Paul Poiret : la mode est une fête
Auteur(s) : Collectif
Exhibition at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, 25 June 2025 - 11 January 2026
According to Christian Dior, "Poiret came and turned everything upside down".
Paul Poiret (1879–1944), couturier and artist, was one of the greatest innovators of the early 20th century, to the point of being crowned ‘king of fashion’ by the Americans. In France, he initiated a major societal shift by freeing women from the constraints of the corset. Placing fashion within a broader aesthetic framework, he collected modern artists such as Dufy, Derain and Van Dongen, painted himself, acted in the theatre, published three autobiographies and a recipe book, and founded the Martine school. Inspired by the Wiener Werkstätte, he constantly sought to fuse all the arts into a ‘total work of art’.
Despite commercial successes, his fashion house was forced to close its doors in 1932. However, Paul Poiret left a lasting mark on the history of fashion and remains one of the greatest inspirations for contemporary designers, from Elsa Schiaparelli to Christian Lacroix and Azzedine Alaïa.
Through 550 works (clothing, accessories, fine arts and decorative arts), this exhibition catalogue offers an immersion into the designer's rich universe, from the Belle Époque to the Roaring Twenties, and reveals the extent of his creative genius and the lasting influence of his legacy.
