In the past, the massive Met Gala has honored the designs of Chanel, the contributions of British fashion, and (our favorite) an ode to rock ‘n roll.
This year’s exhibit, and subsequent fete, celebrates something obscure by comparison: The work of Poiret, a French designer whose sleekly gamine designs inspired so much jealousy in rivals that Coco Chanel was known to spit at the mention of his name.
Cate Blanchett may be this year’s honorary chair, but studying her style won’t get you closer to the museum’s subject matter. Instead, we suggest these paper dolls of Poiret’s work.
Besides giving you a sneak peek of the Met exhibit (albeit in cartoon form), the dolls will help you role play the actual event before you go. Just pretend the taller one is Anna and practice, practice, practice…
posted by Severine
Apr 12, 2007 9:32AM
The Jacques Doucet dress isn't really representative of Poiret's signature style, a loose tunic over pantaloons, with a turban (v. Prada 07!). There is an account of what sounds like an amazing party he threw in 1911: "On June 24, 1911, Poiret staged a party entitled "The Thousand and Second Night" for three hundred guests. A fantasy based on Dr. Joseph Charles Mardrus's sixteen-volume The Thousand and One Nights (a new translation of The Arabian Nights, published between 1899 and 1904, which had revitalized Orientalism in France), the party featured Poiret dressed as a sultan in a lavish setting that included his wife in a golden cage, slaves, parrots, jeweled turbans, scimitars, fireworks, and other trappings of exoticized "otherness." "Oriental" costumes worn by the women guests included the so-called jupe-culotte, or divided skirt, and harem trousers that had been the centerpiece of Poiret's spring 1911 collection. Despite Poiret's disclaimers, the collection surely owed something to [Leon] Bakst's designs for the Ballets Russes production of Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade."