The centenary of the great Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels modernes held in Paris in 1925 is an opportunity to rediscover a style that has never ceased to fascinate collectors , designers and creatives .

100 years have passed since the great Paris exhibition of 1925, visited by over 16 million spectators, which marked the triumph of an aesthetic that would revolutionize all aspects of modern life, from furniture to transport, from fashion to architecture, rendering everything that had come before irremediably out of fashion. The style of the Jazz Age and the Roaring Twenties, of Bugattis and Hispano Suizas, of Josephine Baker&#39;s Revue Nègre and the Great Gatsby parties (Francis Scott Fitzgerald&#39;s book was published in 1925), of Georges Barbier&#39;s prints, of flappers covered in feathers, pearls and baguettes, of the Charleston and the Chrysler Building designed by William Van Alen and inaugurated in 1930, of Paul Poiret and Jeanne Lanvin , of Jeanne Paquin, Louise Chéruit, Callot Soeurs and Madeleine Vionnet, of Ruhlmann &#39;s sinuous furniture, of Lalique &#39;s vases, of orientalism and of Fritz Lang&#39;s &quot;Metropolis &quot; . The era of the songs of Cole Porter and Irving Berlin, of the Rockefeller Center inaugurated in 1932 and of the Waldorf Astoria, of the sumptuous outfits of the fashion houses founded by Russian aristocrats who fled the revolution, such as Maison Irfé by Felix and Irina Yusupov or Maison Kitmir, of the embroidery workshop of the Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna who collaborated with Coco Chanel, of the Ziegfeld Theatre and the parties at El Morocco , of the summers on the French Riviera launched by Gerald and Sara Murphy who hosted Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald, Hemingway and Dos Passos, Picasso and Cocteau, Coco Chanel and Dorothy Parker at Villa America, in Cap d&#39;Antibes... The Mad in Paris is dedicating three exhibitions to Art Deco : &quot;Ruhlmann décorateur&quot; (until June 1), &quot;Paul Poiret. La mode est une fête&quot; (from June 25 to January 11, 1926), curated by Marie-Sophie Carron de la Carrière, and &quot; 1925-2025. Cent ans d&#39;Art Deco&quot; (from October 21 to March 29, 2026). A major protagonist of the 1925 Exhibition, Jacques-Emile Ruhlmann , the creator of extraordinary furniture (of which Yves Saint Laurent was a passionate collector), coordinated around fifty artists, from Jean Lambert-Rucki to Jean Dunand, to create the Hôtel du Collectionneur, a sublime showcase of the best that the new style could offer in all aspects of lifestyle. The Mad exhibition but focuses on his work as a designer of patterns for fabrics and wallpapers, which were fundamental, in his vision, to create total harmony in environments. The exhibition on Poiret (almost 20 years after the one at the Met in 2007, dedicated to &quot;The King of Fashion&quot; and curated by Harold Koda and Andrew Bolton) showcases an extraordinary creator, larger than life, trained by Doucet and Worth and who became famous by dressing one of the superstar actresses of the time, Réjane.

Images taken from L'OFFICIEL N. 50 of 1925

From L'OFFICIEL n. 51 of 1925

Drawings from L'OFFICIEL N.61 of 1926

Drawings from L'OFFICIEL N.68 of 1927

Drawings from L'OFFICIEL N.26 of 1923

It is Poiret who makes women abandon their corsets and dress them in Directoire-style dresses, opera coats inspired by the kimono, harem pants, &quot;Minaret&quot; and &quot;Abat-jour&quot; silhouettes and Fauves colors derived from Leon Bakst &#39;s costumes for the Ballets Russes of <text class="_textbox_x434h_15" direction="ltr" height="7.230010986328125" lengthadjust="spacingAndGlyphs" textlength="249.25009155273438" x="56.984100341796875" y="-378.5151062011719" data-test="textbox"> Diaghilev. Lillie Langtry, Sarah Bernhardt, Ida Rubinstein, Isadora </text><text class="_textbox_x434h_15" direction="ltr" height="7.470001220703125" lengthadjust="spacingAndGlyphs" textlength="251.79803466796875" x="56.984100341796875" y="-366.51507568359375" data-test="textbox"> Duncan, Liane de Pougy (the most famous of the grandes horizontales </text><text class="_textbox_x434h_15" direction="ltr" height="7.470001220703125" lengthadjust="spacingAndGlyphs" textlength="248.6601448059082" x="57.0640983581543" y="-354.51507568359375" data-test="textbox"> of the time), the Marchesa Casati, Nancy Cunard, Peggy Gug </text><text class="_textbox_x434h_15" direction="ltr" height="7.230010986328125" lengthadjust="spacingAndGlyphs" textlength="248.88007354736328" x="56.83409881591797" y="-342.51507568359375" data-test="textbox"> genheim, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, Colette and Natacha Ram </text><text class="_textbox_x434h_15" direction="ltr" height="7.470001220703125" lengthadjust="spacingAndGlyphs" textlength="249.55009078979492" x="56.7140998840332" y="-330.51507568359375" data-test="textbox"> bova (Rudolph Valentino&#39;s wife) rely on her sense </text><text class="_textbox_x434h_15" direction="ltr" height="7.470001220703125" lengthadjust="spacingAndGlyphs" textlength="251.6821174621582" x="57.0640983581543" y="-318.51507568359375" data-test="textbox"> of style, its parties (the most famous, “La mille et Deuxième Nuit”) </text><text class="_textbox_x434h_15" direction="ltr" height="7.230010986328125" lengthadjust="spacingAndGlyphs" textlength="251.69900131225586" x="57.10409927368164" y="-306.5150451660156" data-test="textbox"> are legendary. His wife Denise is his fetish model, every </text><text class="_textbox_x434h_15" direction="ltr" height="7.420013427734375" lengthadjust="spacingAndGlyphs" textlength="249.1310691833496" x="57.10409927368164" y="-294.5150451660156" data-test="textbox"> His appearance causes a sensation and starts a trend.</text>

Paul Iribe "The clothes of Paul Poiret told by Paul Iribe"

A friend of Derain, Picabia, Vlaminck, Van Dongen, he collects their works as well as those of Matisse, Brancusi, Picasso, Modigliani, while he calls Raoul Dufy to collaborate on La petite usine where his sumptuous fabrics are printed. He entrusts the advertising of his models to exceptional illustrators, see two exquisite catalogues, “Les robes de Paul Poiret racontées par Paul Iribe” and “Les choses de Paul Poiret vues par Georges Lepape” , and co-founds “ La Gazette du Bon Ton” , while Man Ray, Steichen, Adolf de Meyer capture his creations on the pages of magazines. Poiret Le Magnifique , as he is known in Tout-Paris, is the first to broaden the boundaries of fashion to lifestyle, following the example of the Wiener Werkstatte, opening in 1911 (the reference is to the names of his daughters) “Les Parfums de Rosine” and “Les Ateliers Martine”, which produce furniture and boast a clientele ranging from Isadora Duncan to Kees Van Dongen to Helena Rubinstein’s beauty salon. Les Parfums de Rosine, created by Henri Alméras, who will be the nose of Joy di Patou, ranges from Japonisme, Chinoiseries and the Arabian Nights, more in vogue than ever after the success of Diaghilev’s ballet “Sherazade”.

Paul Poiret, evening dress "Josephine" 1907

Drawing taken from the cover of L'OFFICIEL n. 49 of 1925

Bold in their formulation (Poiret boasts of being the first to have used even the leaves of some flowers) they are enclosed in imaginative bottles consistent with the expressions of the artistic avant-garde, and are collected as true objets d&#39;art. And although Poiret opened his fashion house in 1903, at the 1925 Universal Exhibition his three boats moored on the Seine, themed “ Amours”, “Delices” and “Orgues” , were much admired. The October exhibition at the Mad will focus on the reopening of the museum&#39;s permanent collections, including the Art Deco one , the result of donations from Jeanne Lanvin, Jacques Doucet and Hélène de Rothschild, an opportunity to discover the masterpieces of Armand Rateau, Pierre Chareau, André Groult, Paul Iribe, Eileen Grey and Robert Mallet-Stevens.

Cover of L'OFFICIEL n.7 from 1922

From L'OFFICIEL N. 52 of 1925

At the same time (from 24 October to 29 March 2026), the Cité de l&#39;architecture et du patrimoine will present “Paris 1925: Art Deco and its architects”, illustrating the works designed for the event by Le Corbusier, Auguste Perret, Henri Sauvage and Robert Mallet-Stevens and reconstructing in models the pavilions of the period, located between the Grand Palais, the Petit Palais and Les Invalides. In Brussels, Villa Empain , a splendid example of Art Deco designed by Michel Polak and home to the Boghossian Foundation, will be showcasing “Echoes of Art Déco” until November 2, with an immersive experience in the lifestyle of the Roaring Twenties, within a program created in synergy with the other institutions of the city that are symbols of this style, the Van Buuren Museum &amp; Gardens, the Autrique House, and the Horta Museum, opened in what was the studio of the author of the Belgian Pavilion at the 1925 exhibition. The Museum of Fine Arts in Houston will be celebrating (until May 26) Tamara de Lempicka , the socialite painter whose stunning self-portrait, “Tamara in a Green Bugatti ” from 1929, is one of the most representative works of an era that considered speed and female emancipation among the identifying signs of the time. In Milan, Palazzo Reale offers about 250 artifacts in the exhibition “Art Déco. The Triumph of Modernity”, curated by Valerio Terraroli (until June 29). The opportunity to discover exquisite objects, including paintings, ceramics, vases, clothes, statuettes, prints, film sequences, which reveal an imagery spread by the International Biennials of 1923, &#39;25, &#39;27 and &#39;30 held at the Villa Reale in Monza.

Jacques-Emile Ruhlmann pour la Societé anonyme des Anciens Etablissements Desfossé & Karth, project of papier peint Monnaie du pape, 1914-1917 © Les Arts Décoratifs

Image taken from L'OFFICIEL N. 50 of 1925

Objects of extreme formal elegance, from the animal silhouettes of Sirio Tofanari to the Murano glass vases by Carlo Scarpa and Ercole Barovier, from the shoes of André Perugia to the portrait of Wally Toscanini by Alberto Martini , up to the ceramics by Gio Ponti for Ginori 1735 , such as the large polychrome majolica jar “La casa degli efebi”, awarded the Grand Prix in Paris in 1925, or the “Centrotavola per le Embasciate” of 1927 created together with Tomaso Buzzi (a procession of 47 pieces including tritons, sea horses, cherubs and architectural elements, with the personification of Italy seated on a shell at the centre), such as the creations by Paolo Venini, Galileo Chini, the glass artist Vittorio Zecchin, the cabinetmaker Ettore Zaccari, the goldsmith Alfredo Ravasco. The centenary is also an opportunity for many of the maisons that were protagonists of the 1925 exhibition to re-propose extraordinary creations of the period. Van Cleef &amp; Arpels (whose bracelet “Fleurs enlacées, roses rouges et blanches” won the Grand Prix) is doing so with an exhibition, “Timeless Art Deco with Van Cleef &amp; Arpels High Jewelry”, at the Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum (from 27 September to 18 January 2026). Guerlain is doing so with an exhibition in its Champs Elysées boutique and a special edition of Shalimar, whose original Baccarat crystal bottle, designed by Raymond Guerlain and inspired by the pools of the eponymous gardens in Lahore, closed by a blue fan-shaped cap, won the Grand Prix at the 1925 exhibition. Among the 350 jewels in the “Cartier” exhibition at the Victoria &amp; Albert in London (from 12 April to 16 November), exceptional pieces linked to Art Deco stand out, from the ceremonial necklace of the Maharaja of Patiala from 1928 to the bandeau with a “Tutti Frutti” motif from 1928, which belonged to Edwina Mountbatten, the last vicereine of India, from the platinum and diamond tiara from 1934 inspired by ancient Egypt and worn by the Begum Aga Khan to a hair ornament in onyx, platinum and diamonds in the shape of an orchid exhibited by the Maison in 1925 in the Pavilion of Elegance. While a year of celebrating Art Deco will inevitably have repercussions across all areas of lifestyle, style has always remained a point of reference. In cosmetics, brands like Oribe and Patyka use overtly Art Deco graphics (and in the case of Oribe, the elegant shapes of the bottles are also inspired by Art Deco), in Korea the cosmetic brand Poiret was launched, which claims to hark back to the heritage of Couture, Penhaligon’s dresses its fragrances Sports Car Club and The Dandy with Art Deco labels, Diaghilev by Roja Dove is a cult among lovers of chypre fragrances, and Arpège by Lanvin , launched in 1927, in the black bottle with the couturier and her baby daughter drawn by Paul Iribe, has a following of vintage fragrance enthusiasts. And the refined aesthetics of the make-up packaging and perfume bottles of the inimitable Serge Lutens are totally Art Deco.

Bracelet "Fleurs enlacés, roses rouges et blanches", 1924, Van Cleef & Arpels collection

Guerlain 1929 advertising page

Art Deco also influenced fashion. Throughout his career, Giorgio Armani was inspired by the elegance of the period, from the materials, the lamé, the sequins, the fringes, the iridescent fabrics, the precious embroidery, the sparkles, to the color palette, between pastel evanescences in degradé and masterful use of black. Flapper references were recurrent in the sequin-embroidered chiffon dresses of Alberta Ferretti &#39;s golden age and were also a classic in the Anna Molinari collection designed by Rossella Tarabini , the daughter of the Blumarine designer. Kim Jones &#39;s latest collection for Fendi S/S 25 is an explicit homage to the period, with his transparent chiffon dresses with geometric baguette embroidery, and an affinity with the style can also be seen in some of Miu Miu &#39;s S/S 25 releases. Miuccia Prada &#39;s particular sensitivity for Art Deco was already known from her collaboration with Catherine Martin (the costume designer wife of Baz Luhrmann) on the creation of the clothes for “The Great Gatsby”, for which she adapted forty of her archive Prada and Miu Miu models to evoke the 1920s without falling into historical pedantry, combining them with what Martin defined as “the visceral modernity” of the novel. An example? The crystal-covered powder dress worn by Carey Mulligan in the party scene, an evolution of the chandelier outfits from the Prada S/S 2010 show. And if Marc Jacobs had furnished his house in the West Village with Art Deco furniture and objects, it is John Galliano who has used the imagery of the 1920s in the most striking way: in Dior &#39;s S/S 1998 he celebrates the Belle Époque but also includes many references to Art Deco in the long bias cut dresses à la Vionnet, while in the spectacular Haute Couture show of the same season she ranges from the Marchesa Casati to Klimt, from Silvana Mangano in Visconti&#39;s “Death in Venice” in the magnificent costumes by Piero Tosi to Boldini &#39;s women, from Paul Poiret &#39;s opera coats to the almost literal revival of his “Sorbet” model and its rose/logo designed by Paul Iribe, up to the Jeanne Lanvin- style panier dress of the grand finale.

Art Deco Centenary 1925-2025: History, Exhibitions and Contemporary Influences in Fashion

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