Roaring Into Fashion

But the 1920s also announced the age of unisex fashion and the advent of the "garçonne," the androgynous figure that symbolized rebellion against traditional and archetypal notions of femininity. With their masculine silhouettes and short hair, Parisian garçonnes smoked, drove and heralded the advent of modern lesbian culture. They accessorized with monocles, walking sticks and cigarette holders, and gathered in the Parisian cafés of Montparnasse and Pigalle, setting tongues wagging. They wore masculine perfumes with leathery undertones, like the bottle of Le Sien on display. The term "garçonne" comes from the 1922 bestselling novel of that name by Victor Margueritte, whose heroine abandons herself to debauchery and drugs in the name of gender equality. Its publication caused a scandal, and Margueritte was thrown out of France's prestigious Légion d'Honneur for "bearing affront to French women's rectitude." The same year the French Senate denied women the vote.

As the exhibit makes clear, today's fashion designers still seek their inspiration from the notion of modernity first engendered in the '20s. Paco Rabanne's futuristic creations look like the direct descendants of an anonymous knitted metal coat, on display near the end of the exhibit. Leading stylist Lelong, who led the années folles fashion movement, proclaimed in a 1926 issue of Vogue that he "made modern dresses for modern women." "One cannot imagine Schiaparelli without Vionnet, and one cannot imagine Dior without Schiaparelli," says Lesage, carefully inspecting a piece of finished embroidery that will soon grace a Lacroix gown. "Fashion will always look to its past." And, more than ever, to the magical decade that was the '20s.

© 2007