Entitled: "C'est moi" (It's me) fashion plate by Poiret, 1922. Paul Poiret (April 20, 1879, April 30, 1944) was a leading French fashion designer during the first two decades of the 20th century. While a teenager, Poiret took his sketches to Louise Ch矇ruit, a prominent dressmaker, who purchased a dozen from him. He continued to sell his drawings to major Parisian couture houses, until he was hired by Jacques Doucet in 1896. He established his own house in 1903, and made his name with his controversial kimono coat and similar, loose-fitting designs created specifically for an un-corseted, slim figure. He designed flamboyant window displays and threw sensational parties to draw attention to his work. His instinct for marketing and branding was unmatched by any other Parisian designer. Though perhaps best known for freeing women from corsets and for claiming authorship of the hobble skirt, harem pants, and lampshade tunic,his major contribution to fashion was his development of the dressmaking technique known as draping, a departure from the tailoring and pattern-1879making of the past. He died in 1944 at the age of 65.