Beautifully illustrated, the story of the incandescent French designer and entrepreneur, purveyor of all things lavish.

Before Chanel, Dior, or Saint Laurent, there was Paul Poiret. Born in Paris in 1879, he was the most audacious couturier of the prewar era. While his outré styles were worn by some of the most famous celebrities in Europe and America, they were, in fact, the most fleeting facet of his work. Mary E. Davis explores how Poiret's genius was to place fashion at the center of a network of style, culture, and commerce. He founded groundbreaking perfume and interior design businesses, sponsored musical performances, amassed a modernist art collection, and threw fantastical--and newsworthy--balls. Poiret's businesses faded by the end of the 1920s, but as this book reveals, his unifying vision set the model for the luxury industry as we know it.