Jeanne Paquin was one of the first women dress-designers.

Paquin was also one of the most important couturiers of the early twentieth century. Robert Forrest wrote that: “Fashion once simply did not know what to wear until Madame Paquin brought out her season’s models, and, as for her competitors, their plight was pitiful.”

Paquin’s Early Career

Born in 1869, Paquin trained at the French fashion house, Maison Rouff. In 1891, at the young age of twenty-two, she was the first women to open her own fashion house. Her husband, Isadore, a businessman, financed this venture, which Madame Paquin daringly situated on the Rue de la Paix in Paris, next door to the great designer, Worth.

Innovations of Jeanne Paquin

Paquin soon became famous. She used sumptuous fabrics made by the weavers of Lyon and sewn by her seamstresses. She was known for using fine silks and furs, and lovely trimmings. She changed the miserable black color, so dominant in the nineteenth century, by lining black coats with red silk, or trimming black with beautiful embroidery and lace. She also used Egyptian and Chinese motifs and themes, such as dragons and clouds. She collaborated with French illustrators, such as Georges Barbier, with whom she designed a series of hand-fans with Eastern themes.

Madame Paquin introduced the empire-waist dress in 1906 in imitation of the Regency. She also used Japanese themes. These were used most notably in her Imperio collection of 1907, which included a Japanese-style cape and suits with pleated skirts.

She was also an excellent marketer who sent her models to the races and the opera to parade her latest designs. She was also one of the first designers to sell her clothes to department stores and wholesalers. She was also one of the first to open branches of her business overseas.

Jeanne Paquin’s Awards and Positions

Paquin became famous for her glittering gold and silver dresses and blue twill suits, as well as her other innovations. Paquin became so successful that she designed dresses for the queens of Belgium, Portugal and Spain. She was the president of the fashion section of the World’s Fair in Paris in 1910. In 1913 she was awarded the Legion of Honour by France. Paquin also became the president of the Chambre Syndicate from 1917-19.

Paquin Resigns

Madame Paquin resigned in 1920. Colette Massignac gave the House a new direction in the 1950s, but Madame Paquin closed the business in 1953 because of financial difficulties.

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