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Fashion Plate

1911 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This print is one of a series of 12 illustrations, cover- and title-page designs for Les choses de Paul Poiret vues par Georges Lepape (Paris 1911), a book commisioned and published by Poiret in a limited edition of 300.

This fashion plate by Georges Lepape shows a Paul Poiret design for a wine-coloured dress with bold diagonal bands of white at the hem and on the bodice. The model stands to the extreme left, wearing a purple turban and drawing yarn from a ball of wool on a small tripod table standing beside her. The backdrop, which depicts Poiret's fitting-room, shows a neo-classical style settee with green upholstery standing on a blue dais, a blue and gold floor-cushion, and a free-standing lamp with a matching blue and gold shade. The walls feature Neoclassical motifs picked out in blue against white. Apart from the table, the room scene is contained within a red rectangular frame, as if the woman and the table are standing in front of a very large framed picture.

Poiret was one of the most influential and notorious designers of the late 1900s/early 1910s. His gowns followed the natural line of a slim, uncorseted body, which is clearly shown in Lepape's illustration, although many women still had to resort to longline corsets to achieve the same effect. Compared to the elaborately detailed and constructed gowns produced by many fashion designers, Poiret's designs were audaciously simple and bold, and sometimes quite far-sighted. For example, his 'robe de minute', a gown made of two rectangles of fabric, was created in 1911, 10 years before near-identically constructed chemise dresses became widespread (see T.118-1975). Lepape's illustrations often showed Poiret's models' heads simply wrapped in turbans, in contrast to the elaborately arranged hairstyles that many fashionable women favoured. Decoration was kept to a minimum, with graphic impact favoured over fine detail. The scalloped white bands set at a diagonal against the rich wine colour of this dress are typical. Poiret's success was short-lived, as his influence did not last beyond the 1910s. Although he continued designing into the 1920s and created gowns for Liberty's in 1933, he failed to recapture the success and notoriety he had enjoyed in the 1910s.


Object details

Category
Object type
Materials and techniques
Collotype, letterpress, line block and stencil
Brief description
Hand coloured pochoir stencil plate from "les choses de Paul Poiret vues par Georges Lepape"
Physical description
Design for a high-waisted dark red dress. The background to this scene is an accurate depiction of Poiret's fitting room in his fashion house.
Dimensions
  • Height: 285mm
  • Width: 288mm
Object history
One of a series of 12 illustrations and designs for the cover and titlepage of the book Les choses de Paul Poiret vues par Georges Lepape (Circ.260 to 272-1976). Commissioned and published by Paul Poiret and printed by Maquet, 10 Rue de la Paix, Paris, 1911. Previously bound in paper boards and issued in a limited edition of 300 of which this example is numbered 261 and signed by Poiret. Most are signed 'Georges Lepape'.
Summary
This print is one of a series of 12 illustrations, cover- and title-page designs for Les choses de Paul Poiret vues par Georges Lepape (Paris 1911), a book commisioned and published by Poiret in a limited edition of 300.

This fashion plate by Georges Lepape shows a Paul Poiret design for a wine-coloured dress with bold diagonal bands of white at the hem and on the bodice. The model stands to the extreme left, wearing a purple turban and drawing yarn from a ball of wool on a small tripod table standing beside her. The backdrop, which depicts Poiret's fitting-room, shows a neo-classical style settee with green upholstery standing on a blue dais, a blue and gold floor-cushion, and a free-standing lamp with a matching blue and gold shade. The walls feature Neoclassical motifs picked out in blue against white. Apart from the table, the room scene is contained within a red rectangular frame, as if the woman and the table are standing in front of a very large framed picture.

Poiret was one of the most influential and notorious designers of the late 1900s/early 1910s. His gowns followed the natural line of a slim, uncorseted body, which is clearly shown in Lepape's illustration, although many women still had to resort to longline corsets to achieve the same effect. Compared to the elaborately detailed and constructed gowns produced by many fashion designers, Poiret's designs were audaciously simple and bold, and sometimes quite far-sighted. For example, his 'robe de minute', a gown made of two rectangles of fabric, was created in 1911, 10 years before near-identically constructed chemise dresses became widespread (see T.118-1975). Lepape's illustrations often showed Poiret's models' heads simply wrapped in turbans, in contrast to the elaborately arranged hairstyles that many fashionable women favoured. Decoration was kept to a minimum, with graphic impact favoured over fine detail. The scalloped white bands set at a diagonal against the rich wine colour of this dress are typical. Poiret's success was short-lived, as his influence did not last beyond the 1910s. Although he continued designing into the 1920s and created gowns for Liberty's in 1933, he failed to recapture the success and notoriety he had enjoyed in the 1910s.
Bibliographic references
  • p.212 Tim Benton, Manuel Fontán del Junco, María Zozaya (eds.) Modern taste : Art deco in Paris, 1910-1935, Madrid : Fundación Juan March, [2014]. ISBN: 9788470756290.
  • Taken from Departmental Circulation Registers: 1976-1977
Collection
Accession number
CIRC.262-1976

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Record createdNovember 27, 2008
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