1915 Lanvin Silk Brocade Evening coat with Ottoman Influences
Label: Jeanne Lanvin / Paris / Octobre 1915
Origin: French
Materials: silk brocade shot with bronze thread, silk lining, gold metallic lace, silk rosettes, gold lame
Provenance: Texas estate
Description: A very important, RARE, high-style, museum-quality garment that shows the Orientalist influence of Poiret.
This piece is exceptional and belongs in a museum or a private collection of serious worth.
In 1910, Poiret started really getting excited with Orientalism. His silhouettes, his fabrics and materials, the way he chose to drape the body rather than confine it were revolutionary. Jeanne Lanvin was a fellow couturier who was at the height of her powers. This coat from her autumn 1915 collection is not only relevant to her work (she also was instrumental in creating the new silhouettes; one of her most famous styles was her signature 1920s robe de style, gowns that belled at the hip and had panniers), but shows the influence of Paul Poiret as well.
It is an amazing textile, from construction, to silhouette, to fabric, to variety and mating of materials. The style is Orientalist, western Asian, echoes of the court of the Ottoman Empire. Rich silk brocade is woven a disposition to exhuberant effect, displaying a rich garden of flowers and foliate patterns in golds and bronzes, emeralds, Persian blues -- all against the backdrop of a deep, rich purple subtly shot with bronze lame threads. The fabric alone is an important, museum-quality textile. Integrated into this revolutionary, show-stopping garment, it is a rare, valuable treasure.
The lower third of this garment is a luxurious gold lame that encircles the wearer in a bold sweep. At either side, where the lame meets the silk brocade near the hips, are two emerald silk rosettes edges with gold lame lace.
If the coat overall is not dramatic enough, it sports an even more astounding collar, that can be worn a variety of ways. Down, up with the edges folded down, and fully upright. Sewn inside the collar are two flexible bands (possibly whalebone) that help the collar keep its structure. They are almost superfluous, as the weight of the brocade and the way it is pieced into the collar provide most of the support.
Words cannot adequately describe this piece. The pictures are truly the most eloquent speakers. When one takes a moment to consider that this amazing garment was made during World War I, when external pressures began to jeopordize the production of couture, this coat becomes more rare and amazing still.
The wearer of this garment most certainly took center stage, and was the premier flower in an exotic garden wherever she went.
Condition: Excellent
Overall condition is truly excellent. The garment is strong, and retains much freshness and suppleness.
There is some "patina" to the brocade (the bronze lame threads shot through it) and to the lame hem. The silk brocade is in great condition, with tight threads. The golden silk lining is intact and in good condition, except for some faint, speckled spotting just near where the lining meets the collar and a bit of the same along the left front edge of the lining, where it meets the silk brocade. There are a few, scattered, speckled, very small holes at the rear neckline, where the lining meets the silk brocade (each about a quarter of the size of a pencil eraserhead).
Overall, in supurb condition, and the minute flaws do not detract in the slightest.