En habillant l'époque

Description

Paul Poiret was not only the first famous couturier in history, but also the first to write his memoirs. In this book, first published by Grasset in 1930, he recounts not only the beginnings and success of his fashion house, which dressed theatre divas and society women alike, but also a certain Paris, and not just the Paris of luxury. He was born in the Les Halles district, the son of a draper.
At the time of writing, he was penniless and his fashion house had closed, yet he remained enthusiastic and free of bitterness. With what pleasure he evokes his creations, the materials, the shapes! This book is also and above all an intelligent and humorous testimony to 'a blessed era, when the worries and annoyances of life, the hassles of tax collectors and socialist threats did not yet crush thought and joie de vivre'. En habillant l'époque is a portrait of Paris in the midst of artistic and intellectual effervescence, and of Europe and the United States at the beginning of the 20th century. Poiret travelled extensively. And he is happy to note, for the sake of business and variety of taste, that throughout the world, 'women always agree with fashion, which is constantly changing'.