Art Deco History

Art Deco is identified as an era that was fashionable between 1909-1939. The Art Deco style was named after the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels in Paris. This dynamic art movement was adopted in all the arts - fashion, architecture, textiles, fine arts ,photography and film.

Art Deco amalgamated many different styles ranging from Avant Garde to the Ancient Cultural traditions and Folk Art.

Art Deco owes its exotic influence to the fact that people were travelling more. Inspiration came from the Oriental countries - Egypt, Africa, Aztec Mexico, China and Japan .Art Deco combined the old with the new ultra modern.

Of particular importance was the establishment of the Ballet Russes in Paris in 1909 by Sergei Diaghilev. The Ballet Russes transformed traditional ballet with revolutionary and exotic stage sets and costumes. Traditional ballet and theatre would never be the same. Avant Garde artists were engaged to create the exotic stage sets and costumes.

Many Russians had left Russia due to the unrest there and settled in Paris. They were employed as dancers or found work in the fashion houses as embroiderers and sewers, some even opened their own fashion houses using traditional Russian dress and headgear as their inspiration. This is where the combination of the fur and fabric inspiration came from. Embroidery on dresses, fur trimmed and lined coats.

The Ballet Russes had a lasting impact on the development and influence of Art Deco designs especially in the early years, as by 1925 the exotic Russian influence was less fashionable. Designers were inspired by the Ballet Russes to create clothing using luxurious materials with exotic designs. Oriental themes, Chinese and Japanese motifs and floral prints, Egyptian images, African prints and traditional motifs and embroidery from Russia.

The radical change in fashion came at the end of 19th cent. as society began to accept a more liberated life style. Women were spending more time outdoors. They needed more flexible clothing for their outdoor activies - horseriding, walking, swimming and tennis. WW1 had a huge impact on social structures when women had to step into previously male roles. They began to smoke in public, they drove and they voted. The opportunity was there for designers to create a simpler new look with more freedom of movement.

Fashion of the 1920s was dominated by ensemble dressing. Outfits were co-ordinated ( shoes, hats, dresses and coats ) to look like they went together.

The forehead was covered throughout the 20s by headbands, turbans, large hats and later the cloche hat. Accessories were important and included bracelets, small handbags, long strands of pearls, cigarette holders, silver compacts and vanity cases. By the mid 1920s costume jewellery – made fashionable by Coco Chanel, was the rage.

Society went through so much change in such a short time.