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Long before Lady Gaga and Alexander
McQueen, there was Paul Poiret. Who, you
might ask? The world's first fashion
designer.
The son of textile workers, Poiret was a
chubby boy with a big imagination: he
opened his fashion house in 1903. Within
three years, all of Paris was his
playground - and in 1911, Poiret was the
host of the most famous costume ball
ever thrown, a fantasy called "1002
Nights."
The second decade of the twentieth
century was a wildly, creative time in
the world of fashion - and an upcoming
exhibition, titled "Brave New World:
Fashion and Freedom, 1911- 1919," at the
Westphal College of Media Arts & Design
in association with Philadelphia
International Festival of the Arts (PIFA)
will showcase the garments and
accessories of this experimentally-rich
period in French couture.
It was Poiret who attempted to put women
into the notorious hobble skirt
(requiring a series of mincing steps to
move), yet Poiret deserves credit for
introducing the svelte and slender
silhouette which has signified elegant
chic ever since. And it was Poiret who
took the corset off women and put women
in pants, launching a sartorial
revolution that came to head in the
Sixties.
Take a wander through this retrospective
of innovative fashion - and you just
might discover what Gaga wears next.
Location:
The Leonard Pearlstein Gallery @
Drexel University Westphal College of
Media Arts & Design
3215 Market Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104
April 7 - May 7: Gallery Hours Monday -
Friday 11am - 5pm
LINK:
http://www.pifa.org/events/980194569
Fourth in a series of features about
the Philadelphia International Festival
of the Arts (PIFA), continuing through
May 1 with the support of PIFA.
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