Paul Poiret

So, um, you would have, you know, white women working in Liberty's wearing kimonos and sort of performing, um, a, a kind of version of an identity that was not their own.

So we sort of see this developing through the period and then of course taken up by designers like Paul Poiret, who at this, you know, in the early 20th century is elaborating Orientalist fashion, um, and in his, you know, quote, "harem," uh, pantaloons, for example, um, other examples along those lines.

So but then in the films, like The Sheik and The Son of The Sheik, uh, it's 1926 adaptation of the sequel to Hull's novel.

I was very intrigued by the role played by textiles in those films.

When the war ended, he took the first job he could get.

It was with Paul Poiret, the famous French designer.

And today, the ex-machine gunner ranks among the world's foremost stylists.

Mr. Greer's clientele has included practically every Hollywood star since the days when Clara Bow was popularizing the third person nudie, and Norma Shearer was making cowboy films.

And certainly, a lot of this stuff was still very, very expensive.

But at the turn of the 20th century, I think it's really pivotal moment where Victorian fashion kind of comes to a close, and you have a few designers, I mention a couple of them in this piece, Paul Poiret is one, Jeanne Paquin is another.

Around the same time period, both of these designers were creating outfits that were without corsets.

Mm-hmm.

So I've always been fascinated, and behind me you will see all the books on fashion and what makes an iconic brand, what creates longevity in a business, why does a certain company last but another is forgotten.

So behind me you have the book Paul Poiret, you have Coco Chanel.

The, in fashion you will credit Coco Chanel as getting women out of the corsets, but it was actually Paul Poiret.

But he has...

Unless you are a fashion enthusiast and someone who really knows fashion, you will not necessarily know the brand Paul Poiret, but you know Coco Chanel.

So now when I, I wanted to look at, to ask the questions, why are immigrants more likely to create businesses that last? Connecting business longevity to immigrants, to immigrant entrepreneurs, and indeed there were eight principle that, that they do differently than people who are non-immigrants.

And what are the lessons that we can extract from them in order to help build better businesses? And the result was surprising because if you look at the world today, you need to...

The fashion choices here are deeply symbolic.

Olivia has selected demure, pale pink Poiret gowns.

Now, Paul Poiret was a revolutionary French designer who was famous for freeing women from corsets, creating these flowing, elegant, modern silhouettes.

Olivia wants them to look appropriate, modern, but respectable, especially given the conservative power of the guest list.

But Victoria aggressively rejects the pink Poiret.

She insists on wearing a dress.

Olivia had a seamstress copy, but secretly hated.

And o- of course, like all the regional versions have developed their own versions over the centuries.

But what I find fascinating is how it got introduced to the West and I think in the early 20th century Paul Poiret or I'm s- maybe I'm saying the name wrong, he introduced it as like this Orientalist imagery.

Ew.

But the point is like the garments will move throughout history, but why do we delete its history? How does a shalwar suddenly become a balloon trouser without its history being spelt out because it's so well documented.

President Harding, with kindly readiness, stepped into the breach.

As they were handed to him, he read aloud the messages from M. Clemenceau, Mr. Lloyd George, William Allen White, Samuel Gompers, Dr. Frank Crane, President Ebert, Paul Poiret, M. Paderewski, M. Venizelos, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and Isaac Markusen.

Mr. Harding then spoke in the most friendly and charming way, appraising the value of preserved nationality, the solid virtue of the founding fathers, and the services of the unknown citizen to his country.

For a moment there was an awkward pause, but the citizen's wife, evidently a strong-minded woman, nudged him sharply and the citizen tottered forward.

July 1916.

And I bring this up because the painting finally goes public at a show called Salon d'Antin, organized by the same Andre Salmon in the salon of the fashion designer, Paul Poiret, in the Avenue d'Antin in Paris.

And that title, La Demoiselle d'Avignon, is printed for the first time.

And France is two years into the war.