Paul Poiret:
Poiret was born on April 20, 1879 to a cloth merchant in the poor neighborhood of Les Halles, Paris. His parents, in an
effort to rid him of his natural pride, apprenticed him to an umbrella maker. There, he collected scraps of silk left over
from the cutting of umbrella patterns, and fashioned clothes for a doll that one of his sisters had given him. While a
teenager, Poiret took his sketches to Madeleine Cheruit, a prominent dressmaker, who purchased a dozen from him. Poiret
continued to sell his drawings, eventually to major Parisian couture houses, until he was hired by Jacques Doucet in 1896.
His first design, a red cloth cape, sold 400 copies. Poiret later moved to the House of Worth, where he was responsible for
designing simple, practical dresses. The "brazen modernity of his designs," however, proved too much for Worth's
conservative clientele. When Poiret presented the Russian Princess Bariantinsky with a Confucius coat with an innovative
kimono-like cut, for instance, she exclaimed, "What a horror! When there are low fellows who run after our sledges and
annoy us, we have their heads cut off, and we put them in sacks just like that."
Poiret established his own house in 1903, and made his name with the controversial kimono coat. He designed flamboyant
window displays and threw legendary parties to draw attention to his work; his instinct for marketing and branding was
unmatched by any previous designer. In 1909, he was so famous that H. H. Asquith invited him to show his designs at 10
Downing Street. The cheapest garment at the exhibition was 30 guineas, double the annual salary of a scullery maid.
Poiret's house expanded to encompass furniture, decor, and fragrance in addition to clothing. In 1911, he established the
company Parfums de Rosine, named for his eldest daughter. Poiret's name was never linked to the company, but it was
effectively the first fragrance launched by a designer. He launched the Ecole Martine, named for his second daughter, to
provide artistically inclined, working-class girls with trade skills and income.
During World War I, Poiret left his fashion house to serve the military by streamlining uniform production. When Poiret
returned after being discharged in 1919, the house was on the brink of bankruptcy. New designers like Chanel were
producing simple, sleek clothes that relied on excellent workmanship. In comparison, Poiret's elaborate designs seemed
dowdy and poorly manufactured. (Though Poiret's designs were ground- breaking, his construction was not. . .he aimed
only for his dresses to "read beautifully from afar." Poiret was suddenly out of fashion, in debt, and lacking support from
his business partners, and he soon left his fashion house. In 1929, the house itself was closed, and its leftover clothes
were sold by the kilogram as rags. When Poiret died in 1944, his genius had been forgotten.
Though perhaps best known for freeing women from corsets and for his startling inventions including hobble skirts,
"harem" pantaloons, and "lampshade" tunics, Poiret's major contribution to fashion was his development of an approach to
dressmaking centered on draping, a radical departure from the tailoring and pattern-making of the past. Poiret was
influenced by antique and regional dress, and favored clothing cut along straight lines and constructed of rectangles.[4]
The structural simplicity of his clothing represented a "pivotal moment in the emergence of modernism" generally, and
"effectively established the paradigm of modern fashion, irrevocably changing the direction of costume history.
Poiret was born on April 20, 1879 to a cloth merchant in the poor neighborhood of Les Halles, Paris. His parents, in an
effort to rid him of his natural pride, apprenticed him to an umbrella maker. There, he collected scraps of silk left over
from the cutting of umbrella patterns, and fashioned clothes for a doll that one of his sisters had given him. While a
teenager, Poiret took his sketches to Madeleine Cheruit, a prominent dressmaker, who purchased a dozen from him. Poiret
continued to sell his drawings, eventually to major Parisian couture houses, until he was hired by Jacques Doucet in 1896.
His first design, a red cloth cape, sold 400 copies. Poiret later moved to the House of Worth, where he was responsible for
designing simple, practical dresses. The "brazen modernity of his designs," however, proved too much for Worth's
conservative clientele. When Poiret presented the Russian Princess Bariantinsky with a Confucius coat with an innovative
kimono-like cut, for instance, she exclaimed, "What a horror! When there are low fellows who run after our sledges and
annoy us, we have their heads cut off, and we put them in sacks just like that."
Poiret established his own house in 1903, and made his name with the controversial kimono coat. He designed flamboyant
window displays and threw legendary parties to draw attention to his work; his instinct for marketing and branding was
unmatched by any previous designer. In 1909, he was so famous that H. H. Asquith invited him to show his designs at 10
Downing Street. The cheapest garment at the exhibition was 30 guineas, double the annual salary of a scullery maid.
Poiret's house expanded to encompass furniture, decor, and fragrance in addition to clothing. In 1911, he established the
company Parfums de Rosine, named for his eldest daughter. Poiret's name was never linked to the company, but it was
effectively the first fragrance launched by a designer. He launched the Ecole Martine, named for his second daughter, to
provide artistically inclined, working-class girls with trade skills and income.
During World War I, Poiret left his fashion house to serve the military by streamlining uniform production. When Poiret
returned after being discharged in 1919, the house was on the brink of bankruptcy. New designers like Chanel were
producing simple, sleek clothes that relied on excellent workmanship. In comparison, Poiret's elaborate designs seemed
dowdy and poorly manufactured. (Though Poiret's designs were ground- breaking, his construction was not. . .he aimed
only for his dresses to "read beautifully from afar." Poiret was suddenly out of fashion, in debt, and lacking support from
his business partners, and he soon left his fashion house. In 1929, the house itself was closed, and its leftover clothes
were sold by the kilogram as rags. When Poiret died in 1944, his genius had been forgotten.
Though perhaps best known for freeing women from corsets and for his startling inventions including hobble skirts,
"harem" pantaloons, and "lampshade" tunics, Poiret's major contribution to fashion was his development of an approach to
dressmaking centered on draping, a radical departure from the tailoring and pattern-making of the past. Poiret was
influenced by antique and regional dress, and favored clothing cut along straight lines and constructed of rectangles.[4]
The structural simplicity of his clothing represented a "pivotal moment in the emergence of modernism" generally, and
"effectively established the paradigm of modern fashion, irrevocably changing the direction of costume history.
Painting by Wanda
Pépin. Prints now available
Pépin. Prints now available
1910
1910
1910
1912
1912
1912
1913
1914
1914
1914
1918
1919 Denise Poiret (wife)
wearing Poiret's design
wearing Poiret's design
| 1920 |
1923
1923
1925
1925
1914
| ©2007 Wanda Pépin. All Rights Reserved. |
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