Lucile Ltd.
Afternoon suit
Cream silk velvet, silk satin cord, ecru lace
Circa 1913, USA
Museum purchase, P93.15.2
The dancer Irene Castle, whom Lucile declared “the first of the moderns,”
wore a version of this suit. Lucile fused masculine and feminine elements
into a youthfully elegant style with a cutaway jacket inspired by
nineteenth-century menswear and draped skirt panels that reveal a lace
underlayer. The narrow skirt has a back slit and full-skirted petticoat that
would have accommodated a dancer’s footwork. Castle was dressed by Lucile
onstage and off; she proclaimed the designer “one of the most remarkable
dress artists I had ever known.”
RIGHT:
Paul Poiret
Melodie
Afternoon dress
Purple silk damask, cotton velvet, cording
Circa 1912, France
Museum purchase, 2008.6.1
This dress belonged to Poiret’s wife Denise, who served as model and muse
for her husband. Acknowledging her modernity, he stated, “In dressing Madame
Poiret, I strive for omission, not addition.” The bold color palette and
rectilinear design, stripped of ornamentation, are typical of her style, as
is the girlish, pleated white collar. Inspired by her slim, un-corseted
figure, Poiret eliminated the waistline and played with proportion, creating
a silhouette that appears to elongate and flatten the body.