Orientalism and Egyptomania in 1920s fashion

Ladies and gentlemen,

Although it is already February, I would like to start by wishing you a Happy New Year! I hope you celebrated the New Year in style and in the company of charming and fascinating people. If you want to continue in style, I recommend that you continue reading this article, which I hope will keep you entertained and perhaps give you inspiration for your own wardrobe!

The dream of the Orient

As one can easily imagine, the Western world's fascination with distant, exotic places is not a new phenomenon from the 1920s. The Orient was already mystically charged in earlier centuries, with paintings and literary works such as the tales of One Thousand and One Nights contributing to the creation of legends. In the 19th century in particular, this place of longing inspired many artists, such as the writers Wilhelm Hauff, Hans-Christian Andersen and Washington Irving, who wrote oriental fairy tales and stories, or painters such as Eugène Delacroix and Jean-Auguste Ingres with their paintings The Women of Algiers and The Turkish Bath.

Eugène Delacroix: Women of Algiers (1834)

Illustration from One Thousand and One Nights by Henry Justice Ford (1898) and Washington Irving's Tales of the Alhambra (1832)

When the French fashion designer Paul Poiret gave a ball in 1911 under the motto La Mille et Deuxième Nuits (The Thousand and Two Nights), accompanied by opulent, avant-garde creations from his house, a new fashion trend was born. Particularly noteworthy were Poiret's styles, which were still unusual for the time and were designed in a way that they could be worn without a corset. Flowing fabrics, clean lines with patterns and design elements inspired by caftans and other oriental garments set new standards for previously known and accepted norms. Those who wore Poiret's creations in the 1910s were probably still among the fashion pioneers, but after the end of the First World War, oriental influences were increasingly found in fashion. In the 1920s, flowing lines, accessories such as turbans, feathers, long scarves and pearl necklaces were among the defining style elements of the decade.

Paul Poiret and his wife Denise at his ball La Mille et Deuxième Nuits

Paul Poiret's opulent oriental suit from 1911

Fashion illustrations of Paul Poiret's oriental-inspired creations

Egyptomania

Ancient Egypt also experienced a renaissance in the 19th century. Napoleon's Egyptian invasion brought the country, which had already fascinated the ancient Romans, back into the focus of interest of European society. British colonisation and the discovery of many pharaonic tombs (such as that of the famous Tutankhamun in 1922) increased the popularity of and fascination with this ancient culture immeasurably. Egypt became a favourite destination for adventurers, but artists and writers such as Tamara de Lempicka, Agatha Christie and Thomas and Katia Mann were also drawn to the country. Literature, film and music were also inspired, films such as Cleopatra (1917) or Ernst Lubitsch's The Loves of Pharaoh (1922) attracted many viewers, people danced to Egyptian Rag and devoured scary novels about pharaohs.

Egyptomania in film and music

Matching perfumes and soaps came onto the market, people wore jewellery and other decorative accessories with Egyptian ornaments and, of course, the ladies also wanted to dress like queens of the Nile. Newspapers and fashion houses showed how to do it properly:

Newspaper article from 1923 about the Egyptian fashion style

Egyptomania in the bathroom: contemporary soap and perfume advertising

Flowing, ornate gowns, with gloves, headband and sometimes even an embroidered loincloth - this is how the elegantly dressed lady à la Egyptienne presented herself

Egyptomania in architecture: The Grauman Egyptian Theatre in Los Angeles, California

The 1920s - open zeitgeist and creative nourishing ground

The 1920s were a time of profound change in many respects. After surviving the horrors and deprivations of war, people yearned for luxury, glamour and beautiful things. The longing for faraway places had certainly also become very strong for many after the four years of not being able to travel. Furthermore, the war had caused traditional Western values to be called into question. The search for alternative ways of life, views and styles gave rise to a multitude of experimental concepts, reform movements and innovative art, architecture and fashion trends. Thanks to high-circulation newspapers and the cinema as a new mass medium, these could now spread faster and more widely than ever before.

Dear audience,

I hope I have been able to inspire you with this excursion into the exotic and extravagant fashion worlds of the 1920s. And while it's still raining, snowing or storming outside, we can start dreaming of warmer days, adorned with pearls, silk scarves and feather jewellery. Stay with me until then.

Sincerely yours,

Marleen Tigersee