In this week’s blog post, curator and Costume Society member Dolla Merrillees reviews the Paul Poiret: Fashion is a Feast exhibition, at Musée des Arts décoratifs, Paris.
“He was the Leonardo of fashion and, of course, was brilliant company, a bon vivant, loving excellent food and wine”, wrote Elsa Schiaparelli of Paul Poiret (1879-1944) in her autobiography Shocking Life (1954). Her portrait of a man for whom fashion, art and life were inseparable finds an apt echo in the title of the exhibition Paul Poiret: Fashion is a Feast, curated by Marie-Sophie Carron de la Carrière, with scenography by PAF Atelier under the artistic direction of Annette Lenz.
Having previously curated the Elsa Schiaparelli (2022) exhibition, Carron de la Carrière was struck by how little recognition Poiret had received compared with contemporaries such as Coco Chanel. With the Museum holding one of the most significant collections of Poiret’s work, much of it gifted by his wife, Denise Poiret, in the 1960s, Carron de la Carrière felt that, with this first major monograph devoted to his oeuvre, “it was time to do so.”
A central figure in early twentieth-century Parisian haute couture, Poiret is credited with laying the foundations of the modern fashion industry. Immersed in the currents of change sweeping through pre-war Europe, his significance lay not only in his groundbreaking designs but in his rejection of traditional dressmaking conventions. By draping fabric directly on the body, he redefined the relationship between garment and form, liberating the female silhouette from the structural constraints of the petticoat and corset. Two examples of these simplified, modern lines are the Joséphine evening gown from his 1907 Manifesto collection, and the 1811 gown inspired by the Directoire style.
Others shared his vision of dress reform—notably “Lucile” Lady Duff Gordon and Madeleine Vionnet among them—but it was Poiret, through his technical innovations and pioneering approach to marketing, who became most closely identified with the new, freer silhouette. As Carron de la Carrière notes, “it was the historical context—particularly the First World War—that had a profound impact on the evolution of society, especially for women. In that sense, Poiret’s work responded to the needs of his time.”
Fashion is a Feast offers an expansive overview of Poiret’s creative practice from the turn of the century to the Jazz Age, a period when society itself was being reshaped by modernity, as well as by the forces of colonial and imperial ambitions. Spanning twelve rooms, the exhibition design pays tribute to the couturier’s oeuvre through bold, colourful geometric forms that frame the displays—whether garments on mannequins, textiles laid flat, artworks, or vitrines.
Through some 500 works, including garments, accessories and fine and decorative art, the exhibition traces Poiret’s singular vision at the intersection of multiple forms of expression: fashion, architecture, the visual and performing arts, literature, interior design, cinema, perfume and gastronomy. His concept of a broader aesthetic vision
blurred the boundaries between these disciplines: “I am an artist, not a dressmaker”, he declared. As Carron de la Carrière observes, Poiret’s “multifaceted work exemplifies the synthesis of the arts that he achieved.”
Arranged both chronologically and thematically, the exhibition traces the beginnings of Poiret’s career, from his formative training at Doucet and Worth, the latter recently the subject of a comprehensive retrospective at the Petit Palais, to the establishment of his own house in 1903. Highlights include the Summer Ensemble, bodice and belted skirt, Evêque (1907) and the Long Summer Dress, Gavarni (1907). Yet for Carron de la
Carrière, Poiret’s legacy and radical vision find their most powerful expression in the Coat, Ballon (1920-25) belonging to Denise Poiret. Its lining features a print by Dagobert Peche, a member of the Wiener Werkstätte. The garment, she notes, “illustrates his conception of elegance in motion,” reflecting Poiret’s fascination with the Viennese Workshops’ innovations in interior decoration. The use of a Viennese textile for the coat’s lining, she adds, “could even be described as a form of recycling.”
The exhibition also showcases Poiret’s collaborations with artists such as Raoul Dufy, Maurice de Vlaminck and the German avant-garde photographer Germaine Krull, alongside the diverse multicultural sources that informed his creative vision. Among these, the visual language of Orientalism played a particularly significant role, providing a framework through which Poiret explored the romantic and theatrical possibilities of dress, most strikingly exemplified in the La Perse coat (1911) with textile design by Dufy, in Indian-inspired turbans and in his celebrated “lampshade” tunic and “harem” trousersfeatured at his One Thousand and Second Night (1911) party.
Carron de la Carrière describes her curatorial approach as “akin to working with a living artist … I wanted to emphasise the vitality and joyful spirit of the man himself—the dynamism of his practice as a couturier, the intensity of colour in his garments, and the presence of women: his mother, wife, sisters, fellow couturières such as Mme Chéruit and Elsa Schiaparelli, the female artists he collected, his daughters, and friends like Colette.” This focus infuses the exhibition with an unexpected intimacy, underscored by the inclusion of self-portraits, family portraits and photographs, garments designed for his children, and clothing worn by his wife—model, muse, and collaborator—as well as by Poiret himself.
Although the exhibition celebrates Poiret’s remarkable achievements, it does not fully convey his charisma, and aspects of his personal, and at times scandalous, life are notably absent. Intriguingly, the narrative appears to conclude around 1926 rather than at his death in 1944. This may well be a deliberate curatorial choice, as his fortunes declined soon after: his business ultimately closing in 1929. He never regained his position in the fashion world. Yet it leaves one wishing for a more complete account of his fall from grace—a poignant reminder of the fragility that so often shadows artistic greatness.
The accompanying catalogue expands on these later chapters, offering a fuller portrait of the man behind the myth—an artist whose legacy continues to inspire contemporary designers from Christian Dior to Comme des Garçons, Christian Lacroix and John Galliano. Works by these designers feature throughout the exhibition and in its concluding section, which explores Poiret’s enduring stylistic influence on post-war cinema and on 20 th- and 21 st -century designers, although the connections between their creations and his legacy are not always immediately apparent.
By the mid 1930s Poiret was living on charity. Schiaparelli wrote, “He died as Mozart died with not a single friend to follow his coffin. For the trouble with great creative artists is they give everything all the time and very often are left at the end with nothing for themselves.”
The exhibition is on view at Musée des Arts Décoratifs until January 2026.
For more exhibition insights, revisit Dolla's recent review of Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses during its showing in Brisbane, following it's conception at Musée des Arts Décoratifs on our blog.
