Goma’s Patou years were his most successful. His creations were worn by celebrities like Rose Kennedy, Princess Ashraf Pahlavi and the empress of Iran, Farah

After launching a new label called MG, Goma became popular in Japan, where he designed bridal wear, eyewear and luggage collections for the Isetan

After a stint in charge of the ready-to-wear collections at CarvenBalenciaga
 
It was during Goma’s Balenciaga period that 1980s French fashion chronicler Guy Monréal paid tribute to him in L’Officiel, praising Goma for “having invented a new kind of young woman, at once dynamic and spiritual. With his spinning-top skirts and cancan-style petticoats, his low-cut necklines and corkscrew frills, he honoured the great Cristobal.”
 
Alexandre Chapellier, a close friend of Goma for a decade and the designer of the Cinabre label, who was advised by and worked closely with Goma, expressed his sincere appreciation for the late couturier: “Michel Goma may not have been as famous as Karl Lagerfeld
 
Goma was born in Moncrabeau on March 12 1932, and a museum has been dedicated to him in his native village, exhibiting over 2,000 drawings and 60 dresses designed by Goma. He was also celebrated in a retrospective book published by the Moncrabeau association, in which Goma himself talks about his life and his passion for fashion: “Not being a good student, I used to think only about drawing,” he is quoted as saying in the book. “Between the ages of six and eight, I sketched my first dresses. I hid what I was doing from my father, but my mother supported me.”
 
Many in the fashion world have paid tribute to Goma, from Rosanna Armani, Giorgio’s sister, to the Jean Patou label and Pascal MorandGallieraOlivier Saillard