Post-War and the Théâtre de la Mode

In 1939, there were seventy registered couture houses in Paris, including the grand establishments of Chanel, Schiaparelli and Balenciaga. This flourishing industry was disrupted by the wartime occupation of Paris. Private clients dispersed, international sales almost ceased and many couturiers closed. The Germans planned to move couture to Berlin but Lucien Lelong, president of the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne, couture's regulating body, objected, saying, 'It is in Paris or it is nowhere.'

Towards the end of the war, in a time of great hardship, the Paris couturiers created the Théâtre de la Mode. This was an exhibition of around two hundred dolls, dressed in the latest styles and arranged in theatre sets designed by artists such as Christian Bérard and Jean Cocteau. The Théâtre toured to Britain, Scandinavia and the USA between 1945 and 1946, raising funds for war victims and promoting French fashion.