Orientalism and Pagoda

Pagode: Costumes Parisiennes, 1914Étienne Drian (French, 1885–1961)Hand-colored print
The Irene Lewisohn Costume Reference Library, Woodman-Thompson Collection (LY62.38.1[20])
The pagoda became the most pervasive and easily recognizable symbol of China in the West. In the teens, dress emulated the tiered form, as the shifting silhouette moved away from the body and became an abstracted tube or cone comparable to the axioms of Cubism and Futurism.

http://http//www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/orie/ho_LY62.38.1[20].htm

A pagoda is the general term in the English language for a tiered tower with multiple eaves common in China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, and other parts of Asia. Some pagodas are used as Taoist houses of worship. Most pagodas were built to have a religious function, most commonly Buddhist, and were often located in or near temples.

In cubist artworks, objects are broken up, analyzed, and re-assembled in an abstracted form—instead of depicting objects from one viewpoint, the artist depicts the subject from a multitude of viewpoints to represent the subject in a greater context. Often the surfaces intersect at seemingly random angles, removing a coherent sense of depth. The background and object planes interpenetrate one another to create the shallow ambiguous space, one of cubism's distinct characteristics. ....wikipedia

House of Jenny

Jenny
The house of Jenny was opened in Paris in 1909 by Jeanne Adele Bernard (1872-1961).
The house specialized in elegant, aristocratic evening clothes and day dresses.
Throughout the 1920's Jenny successfully attracted a clientele of American and European women. Here on the right is a picture of a day dress from 1922 featuring the low waist typical of the period.
In 1938, when Jeanne Bernard was 66, she merged the house with the house of Lucile Paray. It finally closed in 1940 when the Germans occupied Paris. Madame Bernard died in 1961 at the age of 89.

JENNY DOMINATES AMERICA.

We will take Jenny as the first in order of the houses to be treated somewhat in detail, for she is, perhaps, directly responsible for the present mode, though she derived her inspiration from the last mentioned silhouette of Le Franch and the “robe-manteau” introduced by Mme. Cheruit just before the war for the Trouville season, and never worn by any one but the famous Mlle. “Canada,” who appeared in the Bois one Sunday morning with great success in the simplest of garments, nothing more than a flaring one-piece dress of pique’, which was opened up the front over a petticoat of tucked organdy so that it really appeared like a long coat, hence its name, “robe-manteau.”
This long coat in various forms is being shown by Jenny over slip dresses of satin and tulle made of satin, of taffetas, of gabardine, of serge, and of linen.
But the success of the present season in Jenny’s tailored suits in a side-pleated godet skirt with a Louis XV. jacket fastened by link rhinestone buttons, giving a peep at a low-cut waistcoat made of gold and white brocade of the softest quality, fastened by six ball buttons of the material, closely ranged.
My favorite of the entire French collection is a black satin belted frock at this house. Its skirt is full but not too flaring nor too short; it buttons with a close row of flat satin buttons, from waist to hem in the middle of the front; the round bodice is cut away in a deep V, to show the cunningest little linen shirtwaist with a turnover collar, and this most Parisian of the entire parade of models is completed by a wide belt made of straps of black patent leather.
Jenny’s evening gowns remind you of clouds and dew drops; they are made of everything that is white and illusive, occasionally touched by a flower in most delicate tones. She uses a great deal of lace and not a little spangling, her skirts are of ruffles, met by a band of beaded lace to which they are flatly fastened; at the other side of this band is fulled another ruffle which in turn is at its lower edge sewed straight to another band, and so on until the length of the skirt is reached, while at the same time flaring godets are arrived at.
Such skirts fall from a round waist, the hips being rather flatly treated; belts are usually of ribbon, plain or embroidered; the favorite corsage is nothing more than a round baby waist, often with short puff sleeves. Many times the décolletage has a garland of flowers.
Sometimes the skirt is formed of a single magnificent flounce of lace which is shirred on horizontal cords at graduated intervals. Nearly all of these skirts have a deep transparent hem to their narrow silk foundation. This hem often reaching half way to the knees.