Paul Poiret: How Fashion’s Maverick Turned Couture Into Art in Paris
Ara Ohanian | Faz | 31st May 2025
Poiret opened his fashion house in 1903. Soon he was famous for his “streamlined and unstructured” fashions that liberated women from the corset. These clothes, often colourful and “draped rather than tailored”, celebrated natural form and were a “sartorial revolution”. Extravagant ambitions eventually forced the sale of his fashion house in 1929. Insisting on the “unity” of art and fashion, Poiret also influenced home décor and pioneered the use of spectacular events for brand marketing.