"Bataille"

This dress is an outstanding example of the work of the early twentieth-century French couturier Paul Poiret. The silhouette follows styles that were popular during the mid-1920s, with a square-necked columnar bodice and sleeves of golden lamé that gently flare open from the elbow to the wrist, showcasing exquisite hand pleating. An intricate combination of lace and embroidery tessellate the trunk of the garment in a further testament to the designer’s mastery of texture and color harmony and to the superior capabilities of the fournisseurs that were instrumental to fashion during the early twentieth century. Like many couturiers of the period, Poiret frequently collaborated with specialist métiers, such as the embroiderer Maison Lallement, to embellish his garments.

Poiret’s house activity reached a crescendo in 1925—followed by a steep decline that led to its closure in 1929—with an extravagant showing at the Paris Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes: three barges flanked the banks of the Seine to exhibit his fashion, furnishing, and fragrance products. The dazzling geometry of this gold-and-black dress reflects the splendor of the style-moderne, or Art Deco aesthetic, which was retroactively named after the seminal exposition.