Opera coat

Paul Poiret was an influential advocate for the abandonment of the corset. Breaking with nineteenth-century couture conventions of tailoring precisely shaped pattern pieces to fit a corseted figure, Paul Poiret’s designs of the 1910s relied on draping techniques. This approach yielded soft, flowing forms that hung loosely from the body. In his efforts to design clothing that liberated the body, he turned to antique and Eastern forms of dress. The influence of the kimono’s linear cut is evident in this opera coat, which Poiret composed from rectangular pattern pieces that hang from the shoulders. The designer’s use of the kimono’s structure offered an innovative model for Western dress that changed the course of fashion history and anticipated the styles of the following decade.





On view from October 22, 2022–February 20, 2023