Fashion History

The history of fashion is a history of people. During this past century, it was the couturiers and designers that laid the foundations of the modern fashion industry we know today.

The liberation of women from corseted confinement, the creation of ready-to-wear clothing, logos, licensing, window displays, lifestyle brands, fashion shows, marketing and even protection of intellectual property rights, are each a direct result of the ingenuity, bravery and creative genius of individuals who were in their lifetimes stylistic and societal visionaries.

Paul Poiret (1879-1944)

Paul Poiret was the party boy of Paris who is the unsung hero of 20th century fashion. 

French couturier, the most fashionable dress designer of pre-World War I Paris. Poiret was particularly noted for his Neoclassical and Orientalist styles, for advocating the replacement of the corset with the brassiere, and for the introduction of the hobble skirt, a vertical, tight-bottomed style that confined women to mincing steps. “I freed the bust,” boasted Poiret, “and I shackled the legs.”

Jeanne Lanvin (1867-1946)

Jeanne Lanvin, the milliner turned mogul who outlived the competition. She built the longest-running fashion house in the world on cloche hats, feminine clothes and a fragrance which is still around to this day. Her designs were the height of fashion in the 190s and 1930s and won two Legion d'Honneur awards. 

Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel (1883-1971)

Creator of the "litlle black dress". With her trademark suits and little black dresses, fashion designer Coco Chanel created timeless designs that are still popular today.Gabrielle the designer doyenne who founded fashion's most famous house, used her lover's money to establish herself and rewrote the rulebook with her mannish collections.

Chanel was raised in an orphanage and taught to sew. She had opening her first clothes shop in 1910. In the 1920s, she launched her first perfume and eventually introduced the Chanel suit and the little black dress, with an emphasis on making clothes that were more comfortable for women.

Christian Dior (1905–1957)

Christian Dior was a French fashion designer whose post–World War II creations were wildly popular, and whose legacy continues to influence the fashion industry.

Dior exploded onto the Paris fashion scene with designs that flew in the face of wartime restrictions and reintroduced a femininity and focus on luxury to women's fashion. His resulting success, based on the innovation of both his designs and his business practices, made him the most successful fashion designer in the world. His designs have been worn by film stars and royalty alike, and his company continues to operate at the forefront of the fashion industry.