by Ellen Easton ©2007 All Rights Reserved
Metropolitan Museum’s Costume Institute
May 09 - August 05, 2007
1000 Fifth Avenue, NYC, NY
www.metmuseum.org
Curator’s Harold Koda and Andrew Bolton
Paul Poiret, known as the King of Fashion, was clearly a man ahead of his time. Born in Paris in 1879, at the age of 17 his father, a fabric merchant sends Poiret to work for an umbrella manufacturer. Between 1898 and 1903, having apprenticed for the great houses of Cheruit, Doucet and Worth, with financing from his mother, Poiret establishes his own couture house on the rue Auber.
Denise Boulet, the daughter of a wood manufacturer, not only marries Poiret in 1905, but becomes his muse. Setting the stage for things to come, during the height of the La Belle Époque period, Denise wears the ground breaking corsetless dress, “Lola Montes,” to their daughter’s 1906 baptism.
By 1911, Poiret has introduced the “hobble” skirt, the “jupe- culotte”, opened a decorative arts company, creates his own perfume, collaborates with the acclaimed artist Raoul Dufy to design fabrics and tours European capitals with fashion models to showcase his newest creations.
Culminating the year by hosting the now famous, “Thousand and Second Night,” party in his garden featuring Persian dress costume, with Denise wearing a “lampshade” tunic , “harem” trousers and turban.
New York City’s Plaza hotel holds Poiret’s first American private showing in 1913. However with the advent of World War I, the couture house is closed, as Poiret is assigned to the 119th infantry regiment as a tailor.
Returning to business in 1919, ever the trend setter, Poiret opens branches in Cannes, Deauville, Biarritz and Baule. A London office soon follows.
Short hair and short dresses that minimize the chest and hips become the fashion, “a la Garconne,” in 1922. Despite the visionary eye of his past, Poiret rejects this look made famous by Jean Patou and Coco Channel and instead shows dresses inspired by 1875 to 1890 to disastrous results. Key staff members defect to a rival house. Within two years, the house of Paul Poiret is sold to Georges Aubert.
Acknowledging financial troubles, having sold his business and painting collection including works by Derain, Dufy, Modigliani, Picasso and Utrillio he is divorced from Denise.
After a brief stint designing for Printemps in Paris, plagued by Parkinson’s disease Poiret’s remaining years were spent being looked after by friends and painting canvases. In 1944, an exhibition organized by friends, Poiret’s painting are shown. Paul Poiret passes away on April 28, 1944, leaving an indelible legacy in the world of fashion.
Harold Koda, Curator in charge of the Metropolitan Museum’s Costume Institute states “The Historic significance and influence of Poiret’s work is breathtaking, and felt in fashion to the present day. Poiret pioneered a seductive modernity based on women’s self-confident femininity and envisioned a ‘total lifestyle’ that extended from how she dressed and what fragrance she wore to how she decorated her home-an approach reflected in the strategies of many of today’s fashion houses.”
Presented in a series of tableaux, the 50 ensembles on view, the core being from the 2005 Poiret estate auction, highlight the multiple facets of Poiret’s astonishing inventiveness.
For the artist and fashion lover alike, this is an exhibition not to be missed.
Read a related review from Elizabeth Gariti
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