COMPARISON OF ART DECO CHARACTERISTICS EXPRESSED ON PAUL POIRET AND GABRIELLE CHANEL DESIGNS

Abstract

Art Deco, a style of luxury, opulence and modernity in the 20th century, was popular from 1909 to 1930s.The definition of Art Deco tends to be either over simplistic or bafflingly complex (Hillier E Klein, McClelland, & Haslam, 1986; Lussier, 2003). In this study, the differences in Poiret and Chanel designs were examined by five elements; silhouette, colour, pattern & motif, decoration and jewelry.The results were as follows: 1. Differences in silhouette: narrow-long shapes with high waists and streamline silhouettes by hobble skirts were mostly shown in Poiret designs while straight box and tubular silhouettes with law waists were mostly used in Chanel designs. 2. Differences in colour: strong& rich colours, glittering metallic colours and sharp colour contrast were shown frequently in Poiret designs, while black and neutral colours such as brown, beige were often used in Chanel designs. Poiret’s clothings introduced a riot of bold colours into fashion and Chanel made the black as a popular working outfit colour.3. Differences in pattern & motif: simplified motives and patterns adapted from nature were used more than geometric patterns in Poiret designs while geometric patterns made with various lines and shapes were mostly used in Chanel designs. 4. Differences in decoration: Poiret still used various details and trimmings such as decorating gems, furs, tassels, flounces, frill, drapes, beads and embroidery which made costumes luxurious and exclusive. However, Chanel tried not to use any decorations which are at risk for transforming straight silhouette to curvy silhouette, but she decorated surface of the clothing by tucks, pleats, beads, fringes, embroideries, frills, pockets and ribbons of various sizes.5. Differences in jewelries: precious genuine jewelries and were used to make Poiret's garments look more gorgeous, while Chanel created artificial jewelry to decorate simple and straight clothing. The results of this study show that significant differences can be made by adapting different design elements under the same style. Both Chanel and Poiret applied principles of Art Deco style but they created quite different fashion designs because one tried more of modernistic approach and the other still made frequent use of traditional decorative characteristics.