Paul Poiret: Inventing Modern Luxury

Beautifully illustrated, the story of the incandescent French designer and entrepreneur, purveyor of all things lavish.

Before Chanel, Dior, or Saint Laurent, there was Paul Poiret. Born in Paris in 1879, he was the most audacious couturier of the prewar era. While his outré styles were worn by some of the most famous celebrities in Europe and America, they were, in fact, the most fleeting facet of his work. Mary E. Davis explores how Poiret’s genius was to place fashion at the center of a...