Paul Poiret: Fashion is a Feast
Paul Poiret Fashions, Georges Barbier, 1912
At the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, Paul Poiret: Fashion Is a Feast celebrated one of the early 20th-century fashion’s most visionary figures with an extraordinary retrospective that spanned over five decades of creative daring. More than just a display of garments and accessories, the exhibition revealed Poiret’s entire artistic universe — from sumptuous silks and embroidered textiles to archival sketches and collaborations that helped define modern couture.
Poiret’s work was deeply entwined with the broader currents of art, theatre, and dance. A devoted attendee of Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, he absorbed the company’s fusion of music, dance, design and spectacle, a sensibility that reverberates throughout the exhibition in both silhouette and spirit. I was so excited to see the gorgeous illustrations and designs of another visionary, Leon Bakst costume designer for the Ballets Russes, on display. Many years ago, when I was researching the narrative power of costume for my MFA in Textile Art and Artefact, I had the wonderful opportunity to view several costumes from the Ballets Russes at The Clothworkers’ Centre for the Study and Conservation of Textiles and Fashion with the expert guidance of Jane Pritchard, Curator of Dance for the Theatre and Performance Collections at the Victoria and Albert Museum. You can read more about that textile adventure here!
A highlight of the exhibition was its beautiful presentation of fashion illustration, a medium that Poiret championed before photography became fashion’s dominant visual language. The exhibition features beautiful works by artists who were central to shaping the visual identity of Poiret’s brand and the era itself — including Paul Iribe, whose stencilled plates captured Poiret’s bold new lines, Georges Lepape, whose expressive drawings graced leading fashion publications, and George Barbier, among others. These illustrations — vivid with color, movement and style — not only documented Poiret’s innovations but helped broadcast his couture vision across Europe.
Together, the clothes, textiles and illustrations on display told a vibrant story of a couturier who didn’t just make fashion, but crafted a visual world — theatrical, exotic and richly textured — that continues to influence designers and lovers of fashion today.
Textile Travels Paris
If you enjoy fashion & textile exhibitions as much as me, then Textile Travels Paris is the guide for you! A digital PDF designed to help you plan your trip to Paris in advance and then easily navigate your way to textile treasures when you arrive in the City of Light. The guide is 21 pages long and organised into sections; Museums & Galleries, Studios & Boutiques, Fabric Stores & Neighbourhoods, Bookstores & Libraries, Interior Fabrics & Passementerie, Flea Markets, Classes, Events & Guided Tours. It includes a custom-made Google Map with all the wonderful listings pinned and colour-coded, making it easier to visualise the city and the distances between the places you want to visit. With 50 listings to choose from, each one includes a description of the delightful textile treasures, the website, street address and an individual link to Google Maps. Woven through the guide, there are links to Haptic and Hue podcasts that unravel fascinating stories of textiles, fashion and craftspeople that have made Paris the capital of luxury fashion and textiles for centuries.