"Théâtre des Champs-Élysées"

This model was worn by Denise Poiret to the premiere of Igor Stravinsky's Sacre du Printemps, which marked the opening of the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées on April 1, 1913. The theater, after which the dress is named, featured several of Poiret's most celebrated actress-clients, including Andrée Spinelly and Eve Lavallière. Theater played an important role in Poiret's creativity. Not only did it inspire many of his most imaginative flights of fancy, but it also provided an opportunity for Poiret to introduce his more avant-garde styles into society through his designs for the great actresses of the day on stage and for his more adventurous clients of artistic and bohemian sensibility in the audience. Opening night at the theater, with its formal dress codes, provided a venue where extravagant display was not only appropriate but expected. ‘Champs-Élysées’ is, in its ivory tonalities, an exquisite allusion to Neoclassical dress. However, Poiret, in his typically sybaritic manner, has reinterpreted the simple white mull gown of the Directoire and Empire periods. A richly patterned silk damask is overlaid with fragile silk tulle. Double bands of lead-crystal rhinestones articulate the high waist and give the hem of the tulle overskirt a subtle hooplike support. Unlike the "lampshade" tunics Poiret introduced with his Minaret style in 1913, which were high in front and low in back, here he gave an asymmetrical cant to the hem of the tunic, reasserting the angled drape of the gown's surplice neckline.