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Immovable Force: the Survival of Parisian Haute Couture, 1940-1944

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Immovable Force: the Survival of Parisian Haute Couture, 1940-1944 Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Graduate Theses and Dissertations Dissertations 2020 Immovable force: The survival of Parisian Haute Couture, 1940-1944 Piper Head Iowa State University Follow this and additional works at: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/etd Recommended Citation Head, Piper, "Immovable force: The survival of Parisian Haute Couture, 1940-1944" (2020). Graduate Theses and Dissertations. 18323. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/etd/18323 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Dissertations at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Immovable force: The survival of Parisian Haute Couture, 1940-1944 by Piper Head A thesis submitted to the graduate faculty in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS Major: History Program of Study Committee: John Monroe, Major Professor Lawrence McDonnell Kelly Reddy-Best The student author, whose presentation of the scholarship herein was approved by the program of study committee, is solely responsible for the content of this thesis. The Graduate College will ensure this thesis is globally accessible and will not permit alterations after a degree is conferred. Iowa State University Ames, Iowa 2020 Copyright © Piper Head, 2020. All rights reserved. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................. iii CHAPTER 1 – INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................. 1 Spirit of Couture during the Inter-War Period .................................................................. 11 Nazi Occupation: Cultural Policies ................................................................................... 21 CHAPTER 2 – THE COUTURIERS ............................................................................................ 30 Jeanne Lanvin .................................................................................................................... 32 Lucien Lelong .................................................................................................................... 34 Coco Chanel ...................................................................................................................... 36 Molyneux ........................................................................................................................... 39 Marcel Rochas ................................................................................................................... 40 Elsa Schiaparelli ................................................................................................................ 42 Madame Grès ..................................................................................................................... 45 Jaques Fath ........................................................................................................................ 47 Cristóbal Balenciaga .......................................................................................................... 47 Pierre Balmain and Christian Dior .................................................................................... 49 CHAPTER 3 – CHALLENGING COUTURE ............................................................................. 52 CHAPTER 4 – SURVIVING OCCUPATION ............................................................................. 65 CHAPTER 5 – CONCLUSIONS .................................................................................................. 72 BIBLIOGRAPHY ......................................................................................................................... 75 iii ABSTRACT French haute couture is an industry that has withstood the test of time. From its inception in 1858 at Charles Worth’s innovative and groundbreaking shop, haute couture has become the most highly respected and revered segment of the fashion industry for its intimate understanding of design and craftsmanship. Couture is characterized by exquisite fabrics and intricate hand sewing techniques used in unique and original made-to-order designs for private clientele. Couture, along with the vibrant spirit generated by the chic women in France, was almost extinguished as the Nazis infiltrated Paris in the summer of 1940. Throughout the occupation, Nazi officials continually attempted to collapse French industries or infiltrate them in a way that benefited their war effort. In a time where art and culture were overrun by occupying forces across Europe, it is essential to understand those things that were able to withstand the oppression. In discussing German foreign policies, art and cultural ideals, and strategic economic and political maneuvers in conjunction with the view of Parisian haute couture concerning national identity and culture, I aim to present a compelling argument for couture’s strength and longevity as well as its role as both a cultural and economic powerhouse. The distinct tradition of Paris’ role as the capital of fashion, the skilled workforce built and engrained into French industry as a result of this tradition, and Nazi conceptions of French civilization formulated from German ideas of Zivilsation and Kultur worked in harmony to empower Parisian couture to survive the oppression of the Nazi occupying forces. By placing fashion, ideologically led by the couture industry, as a central component of French cultural identity, I introduce new analysis of often-cited materials. 1 CHAPTER 1 – INTRODUCTION French haute couture is an industry that has withstood the test of time. From its inception in 1858 at Charles Worth’s innovative and groundbreaking shop, haute couture has become the most highly respected and revered segment of the fashion industry for its intimate understanding of design and craftsmanship. Couture is characterized by exquisite fabrics and intricate hand sewing techniques used in unique and original made-to-order designs for private clientele. The Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture, established in 1868,1 is the world’s authority on haute couture. The Fédération sets strict guidelines for designers, allowing only a select few to join the approved couturiers each year at an annual review. The Fédération encourages “the development of innovation in design and technique, the maintenance of a high standard of hand- sewing skills and finishes, and the personalized fitting of garments.”2 Following World War II, the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture implemented more rigorous standards to coincide with the aforementioned annual review. Couturiers had to create original designs on their own premises in which they employed at least twenty staff members. Each couture house must create at least seventy-five designs annually, shown in two seasonal shows (Spring/Summer and Fall/Winter) on at least three mannequins (or models) employed by the house. The semi-annual shows took place in the couture house salons.3 These standards, as well as the annual review, remain in place. Today’s recognized haute couturiers consist of sixteen designers, three of which, Chanel, Dior, and Schiaparelli, contributed to the solidification of Paris’ stature as the 1The Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture was absorbed into the Fédération Française de la Couture due Prét- a-Porter des Couturiers et Des Creatures de Mode in 1973. In 2017 it was renamed the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode. Lesley Ellis Miller, Balenciaga: Shaping Fashion, (London: V&A Publishing, 2007), 16. 2 Miller, Balenciaga: Shaping Fashion, 16-17. 3 Miller, Balenciaga: Shaping Fashion, 16-17. 2 fashion capital of the world, through its most trying times, during the Nazi occupation of World War II.4 At its outset, while the genuinely unique one-of-a-kind suits, day dresses, and gowns were indeed expensive, the founders of couture intended for the idea of style, exemplified in well-made garments, to permeate through all classes and types of women. Today, couture gowns and designer clothing are the most expensive items one can buy. In their publication for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Haute Couture, Richard Martin and Harold Koda describe today’s haute couture industry as “an aesthetic essay in which cherished and extraordinary skills continue to be practiced in service of a late modern age. It remains a discipline of ultimate imagination, unaccountable to cost, with the paradox of being the fashion most cognizant of its ideal clients. It is, as it began, a dream of quality in an era of industry and its succession.”5 The simplistic beauty in the detailed craftsmanship and quality presented in couture garments presents women with the opportunity to represent their ideal selves. It is this aim for perfection in style that characterizes French cultural identity related to dress, rooted in the ideals and traditions of couture. Fashion historians Michael and Ariane Batterberry state in their book Mirror Mirror, “Dress, our most enthralling gesture of self-elation, is also a means of self identification, and as if by divine law we identify ourselves as members of our society by assuming its ‘costume’.”6 Geraldine Howell further defines dress in her text, Wartime Fashion: From Haute Couture to Homemade, 1939-1945,
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