Orientalism of "Directoire Dress" by Paul Poiret, relived on today's Runway

Down the Runway of The House of Dior yesterday, we noticed for the first time (well, almost, if one chooses to overlook his 2004 F/W Pret-A-Porter) John had his fashion genius reverted toward someone other than Mr. Christian Dior.


Looks familiar? That is because John Galliano found an easy compromise with a collection lightly based on the orientalism of Paul Poiret, an artistic Parisian craze dating back almost a century.

Paul Poiret trained at the House of Worth and Doucet and set up on his own in 1903. He made straight tube like sheath dresses in 1908. The styles were known as Directoire as they were similar to fashions of the early 1800s. The columnar style he introduced meant that women had to abandon their S-bend corsets and wear a longer straighter corset that almost reached the knees to achieve his early look. Later he encouraged women to free themselves from corsetry and adopt the bra.

Poiret was very sensitive to the mood of society and to trends among painters and designers. He was very influenced by Orientalism in Leon Bakst's Ballets Russes costume designs.

Over the years Poiret worked with several artists who drew fashion drawings and textile print designs for him. The artists portraying Orientalism included Paul Iribe (1908), Georges Lepape, Raoul Dufy and Erté. Poiret's influence on fashion illustration and fashion presentation was enormous and attractive prints by these artists are still used in interiors to set a mood.