Poiret, Paul

(1879-1944)

   Born in Paris to a cloth merchant, Poiret was educated at a Catholic lycée. He apprenticed to an umbrella maker and sold sketches to couturière Mme. Chéruit before landing a job in 1896 working for Jacques Doucet, a leading couturier at the time. His designs were quite successful and he was soon promoted. In 1900, he entered the military and a year later went to work for the famous haute couture house Worth, designing the casual line and not the glamorous evening clothes. This experience would be the inspiration for revolutionizing the way he thought women really wanted to be dressed. In 1903, Poiret opened his own couture house and, in 1906, married Denise Boulet, daughter of a textile manufacturer; she would eventually become his muse.

   Poiret is credited as being the first designer to do away with the corset and petticoat and pioneered the move away from the hourglass silhouette, in favor of the highwaisted column. Poiret was also the first to bring the art and fashion worlds together, often in collaboration with prominent artists of his time, including Georges Barbier, Raoul Duffy, Erté, Paul Iribe, and Georges Lepage. Together, they created inventive fashion albums depicting Poiret's collections such as Les Robes de Paul Poiret, Les Choses de Paul Poiret, and other collaborations.

   His famous jupe-culottes (tunic over harem pants) paved the way for it to be socially acceptable for women to wear trousers. Another first from Poiret was his perfume Rosine, launched in 1911 and named after his daughter. Designers such as Coco Chanel, the Cal-lot Sisters, and Jean Patou later followed suit. Also in 1911, Poiret opened a school in Paris called Martine, dedicated to the decorative arts. In 1912, he opened a Martine store where student work was sold, such as wallpaper, textiles, rugs, and china. Just as his contemporaries had their own signature flower (Dior had the lily-of-the-valley, and Chanel had the camellia), Poiret had Paul Iribe design his signature rose label. During the war, Poiret worked as a military tailor and relaunched his business in 1919 when the war ended. He continued up until 1929, but then sold the business and lost the rights to the name in the process. In 1931, he made an unsuccessful comeback in the couture, but closed in 1932 to write an autobiography, King of Fashion.