He certainly lived up to this name during the early twentieth century but eventually Chanel overtook him in popularity.
Poiret’s Early Life
Poiret was born in 1879 in Les Halles, Paris. He grew up in the cloth trade, surrounded by fabrics and textiles, and he wanted to be a designer from an early age. His parent’s material business was called ‘At the Sign of Good Hope’.
His father said that he wanted to break the ambitious boy’s pride so he got him a job as a delivery boy for a firm of umbrella makers. After carrying umbrellas all day Poiret sketched and made beautiful designs from the scraps of silk he found at the company.
Poiret showed his sketches to Jacques Doucet, the prestigious designer who owned a business at the rue de la Paix in Paris. These impressed Doucet so he hired the young man as his assistant. Poiret eventually became head of the tailoring department here. He became famous by designing a black mantle with large white and mauve irises for the great French actress, Rejane, to wear in the play, Zaza.
After attaining experience in design at Doucet Poiret went to work for Worth, who designed couture for royalty and celebrities.
Poiret Opens His Own Business
In 1903 Poiret established his own business. His client, Rejane, followed him.
He married Denise Boulet, who became his muse and model, and began selling his revolutionary designs. His Directoire line came out in 1906 to great astonishment, consisting of high-waisted, Regency-style dresses. Poiret disliked the padded busts and tiny waists of the Edwardian ‘hour-glass’ look. His designs freed women from wearing whalebone corsets which often made them faint as well as restricting their movements.
Later in his career he was inspired by the exoticism of the Ballets Russes and introduced fashions from Russia and oriental styles into his designs. His clients wore turbans, kaftans, free-flowing Greek styles, and harem pants – styles from all over the world. He introduced bright colours instead of insipid Edwardian pastels and rich materials, such as brocades and velvets, rather than silk and muslin.
Poiret’s Perfume Line
Poiret named his Parfums de Rosine after his eldest daughter. Regarded as the first designer to launch his own perfume, Poiret also collaborated with artists, including Erte, Iribe, Lapape and Dufy to advertise and package his perfumes. This was a revolutionary form of advertising in its day.
Poiret’s Ateliers de Martine
Poiret also established a school for talented working-class girls. Here they studied interior and fabric design and made textiles and furnishings. He was the first to combine interior design with dress design.
Innovative Design of Paul Poiret
Poiret introduced the brassiere and suspender belts to hold up stockings. He freed women from their corsets, although he introduced the restricting but very elegant hobble skirt. (He famously said that: “I freed the waist, but shackled the legs.”) He developed new methods of advertising and made many other design innovations. He was honored a few years ago at a special exhibition at the Met
Such designers as Galliano with his exotic, avant-garde styles, and Christian Dior, have been influenced by Poiret.
After the Great War, Poiret’s designs eventually went out of fashion. Chanel designed smart, functional clothes which women preferred. Legend has it that Chanel, dressed in black, met Poiret. He asked: “Madame, for whom do you mourn?”
She answered: “Why monsieur, I mourn for you!”
Sources
- Baudot, Francois, Poiret, Assouline, New York, 2006.
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