Paul Poiret - by Mary E Davis (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Beautifully illustrated, the story of the incandescent French designer and entrepreneur, purveyor of all things lavish.

Before Chanel, Dior, or Saint Laurent, there was Paul Poiret. Born in Paris in 1879, he was the most audacious couturier of the prewar era. While his outré styles were worn by some of the most famous celebrities in Europe and America, they were, in fact, the most fleeting facet of his work. Mary E. Davis explores how Poiret's genius was to place fashion at the center of a network of style, culture, and commerce. He founded groundbreaking perfume and interior design businesses, sponsored musical performances, amassed a modernist art collection, and threw fantastical--and newsworthy--balls. Poiret's businesses faded by the end of the 1920s, but as this book reveals, his unifying vision set the model for the luxury industry as we know it.

Review Quotes

"Poiret was a brilliant fashion designer, a remarkable innovator, and a visionary who liberated women from the corset. Moreover, as the inventor of the luxury brand, Poiret had a unique understanding of the essential place of communication, image, and the role of celebrities. He was the first to link fashion with art and culture. Davis documents this exquisitely in her new book. It should be read by everyone in fashion, and by anyone interested in the origins and driving forces of today's luxury industry."--Sylvie Ebel, vice dean, Institut Français de la Mode, Paris

"In Davis's beautifully written, impeccably researched book, Poiret's visionary genius at last receives its due. Insightful and wide-ranging, Paul Poiret: Inventing Modern Luxury demonstrates fashion's central power to shape both culture and commerce and reveals how, along with his gorgeous fashions, Poiret created an entire, glittering empire of Parisian art, media, design, and celebrity--whose influence remains with us to this day. The book is at once a delicious journey back to a glorious moment in early twentieth-century French history and a remarkably smart commentary on today's luxury goods industry."--Rhonda Garelick, author of "Mademoiselle: Coco Chanel and the Pulse of History"

About the Author

Mary E. Davis is a member of the Capstone Faculty at Yale University's Jackson School of Global Affairs. Her books include Classic Chic, Erik Satie, and Ballets Russes Style, the last two also published by Reaktion Books.