Paul Poiret
Fashion-wise, 1920 was a year when the undulating, opulent orientalism of the tens began to face serious competition from the simple and effective lines of modernism and futurism. Paul Poiret’s fashion house was still the uncontested sultan of orientalist art deco in Paris, but a certain Mademoiselle Coco Chanel had already appeared in town…
A costume for one of Poiret’s extravagant prewar parties. (Image from Noble Dreams, Wicked Pleasures - Orientalism in America, 1870-1930)