Paul Poiret: Fashion is a Feast at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs
Now on view at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paul Poiret: Fashion is a Feast is the first major Paris exhibition devoted to a designer who reshaped the language of modern fashion. Born in 1879, Poiret began sketching for Jacques Doucet and Worth before founding his own house in 1903. Within a few short years, textiles became his weapon of revolution.
Paul Poiret and model Renée in the salons of his fashion house,1927. Thérèse Bonney (1894-1978). Bibliothèque historique de la Ville de Paris.
In 1906, Poiret famously cast off the corset, replacing stiff, structured tailoring with flowing silhouettes cut from fabrics that moved with the body. Chiffon, silk and lightweight wool were dyed in vivid shades inspired by Fauvist painting, and surfaces were enlivened with embroidery, lamé, and brocade. Poiret collaborated with artist Raoul Dufy to produce boldly patterned printed textiles that collapsed the boundaries between applied art and haute couture. He also experimented with fabric manipulation — pleating, draping, and layering — to achieve effects of volume and movement that tailoring alone could not.
Paul Poiret "La Perse" Coat, 1911. Textile designed by Raoul Dufy. Image: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
His appetite for textile innovation extended beyond fashion: the Martine workshop, founded in 1911, produced hand-embroidered furnishings, printed wallpapers, and woven fabrics that carried Poiret’s aesthetic into the home...
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Read more about Paul Poiret in THE FUTURE PERFECT: Raoul Dufy turned past grandeur into future possibilities, Selvedge Issue 126, Deco.
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Image Credits:
Lead: Georges Lepape — Les choses de Paul Poiret vues par Georges Lepape, Paris, Paul Poiret, 1911. Credit: Les Arts Décoratifs.
All other images as credited in photo captions.