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Past Exhibitions
Poiret: King of Fashion
May 9, 2007–August 5, 2007
Special Exhibition Galleries, 1st floor
In the annals of fashion history, Paul Poiret (1879–1944), who called himself the "King of Fashion," is best remembered for freeing women from corsets and further liberating them through pantaloons. However, it was Poiret’s remarkable innovations in the cut and construction of clothing, made all the more remarkable by the fact that he could not sew, that secured his legacy. Working the fabric directly onto the body, Poiret helped to pioneer a radical approach to dressmaking that relied more on the skills of drapery than on those of tailoring. Focusing on his technical ingenuity and originality, the exhibition explores Poiret’s modernity in relation to and as an expression of the dominant discourses of the early 20th century, including Cubism, Classicism, Orientalism, Symbolism, and Primitivism. The exhibition and its accompanying book are made possible by Balenciaga. Additional support is provided by Condé Nast.
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(2:22 minutes)