Research results. From the history of fashion shows. As long as fashionable
clothes remained the privilege of the upper crust and were made exclusively on an
individual order, a preliminary demonstration of an outfit on a human body was
impossible, since the customers condemned it. To make clothes, tailors used dummies;
however, the “fashion dolls” remained virtually the only tool for clothes demonstration.
In the mid-1860s, Charles Frederick Worth was the first one to try to change this
practice when he began to demonstrate clothes on young girls, whom he called “les
sosies”, that is “lookalikes”. To demonstrate the new models he produced some sort of
“covers” for the girls who demonstrated the clothes so that the clientele didn’t have
any negative perception. The couturier organized shows during the races at the
Longchamp racecourse, thus creating a tradition that others continued until the 1930s.
However, the models simply flaunted at a social event, attracting the attention of
potential customers and publicly presenting fashionable outfits [2]. The functional
content of such actions was to advertise the costume as a high-quality product that can
be ordered and purchased. The expediency of these actions was supported by prestige
that is belonging to a narrow circle of the elect for whom an exclusive outfit was
created.
Most of the shows, which in the early 20th century began to be practiced by other
couturiers, were of behind the scenes and salon nature. Jeanne Paquin, for instance,
was the one to introduce musical accompaniment during the demonstration of clothes.
At that time, great importance was given to the fabrics, their combination, and, of
course, the quality of the decorative elements, which made products unique. A costume
in the craftsmanship of a couturier was the dominant of salon shows, and the models
were not paid much attention to, but rather perceived as extras.
In 1914, Jeanne Paquin staged a real show at the Royal Palace Theatre in London,
where she demonstrated a collection of costumes and additions thereto. Both the
interior decoration of the premise where the action took place and the way of movement
and poses of the models, as well as musical accompaniment, have become important
for this event. The functions of the show have expanded and included not only
informing about fashionable novelties and advertising the designer’s creativity, but
also positioning the image of a contemporary as an example of a reference beauty [3].
In 1909, Paul Poiret held his first show for. His models passed by the invited
clients in a salon room, stopping at every woman, and it made it possible to get a better
look at the outfits. In 1911 he gave a theatrical themed show “1002 nights”, which was
held in the garden of his house [4]. Conceptual theatrical performance has become a
unique spectacle. All the models, as well as the outfits of the invited guests, were united
by a single theme, had common stylistic characteristics of Orientalism, demonstrated
the development of a unified concept of shaping costumes, their decoration, and
trimming. At the same time, each individual model was unique, primarily in the artistic
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