35 Amazing Vintage Photographs Show How Parisian Women’s Fashion Looked Like Back in the 1910s

Paris is one of the fashion capitals of the world, and since forever a home of the most inspiring and exciting fashion style.

The Longchamp racecourse is situated in the Bois de Boulogne on the banks of the Seine River, in Paris, France. The first Longchamp race meeting was held in 1857. With the first real fashion shows organized in the 1910s, the new century hailed Paris as the fashion capital of the world. And couturiers routinely sent models wearing their latest designs to the racecourse.

As women were enjoying more social freedom, corsets – metaphorically and literally restricting – were changing in function from shaping the body to supporting it. And following the 1910 performance of “Scheherazade” by the Ballets Russes in Paris, a fashion mania for oriental styles was born.

Designs became asymmetrical. Preferred fabrics were satin, taffeta, chiffon and lightweight silks and cottons for the summer. Hemlines gradually rose and the female silhouette became straighter and flatter. The Art Nouveau movement influenced designers such as Paul Poiret, Jeanne Paquin, Jacques Doucet and Mariano Fortuny, who created loose and flowing styles.