SEARCH AN ARTICLE
FRANÇAIS I ENGLISH
Close
NAME
SURNAME
EMAIL
EXHIBITION
Paul Poiret

King of Fashion

■ MORE FEATURES
from the listing EXHIBITION
■ ALSO READ
EXHIBITION Iris van Herpen Sculpting the Senses
FASHION WEEK Franck Sorbier Haute Couture Summer 2014
EXHIBITION Robert Wilson Video portraits of Lady Gaga
FASHION CLOSE UP Coco Rocha Interview
EXHIBITION Hey! Modern art & pop culture
 

More than any other designer of the twentieth century, Paul Poiret (1879–1944) elevated fashion to the status of an artform. Dress history credits Poiret with freeing women from corsets and with inventing such startling creations as "hobble" skirts, "harem" pantaloons, and "lampshade" tunics, but these details have detracted from Poiret's more significant achievements. Working with fabric directly on the body, Poiret pioneered a radical approach to dressmaking that relied on the skills of draping rather than tailoring and pattern making. Looking to antique and regional dress, Poiret advocated clothing cut along straight lines and constructed of rectangles. It was an approach that effectively established the paradigm of modern fashion, irrevocably changing the direction of costume history.
Poiret's modernity, however, and its impact on modernism—that is, "stylistic" modernism in its most restricted and traditional definition, as an industrial, mechanical aesthetic—has been overlooked because of his narrative and decorative strategies. Yet his modernity, expressed through the structural simplicity of his clothing, signifies a pivotal moment in the emergence of modernism. Equally significant is his vision of the modern woman, epitomized by his wife and muse, Denise. Slim, youthful, and uncorseted, she was the prototype of la garçonne. Poiret used her slender figure as the basis for his radically simplified constructions. In 1913 he told Vogue, "My wife is the inspiration for all my creations; she is the expression of all my ideals." If Poiret was the prophet of modernism, Denise was its most compelling incarnation.

Presented in a series of tableaux, the fifty ensembles on view highlight the multiple facets of Poiret's astonishing originality—including the beauty of his draped, unstructured clothes and his fascination with the Ballets Russes and the Wiener Werkstätte. The ensembles are complemented by illustrations, furniture, and other examples of the decorative arts that explicate Poiret's expansive artistic vision. At the core of the exhibition is a grouping of stunning creations that the Metropolitan Museum acquired in a much-heralded auction of clothing from Poiret's estate in Paris in May 2005.

In addition to Poiret's design legacy, the exhibition also discusses his collaborations with such artists as Paul Iribe, George Barbier, and Georges Lepape. Poiret's designs are presented in a series of vignettes evocative of the drawings of these artists for such fashion periodicals as Art, Goût et Beauté; and La Gazette du bon ton. Two video installations in the exhibition display animations showing the radical modernity of Poiret's dress construction techniques.



MANY THANKS TO

Nancy Aronson Chilton


INFOS

The Metropolitan Museum of Art (NYC) : May 9th - August 5th 2007

1000 Fifth Avenue, à l'angle de 82nd Street

New York, New York 10028-0198

Phone : 212-535-7710

Poiret: King of Fashion " is organized by Harold Koda, Curator in Charge, and Andrew Bolton, Curator, both of the Metropolitan Museum’s Costume institute. Additionnal support is given by Jean-Hugue de Chatillon, creative consultant for the exhibition. Animations are created by Softlab. Mannequin adaptations are by Beyond Design.



www.metmuseum.org
www.metmuseum.org/visitor/vi_index_french.htm