gala evening at the metropolitan museum of Art salutes fashion legend Paul Poiret
It was one of those special fashion moments never to be forgotten for guests, lucky enough to get their hands on a ticket.
At 8.30 pm on Monday the 7th of May 2007, The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s renowned Costume Institute Gala celebrated the work of Paul Poiret in an exhibition entitled Poiret: King of Fashion, in The Charles Engelhard Court of The American Wing.
Guests attending were greeted with a décor reflective of the colourful exoticism of Poiret and his world. Enormous birdcages holding live peacocks, surrounded by casçades of roses and a sumptuous fabric in a brown-and-black pattern, were created orignally by Raoul Dufy for Poiret.
Paul Poiret — who at the height of his career in pre-World War I France was the undisputed “King of Fashion” and whose sweeping vision led to a new silhouette that liberated women from the corset and introduced the shocking colours and exotic references of the Ballets Russes to the haute couture — is the first major museum exhibition about his work in more than 30 years. Poiret pioneered the vision of a “total lifestyle” that extended from how a woman dressed and what fragrance she wore to how she decorated her home — an approach reflected in the strategies of many of today’s fashion houses. Presented in a series of tableaux, the 50 ensembles on view highlight the multiple facets of the designer’s astonishing inventiveness, and they are complemented by illustrations, furniture, and examples of the decorative arts that explicate his expansive artistic vision. At the core of the exhibition is a grouping of the stunning creations the Metropolitan acquired in the much-heralded 2005 auction of clothing from the estate of Madame Poiret.
Poiret: King of Fashion will be on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art from the 9th of May through to the 5th of August 2007.
Pictured Left: Fashion Designer L'Wrenn Scott and Mick Jagger.
Pictured above: François-Henri Pinault Honorary Chair of the gala. Actress Salma Hayek, Co-chairs: Anna Wintour, Editor-in-Chief of Vogue, actress Cate Blanchett and Nicolas Ghesquière, Creative Director of Balenciaga.
Vogue's André Leon Talley and Jennifer Hudson, in Michael Kors
