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ABSTRACT
Between the 1890 s and the 1920s, several leading Parisian couture businesses, spearheaded by the house of Paquin, expanded to London to exploit the idiosyncratic advantages of British commerce and clientele. Most of these houses opened branch stores there and formed limited liability companies according to English law, but each strategized their expansions with a distinct individuality. This article explores Franco–British relations in the arena of high-end dressmaking, as well as the economic structures inherent to the early and rapidly expanding couture businesses, by analyzing a series of unpublished business records held in both British and French archives. These cases shed new light on the balance between commerce and creativity in French fashion and offer firsthand accounts of an internationalized couture market in its formative stages.
Notes
1 A preliminary version of this article was presented by the authors at the conference Au-delà de Paris-Londres: Influences, Circulations, Rivalités dans la Mode et le Textile; France-Angleterre, 1700–1914, Paris, 12–13 October 2017.
2 An invoice for a Callot Sœurs order issued to American tennis player Eleonora Sears, dated June 8, 1928, indicates that Callot Sœurs had a branch at 7 Buckingham Gate. Collection of Librairie Diktats.
3 Rapoport, Citation2013, 248, illustrates that in 1881 a number of 648 French dressmakers and related professions resided in London, in 1891, this number had already risen to 831, and in 1901, to 1014.
4 Le Gaulois, on November 23, 1896, reported of conversation overheard in a Parisian salon on the subject of Paquin’s move to London: ‘Paquin! à Londres! pas possible! […] c’est une véritable désertion!’ (Bloc-Notes Parisien, 1896).
5 Original text in French [translation by the authors]: M. le ministre (the minister of commerce): ‘[…] On reproche à M. Paquin d’avoir créé à Londres une succursale anglaise de sa maison française.’ M. le comte d’Aulan: ‘C’est la maison de Paris qui est une succursale de celle de Londres.’ […] M. le ministre: ‘C’est M. Rémond [a representative of the French silk industry] qui donne ainsi son opinion sur l’idée qu’a eue M. Paquin de créer une maison au dehors: L’idée que vous avez eue de créer à Londres une maison française nous donne une force immense dans ce pays et contraint absolument la consommation, souvent malgré elle, à s’adresses à nous pour avoir les étoffes que vous avez lancées.’ Ibid., p. 983.
6 On Paris as a fashion capital: Grumbach, Citation2008; Steele, Citation1988; Stewart, Citation2008.
7 The question of employment was discussed in The Tatler, No. 589, October 9, 1912, p. 32, and Tyrone Courier, September 28, 1905, p. 3: ‘Some English Society ladies, patriotic, but admirers of Parisian fashions, compromise matters by ordering their costumes from French dressmakers settled in London, so that the money spent may benefit the English work-people that these employ.’
8 For the invitation for applications for subscriptions in Paquin Ltd., see the Times, November 23, 1896, p. 4.
9 Memorandum and Articles of Association, G. Beer, Limited, London 1908, The National Archives (Kew) (hereafter TNA), BT 31/17143/79251.
10 Copy of Register of Directors or Managers of Ch. Drecoll Limited, filed October 9, 1908, TNA, BT 31/31991/97348.
11 Franco-British Exhibition Ltd. Incorporation and Dissolution Documents TNA, BT 31/11788/91481 and TNA, BT 34/2129/91481.
12 For a description of the fashion display at the Franco–British Exhibition in London, see Humphry, Citation1908, and Carette, Citation1909.
13 According to the official review of the Franco–British Exhibition, numbers for French export to the UK were on the rise: 822,436,359 francs in 1887, 1,230,172,000 francs in 1900, and 1,372,852,000 francs in 1907 (see Carette, Citation1909, p. 7).
14 Invitation for applications for subscriptions in Paquin Ltd., The Times, November 23, 1896, 4.
15 Ibid.; Archives Nationales du Monde du Travail (Roubaix) (hereafter ANMT), H672, Paquin, Memorandum of Articles of Association, London, 1904, 1; H672, Paquin, Ltd., Report, 1987, 1.
16 Ibid., 1, 4.
17 Ibid., 1.
18 Ibid., 7.
19 ANMT, H672, ‘Company Meetings. Paquin, limited,’ Financial Times, 1900 [n.p.n.d.].
20 Ibid., 9.
21 ANMT, H672, Paquin, ‘Company Meetings. Paquin, limited,’ Financial Times, 1900 [n.p.n.d.].
22 ANMT, H672, Paquin.
23 ANMT, H642, Beer, press clippings file, ‘Les couturiers en actions [sic],’ Le Globe, December 31, 1903.
24 Ibid.
25 On the development of Mayfair as the court dressmaking centre: Davies-Strodder et al., Citation2016, and De la Haye, Citation2015, pp. 9–27.
26 London, Victoria & Albert Museum, Archive of Art and Design (AAD), House of Worth Ltd. and Paquin Ltd., couture house: drawings 1889–c.1952 and photographs c.1899–1929, in 1957 acquired by the V&A along with a large group of designs for costumes and accessories (E18-23047-1957, E23052-53-1957). The archive contains no business documentation. The group at the AAD, however, contains photographs of its Regent Street interiors (folder AAD 4/320-1990 to AAD 4/324-1990). Fragments of the archive are published: A. De la Haye and V. D. Mendes, The House of Worth: Portrait of an Archive (London: V&A Publishing, 2014). A large group of bound volumes with dress designs and press cuttings with the same provenance is available at the Fashion Museum Bath, which kindly informs us that their holdings also include no business documents.
27 Trubert-Tollu et al., Citation2017, pp. 176, 182.
28 The Sketch announces on 27 September 1911 (p. 390) that ‘M. Worth, of Paris, and of 4, New Burlington Street, will move into new and more commodious premises at 3, Hanover Square early in October.’
29 For photographs of the minimalist Japanese decor in Worth’s Unusual Shop on Regent Street, see AAD 4/320-1990 to AAD 4/324-1990.
30 TNA, J 13/16917, Document No. 00579, filed Sept. 26, 1940.
31 Until now, no account of the date of death of Gustave Beer has been known (Héliot Citation2016, volume 1, 26), but a register of directors of G. Beer Ltd., dated February 22, 1909 (TNA, BT 31/17143/79251), lists Marie-Marguerite Beer’s occupation as ‘widow’ and suggests a transfer of Gustave’s shares in the company to her. The transfer of the estate in 1908 (De Saint Simon, Citation1983, p. 459) ultimately verifies that Gustave Beer died in 1908.
32 The history of Gustave Beer is studied in meticulous detail in Mathilde Héliot’s master’s thesis (Héliot, Citation2016), which is the only monographic study on this house.
33 The Tatler announces the opening of the Sackville Street address on December 2.
34 TNA BT 31/17143/79251, TNA J 13/11657, TNA J 107/34, TNA J 107/48, ANMT H 642.
35 Net profits: £15,605 in 1896, £28,559 in 1899, £39,730 in 1900, £43,514 in 1901, and £54,200 in 1902; see Prospectus for 1903, TNA, BT 31/17143/79251, National Archives, Kew.
36 For details of the initial lease of 7 Place Vendôme (1899), see sale agreement between Gustave Beer and the company G. Beer Ltd., signed March 11, 1904: TNA, BT 31/17143/79251. For the history of the building and a list of its proprietors, see De Saint Simon, Citation1983, 212–225.
37 TNA, BT 31/17143/79251.
38 ‘Elle occupe l’ancien club écossais, bien connu là-bas’ (Chronique de l’Elégance, Citation1897).
39 While the Société en nom collectif Boué Sœurs was registered in 1899, the Boué sisters had been trading under their own name at 13 Rue de Helder since 1897. See Archives Commerciales de la France (1897, August 28), p. 1085.
40 Waleria Dorogova is currently completing her PhD dissertation on the history of Boué Sœurs at the University of Bonn. For a concise history of the house, see Dorogova, Citation2016.
41 For an announcement of the bankruptcy, see Archives Commerciales de la France (1905, March 22), p. 348.
42 See incorporation filings, TNA, BT 31/17764/88838.
43 Given the absence of written evidence, no precise opening dates can be given for the installment of those branches. Jeanne states in an interview with the New York Herald on November 1, 1914: ‘We have four branch shops—in Petrograd, in Bucharest, in Cairo, and in London.’ On the state of Boué Sœurs and its branches during World War I, see Dorogova, Citation2020 (forthcoming).
44 Certificate of Incorporation Boué Sœurs Ltd., TNA, BT 31/17764/88838.
45 Notice of change in the Situation of the Registered Office of Boué Sœurs Limited. Registered on May 9, 1924. TNA, BT 31/17764/88838.
46 The New York branch is noted as a ‘recent opening’ in the Financial Times, March 25, 1914. Buenos Aires is included in Paquin advertisements for the first time in late 1911. The Madrid branch does not appear in print advertisements as late as December 1914 but is discussed at the annual general meeting of Paquin Ltd. in 1915; The Sketch, April 28, 1915, p. x. See, for example, a Paquin advertisement in The Sphere, December 5, 1914, p. ix.
47 See correspondence between the Companies Registration Office at Somerset House and H. Davis of Old Broad Street, former solicitor of Boué Sœurs Ltd., 1929–1931, TNA, BT 31/17764/88838.
48 The Austrian house Ch. Drecoll (situate in Vienna at 7 Kohlmarkt) registered a Paris branch (at 4 Place de l’Opéra) in February 1903 under the direction of Ernest Daniel Robert de Wagner. Archives Commerciales de la France, February 4, 1903, 146. A short note on the complex history of the house: W. Dorogova, ‘A Tale of Two Drecolls,’ https://kerrytaylorauctions.com/tale-two-drecolls/.
49 Incorporation Documents for Ch. Drecoll Ltd. TNA, BT 31/31991/97348.
50 Pall Mall Gazette, May 4, 1912, 11: Shareholders meeting of Ch. Drecoll Ltd. of May 3, 1912. Gross profit as indicated on balance sheets: £124,830 in 1908, £126,980 in 1909, £134,996 in 1910, and £137,283 in 1911; Report of the Directors, August 6, 1919, TNA, BT 31/31991/97348: ‘The war has continued to prejudically affect the business of the company, […] Since the 30th June, 1914, no Dividends have been paid.’
51 Ch. Drecoll liquidator’s account, TNA, BT 31/31991/97348.
52 Announcement in the New York Herald, March 30, 1902, supplement, 3.
53 Agreement for Sale and Purchase dated February 3, 1905, TNA, BT 31/17380/83458.
54 Incorporation documents TNA, BT 31/17380/83458. Abelson was a participant in the Franco–British exhibition in 1908. Along with Armand Cahen, Jules Henri Renou, and Paul Lucien Felix Tarrade, Abelson was a director of Martial Armand et Cie Ltd. See Certificate of Incorporation, February 2, 1905, TNA, BT 31/17380/83458.
55 Advertisement in the Bystander, October 20, 1909. Of notable frequency are, for example, photographic half-page advertisements for 1912 and 1913 in the popular society journals The Tatler, The Bystander, and The Sphere.
56 TNA, BT 31/17380/83458.
57 ANMT, H660, Dœuillet.
58 ANMT, H660, Dœuillet, printed document ‘Société Dœuillet, Limited,’ 2.
59 ANMT, H660, Dœuillet, printed document ‘Société Dœuillet, Limited,’ 2.
60 TNA, BT 31/11895/92561, Memorandum of Association, Vendôme Syndicate, Limited, London, March 15, 1907, 7.
61 ANMT, H660, Dœuillet, Prospectus, Dœuillet Ltd., July 1907.
62 Summary of Capital and Shares of G. Beer Ltd. filed January 20, 1905. TNA, BT 31/17143/79251.
63 In addition, Aubert also invested in hairdressing business in Paris (Perkins, Citation1929; Archives commerciales de la France, November 27, 1931, p. 5456ff; Pouillard, Citation2015).
64 TNA, BT 3T34/2145/92561, List of amounts paid or payable to contributories, July 30, 1909.
65 ANMT, H660, Dœuillet.
66 ANMT, U159bis, Haute Couture Parisienne, 1927.
67 The economic history of Paris fashion in wartime has yet to be written. While we will refer to wartime sources and developments where necessary for the houses in question here, the vast subject of the financial dynamics in the fashion industry at that time cannot be tackled within the scope of this article.
68 ANMT, H672, Paquin file.
69 ANMT, H672, Paquin file.
70 For reports of the annual meetings of April 22, 1915, see the Sketch, April 28, 1915, X, and for a meeting in May 1916, see the Sketch, May 31, 1916, XII.
71 ANMT H672, Paquin Ltd.; Pouillard, Citation2016, p. 210.
72 Affidavit from Keith Sydney Thompson, liquidator of Worth of Paris Ltd., filed September 20, 1940, TNA, J 13/16917.
73 TNA BT 31/24186/151483, BT 34/4294/151483. We are grateful to Kathryn Squitieri for sharing these files with us.
74 Sources of the table: Paquin, ANMT, H672, Beer, ANMT, H642, Dœuillet, ANMT, H660, Martial & Armand, BNA, BT 31/17380/83458, Boué Sœurs, TNA, BT 31/17764/88838, G. Beer, TNA, BT 34/3097/79251, Vendôme Syndicate, TNA, BT 31/11895/922561.
75 Sources of the table: ANMT, H672, Paquin, H660, Dœuillet, TNA, BT 31/17380/83458, Martial and Armand & Co, Ltd. All sums have been converted in 2014 USD using EH.net calculator.
76 Source of the table: ANMT, H672, ‘Prosperous Paquin, Ltd.’, The Financial Times, 19 March 1903, [n.p.].
77 Deschamps, G. La crise dans les industries du vêtement et de la mode à Paris pendant la période de 1930 à 1937, Thèse, Paris, Librairie Technique et Economique, 1937, 124.