Ladies, if you're not wearing a corset right now, thank Paul Poiret

[supernova]

Who's Paul Poiret, you ask? Turn of the Century Parisian designer who popularized clothing that didn't need a corset.

The Way We Move
How Paul Poiret freed us from the corset.

By Josh Patner

Posted Friday, May 18, 2007, at 11:22 AM ET

"Paul Poiret: King of Fashion," the exhibition that opened this week at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, may not have the immediate, broad appeal of "Jacqueline Kennedy: The White House Years," the most popular of the Costume Institute's recent shows, or the voyeuristic pleasure of "Nan Kempner: American Chic," which gave viewers the chance to look inside the famed socialite's vast closets. But Paul Poiret, though little known outside the fashion world, was fashion's Picasso. Although he titled his 1932 autobiography King of Fashion, Poiret's break with the past was so great that he might better be called fashion's revolutionary, the man who brought modernity into being. Dispensing with social mores and tradition, he changed not just how women dress, but how they move and live.


Fascinating slide show at Slate.com http://www.slate.com/id/2166478/nav/tap1/


edit: Eventhough it isn't Friday, I just have to :bounce: :bounce:

[supernova]

1. Nobody cares that we don't

wear corsets anymore?!?

Sheesh. I'd think this would be interesting. Maybe not.

[Nicole]

4. Some of us still wear them

occasionally. Or occasionally we wear them more often. :evilgrin:

[supernova]

8. Well, if you want to

wear one *for fun*, that's one thing. But having to squeeze into one and deform yourself in the process because it's proper, that's another thing entirely.

[wildhorses]

2. i could not get slide show to work

prolly my 'pooter.

:bounce::bounce:

[supernova]

3. Fianlly, somebody answered me!

:bounce: :bounce:

Thanks wildhorses. :D

Shame you can't get the slide show to work, WH. Those clothes are still very pretty, even today. I'd wear them. There's a really pretty burgundy velvet overcoat from the 'teens. Another linen dress that looks very much like a greek dress. Yummy.

[wildhorses]

5. cool, i love vintage clothing

i will try the link again later...

[yewberry]

6. Thank you, Paul Poiret!

It's a little amazing that such a huge change in expectations and health came from one man working in fashion, and in just one lifetime.

Yay, no corset!

[supernova]

7. There are pics

of women from that time period. Oh man, their poor torsos look so deformed!

[yewberry]

9. I saw them

and owwwwww!

No wonder women ate tapeworms. Yeeks.

[Book Lover]

11. Ha! I don't think he had to work all that hard to get us to give up the corset (nm)

[achtung_circus]

10. Ladies, if you're wearing a corset right now,

I need proof, preferably photographic.
:P

[supernova]

13. Kick for monday morning crowd

:kick:

[SeattleGirl]

12. Gad, I couldn't imagine wearing a corset every freakin' day!

Dude has my undying gratitude!

[My Good Babushka]

14. it's sad

No more dramatic faintings and swoonings.

[formerrepuke]

15. Nowadays, ladies let their figures run riot; this is how ladies should look:

[liontamer]

16. why would i thank one male designer?

Why not the society women who stopped wearing them,or the doctors who figured out they were harmful? Or the many "unfashionable" people who never wore them in the first place?