Paul Poiret, the Courtier on display in Paris

THEn America crowned him The King of Fashion. In Paris he became The Magnifiquetribute to Solimano the magnificent. But above all Paul Poiret freed the woman from the corsethe invented the modern fashion shows and even the fashion shows brought to the largest capitals in the world.

If today we all know perfumes created by Note Maison in fashion it was thanks to him, who first created his fragrance. There are also many designers who have drawn inspiration from his geniusas we will find out in Paul Poiret. Fashion is a feastmore important monograph dedicated to him by Musée des arts décoratifs in Paris (from 25 June to 11 January 2026).

For many, Paul Poiret left afootprint in fashion comparable to what Picasso had in painting (not surprisingly, he was a friend and patron). Son of a merchant of fabric, born in Paris in 1879, he grew between fabrics and visions of actresses dear to a passionate grandmother of theater. In 1896 he began to work with the Famous Couturier Jacques Doucet That, as a great art collector, after some time he found the drawings of Poiret too eccentric, preferring those of another young man intended for celebrity: Madeleine Vionnet.

Destiny will bring Paul to the Charles Frederick Worth Maison, stylist of the royal houses as well as Founder of the Haute Couture. When he called him in conversation, his son Gaston was clear: «We are a luxury restaurant that only serves truffles. But we need someone who knows how to cook excellent french fries ». From good innovatorin that employment relationship full of contrasts, Poiret shaped his greatest classic inspirations: «Are I crazy if I try to put art in my clothes? If I say that Couture is art? “ will say later.

Paul Poiret, between love and splendor

In 1903, too creative to submit to the diktat of others, He inaugurated his first boutique at just 24 years old. To shine on the Parisian scene, A muse was indispensable: He found her in the future wife Denise, daughter of a supplier of his parents. To enhance its slender body He raised the life point under the breast, creating the first soft, fluid silhouette. The clothes designed for her embodied an ideal of beauty that will lead to First fashion revolution of the 1900s: the abandonment of the body shaped by the corset.

Feminist ideals and medical debates contrasted the use of that “cage”. Poiret anticipated the times. His creations They were inspired by the elegance of the Greek statues and the empire style with light tunics: introduced the sheaths, even inventing the bra promoting the use of the bra. Traveling with his wife between Russia, Europe and East matured an idea of ​​style in which to combine couture and decorative arts. In 1909 he introduced long clothes to which to superimpose above from the “chandelier” line, inventing a tightened silhouette on the knee: The forerunner of the sheath skirt.

To promote them, he made use of designers in vogue such as Paul Iribe and Georges Lepape. They were not their illustrations, as much as the use they didby sending album customers of his collections with innovative marketing. Chromatic twists combined red and purple, green and orange with unknown exoticism, inepless as Les parfums de rosine: perfume company dedicated to a daughter who launched in 1911 by shipping to customers perfumed postcardsto then also propose soaps, powders, creams and eyeshadows.

But not only. With the École Martine inaugurated one Experimental art school for girls of the working classpromoting expressive freedom without placing aesthetic conditioning.

Crossed destinies

His stylistic figure? The eastern taste. And so at the Victoria & Albert Museum he discovered Indian culture. Intrigued, he called a Parisian seamstress in London, who spent days a Study ancient turban to be re -proposed in collections With whom Paul conquered Paris: Denise wore them in every color, decorated with long exotic feathers.

A malia of unknown worlds that Poiret declined In its greatest reception, which went down in history as “the one thousand second night”. Here, the guests who had presented themselves in non -declined clothes in Persian style should have left, or wear items he designed. Poiret, in the role of Sultan, had called musicians from Egypt, India and Türkiyebut also barman-alchemists for the preparation of cocktails with unknown tastes.

Between airy clothes and harem effect pants, close to the ankle, in 1913 his “kingdom” of style he reached the peak by responding to the change of the company: bikes, cars and weekends outside the city They required chic, comfortable and versatile clothes.

After the years of the Great War everything changed. Paris had been irritated by the magic of a new rival, Coco Chanel. What could be more different than its black sheath dress, compared to such elaborate orientalism?

After the last glories Poiret declared bankruptcy and, in 1928, divorced Denise. Among his volumes of memories, in En habillant l’époquewill pass on those years of unrepeatable elegance. But the world forgot it. In his autobiographical notes Georges Simenon will tell how that unforgettable style man found himself without a penny and without a friend, becoming a vagabond.

Today his name reads in a mosaic made, on the ground, In the iconic street shopping Avenue Montaignewhere as a true avant -garde he had first opened his boutique. To pay for his funeral was the great Storage Elsa Schiaparelli: whose stylistic career, not surprisingly, had been encouraged years earlier by the foresight of Poiret himself.

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