Asia Chic - The influence of Chinese and Japanese textiles on the fashion of the Roaring Twenties

From 10 April 2019 to 7 July 2019, to the Baur Foundation, 8 rue Munier-Romilly. 1206 Geneva - Switzerland.

Asia Chic - The influence of Chinese and Japanese textiles on the fashion of the Roaring Twenties

In France, around the years 1920, many magazines dedicated and intended for women are born. La Gazette of Bon Ton, Art, Modes and Trivia, is one of the best witnesses of his time, but one can also read Modes and ways of today, Parisian costumes, Journal of the ladies and fashions, the French edition of Spindrift ou The trends, for example. These publications provide advice on a variety of subjects: decoration, the art of living, the theater, popular vacation spots and of course fashion, abundantly illustrated with color plates. Most often, these reproductions are created from a drawing whose outlines are first engraved and then printed in black ink. The areas thus delimited are then completed with watercolor or gouache, applied with a stencil. The composition of the images, their production process as well as the themes developed in them obviously recall the Japanese prints from which they were inspired.

The Baur Foundation of Geneva has, for its part, a collection of Asian textiles sufficiently abundant and relevant to serve as a comparison with the fashion of this period. From this astonishing encounter come an exhibition and a catalog that confront Parisian designers' drawings with pieces of contemporary Far Eastern textiles. The bilingual catalog also publishes donations, including Japanese kimonos and clothes Sato Mariko (2008) and Sugawara Keiko (2015), but also some Chinese textiles that make the richness of our institution.