Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Turban Fashion


Fashion in the years 1910-1919 is characterized by a rich and exotic opulence in the first half of the decade in contrast with the somber practicality of garments worn during the Great War. Men's trousers were worn cuffed to ankle-length and creased. Skirts rose from floor length to well above the ankle women began to bob their hair and the stage was set for the radical new fashions associated with the Jazz Age of the 1920s. During the early years of the 1910s the fashionable silhouette became much more lithe fluid and soft than in the 1900s. When the Ballets Russes performed Scheherazade in Paris in 1910 a craze for Orientalism ensued. The couturier Paul Poiret was one of the first designers to translate this vogue into the fashion world. Poiret's clients were at once transformed into harem girls in flowing pantaloons turbans and vivid colors and geishas in exotic kimono. The Art Nouveau movement began to emerge at this time and its influence was evident in the designs of many couturiers of the time. Simple felt hats turbans and clouds of tulle replaced the styles of headgear popular in the 1900s. It is also notable that the first real fashion shows were organized during this period in time by the first female couturier Jeanne Paquin who was also the first Parisian couturier to open foreign branches in London, Buenos Aires and Madrid. Two of the most influential fashion designers of the time were Jacques Doucet and Mariano Fortuny. The French designer Jacques Doucet excelled in superimposing pastel colors and his elaborate gossamery dresses suggested the Impressionist shimmers of reflected light. His distinguished customers never lost a taste for his fluid lines and flimsy diaphanous materials. While obeying imperatives that left little to the imagination of the couturier Doucet was nonetheless a designer of immense taste and discrimination a role many have tried since but rarely with Doucet's level of success. The Venice-based designer Mariano Fortuny y Madrazo was a curious figure with very few parallels in any age. For his dress designs he conceived a special pleating process and new dyeing techniques. He patented his process in Paris on 4 November 1909. He gave the name Delphos to his long clinging sheath dresses that undulated with color. The name Delphos came from the bronze statue of the Delphic Charioteer. Each garment was made of a single piece of the finest silk its unique color acquired by repeated immersions in dyes whose shades were suggestive of moonlight or of the watery reflections of the Venetian lagoon. Breton straw Mexican cochineal and indigo from the Far East were among the ing
redients that Fortuny used. Among his many devotees were Eleanora Duse Isadora Duncan Cleo de Merode the Marchesa Casati Emilienne d'Alencon and Liane de Pougy. The extravagances of the Parisian couturiers came in a variety of shapes but the most popular silhouette throughout the decade was the tunic over a long underskirt. Early in the period, waistlines were high (just below the bust), echoing the Empire or Dir?ctoire styles of the early 19th century. Full hip length "lampshade" tunics were worn over narrow draped skirts. By 1914, skirts were widest at the hips and very narrow at the ankle. These hobble skirts made long strides impossible. Waistlines were loose and softly defined. They gradually dropped to near the natural waist by mid-decade where they were to remain through the war years. Tunics became longer and underskirts fuller and shorter. By 1916 women were wearing a calf-length dress over an ankle-length underskirt. When the Paris fashion houses reopened after the wa styles for 1919 showed a lowered and even more undefined waist. The Tailleur or tailored suit of matching jacket and skirt was worn in the city and for travel. Jackets followed the lines of tunics with raised lightly defined waists. Fashionable women of means wore striking hats and fur stole or scarves with their tailleurs and carried huge matching muffs. Most coats were cocoon or kimono shaped wide through the shoulders and narrower at the hem. Fur coats were popular. Changes in dress during World War I were dictated more by necessity than fashion. As more and more women were forced to work they demanded clothes that were better suited to their new activities; these derived from the shirtwaists and tailored suits. Social events were postponed in favor of more pressing engagements and the need to mourn the increasing numbers of dead visits to the wounded, and the general gravity of the time meant that darker colors and simpler cuts became the norm.[1] A new monochrome look emerged that was unfamiliar to young women in comfortable circumstances. Women dropped the cumbersome underskirts from their tunic-and-skirt ensembles simplifying dress and shortening skirts in one step. [2]By 1915, the Gazette due Bon Ton was showing full skirts with hemlines above the ankle. These were called the "war crinoline" by the fashion press, who promoted the style as "patriotic" and "practical". Furthermore people were dressing less extravagantly due to funds being put toward the war effort. According to Elieen Collard Coco Chanel took notice of this and created the new innovation of costume jewelry. She replaced expensive necklaces with glass or crystal beads. "Without grading them to size she mixed pearls with other beads to fashion original jewelry to be worn with her designs" that were inspired by women joining the workforce. Shoes had high, slightly curved heels. Shorter skirts put an emphasis on stockings, and gaiters were worn with streetwear in winter. "Tango shoes" inspired by the dance craze had criss-crossing straps at the ankles that peeked out from draped and wrapped evening skirts. During the war years working women wore sensible laced shoes with round toes and lower wedge heels. Large hats with wide brims and broad hats with face-shadowing brims were the height of fashion in the early years of the decade, gradually shrinking to smaller hats with flat brims. Bobbed or short hair was introduced to Paris fashion in 1909 and spread to avant garde circles in England during the war[6]. Dancer silent film actress and fashion trendsetter Irene Castle helped spread the fashion for short hairstyles in America. The sack coat or lounge coat continued to replace the frock coat for most informal and semi-formal occasions. Three-piece suits consisting of a sack coat with matching waistcoat (U.S. vest) and trousers were worn, as were matching coat and waistcoat with contrasting trousers, or matching coat and trousers with contrasting waistcoat. Trousers were ankle length with turn-ups or cuffs, and were creased front and back using a trouser press. The gap between the shorter trousers and the shoes was filled with short gaiters or spats. Waistcoats fastened lower on the chest and were collarless. The blazer a navy blue or brightly-colored or striped flannel coat cut like a sack coat with patch pockets and brass buttons was worn for sports sailing and other casual activities. The Norfolk jacket remained fashionable for shooting and rugged outdoor pursuits.

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