twiggy to wear a suit and tie rather than a mini-skirt. John Lennon was another admirer and in 1969 he asked Lapidus to design a white leather bag to house a set of fourteen erotic lithographs he had made. Known as “Bag One”, the limited edition of 300 bags incorporated zips, handles and a lock, as well as Lennon’s signature in black, and was hand-stitched in Italy and later autographed by the Beatle.

Ted Lapidus also designed the white suit that John Lennon wore on the cover of The Beatles’ Abbey Road album.

Ted Lapidus was admitted to the Chambre syndicale de la haute couture parisienne in 1963. He designed the safari suit, a style of men’s suit that was popular in Australia in the 1970s. In the late 1970s the Lapidus label started to produce fashion accessories as the haute couture market declined. In 1989 Ted Lapidus’s son Olivier Lapidus took over the Lapidus label. In 2000 the Lapidus label ceased producing haute couture and is now primarily known for its fashion accessories of watches and fragrances.