The House of Poiret: A Story of Rebirth

Forgotten for nearly a century, the House of Paul Poiret recently presented its new Fall-Winter 2018-2019 collection to a very attentive audience. This first runway show took place under the glass roof of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs during Paris Fashion Week. A Look Back at the Key Stages of the Poiret Brand’s Rebirth

The House of Poiret: A Saga of New Beginnings

It all began in 2005, when Paul Poiret’s heirs stumbled upon some forgotten creations of the designer. Exhibited for a time by Azzedine Alaïa, one of Poiret’s great admirers, and later auctioned off, these pieces were acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, which held a retrospective of the brand in 2007. These successive events rekindled interest in the brand and piqued the appetite of investors. After passing through the hands of a Luxembourg-based company, the rights to the house were ultimately acquired by Shinsegae International in 2015, a South Korean luxury brand aiming to relaunch Poiret. These operations take place in the context of the reopening of former fashion houses, such as Balenciaga, Carven, Schiaparelli, Vionnet, and Worth.

The revival of Poiret is framed under identities that align with the needs of investors.

The return of Poiret is led by Belgian businesswoman Anne Chappelle, CEO of the brand, who has previously supported the development of Ann Demeulemeester and Haider Ackermann, and by Yiqing Yin, the brand’s artistic director. Yin, a Franco-Chinese stylist and graduate of the Ensad (École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs), brings her expertise to the brand’s revival. Yiqing Yin, known for her work with pleating and her taste for minimalism, created this first collection using archival documents, while modernizing the designer’s style. Paul Poiret freed the female silhouette by liberating women from the constraints of corsetry, designing clothes that allowed them to live and move freely.

The New Poiret Collection: A Blend of Tradition and Modernity

This new collection features the designer’s iconic piece, the kimono, as well as his love for beautiful, lustrous fabrics and Orientalist motifs. The garments are loose, yet not without sensuality. Still free of buttons, they are zippered, or have crossover panels, simply fastened with a belt. The designer’s love for pleats is evident in the long skirts that brush the floor. She combines elements of Poiret’s style with more contemporary pieces, such as down jackets, parkas, and leather jackets. Her main idea is not to resurrect pieces from the past century, but to draw inspiration from them to create a fashion that meets the needs of the woman of 2018.

Why revive Poiret, a brand forgotten for so long?

Many awaited this Poiret collection with a skeptical eye. Some wondered who a fashion influenced by a couture house that had disappeared since 1933 could possibly be aimed at. This likely forgets that major fashion brands primarily generate their revenue not from clothing, which appeals to only a handful of clients, but much more from perfumes, shoes, and accessories, which reach millions of women around the world. Monsieur Poiret had indeed understood this in his time, being the first couturier to take an interest in perfumes and interior design. He was already using advertising, collaborating with artists, and dressing the stars of his time. Doesn’t this remind us of some very current practices?