1923 Paul Poiret Clothing Designer to Natacha Rambova

Paul Poiret was the favorite clothing designer of Natacha Rambova who felt he understood her as no one else did when it came to making clothes that favored her flamboyant personality.

In 1879, Paul Poiret was born in Paris he interned at Jacques Doucet who was a famous couturier of the time. In 1901, he was hired by the famous Worth House of Design. In 1903, he set up his own Atelier of Poiret. In the early 1900’s which was considered one of Poirets influential periods in fashion he was interested in “The Orient” Russian and Cubism. Poiret claimed to have been a Persian prince in a previous life. Significantly, the first Asian-inspired piece he ever designed, while still at Worth, was controversial. A simple Chinese-style cloak called Confucius; it offended the occidental sensibilities of an important client, a Russian princess. To her grand eyes it seemed shockingly simple, the kind of thing a peasant might wear; when Poiret opened his own establishment such mandarin-robe-style cloaks would be best-sellers This had a great impact on Natacha’s own aesthetic which is what she became known for. In 1913, he came to NY and was a clothing designer to Cecille B. Demille. In 1923, Natacha first visited his Atelier which was documented in a Photoplay magazine article. His clothing displayed vibrant colors which managed to capture her personality. In Jan 1924, during another visit to his salon, Rudolph Valentino was quoted as saying that “he is the one costumier in Paris best suited to Natacha’s style, even temperament. We went to one or two other places and looked at their models, but for the most part they were wishy-washy things of pastel shades, with oddments of flowers here and there. Natacha cannot wear that sort of thing. She is not at all the type. She looks best in vivid colors, no one color over another, but all colors that are violent and definite. Scarlet’s, vermilions, strong blues, empathic greens, and loud voiced yellows”. Natacha’s next visit was Aug 1924; she came by his Atelier to pick up some dresses that she had ordered. In 1925, she staged a media event when she traveled from Los Angeles to Paris to pose for photographer James Abbe at famous clothing designer Paul Poiret’s salon. She modeled a pearl-embroidered white velvet gown and a chinchilla cloak, and declared Poiret her favorite couturier. In 1929, Poiret closed his Atelier because his aesthetics conflicted with modernism even though his designs back in the early 1900’s were advanced for the times. In 1944, Paul Poiret died in poverty virtually forgotten. However, through research a new generation has come to appreciate his genius in costume design. In 1927, when Natacha Rambova because a clothing designer in her own right, she did use Paul Poiret as an inspiration but with her own dramatic touch in the clothing that she designed.