The "King of Fashion" in America in the 1910s, Poiret is most famous for his designs influenced by orientalism, Neoclassicism, and Surrealism: the kimono, the Turkish trouser, the slit skirt, and the famous lampshade dress. Mostly, he is remembered for his stance on women’s fashon, simplification of the female silhouette. He dismissed the petticoat and the corset, as the trends shifted away from tailoring toward draping. He disliked the word fashion, opting instead to design women’s clothing solely as an expression of individuality. “Women are wrong for following one style,” he remarked. “They are not made alike, they do not look alike.” Poiret often exclaimed, “I’m an artist, not a dressmaker.” But like many designers, he was faced with unregulated imitators of his own designs. Read more about it!

The information in this guide focuses on primary source materials found in the digitized historic newspapers from the digital collection Chronicling America.

The timeline below highlights important dates related to this topic and a section of this guide provides some suggested search strategies for further research in the collection.