An exhibition at Westminster Reference Library, on until 30th November, highlights the work of the forgotten couturier Margaine Lacroix. Research by Dr Sue Ralph of Bath Spa University has shown that this designer was experimenting with draped construction and corsetless shaping by 1908. Because her dresses followed the lines of conventional fashion, unlike the chemises and pantaloons of the radical Paul Poiret, they have been largely overlooked by history. But this made them even more shocking in some ways – a belle-epoque dress so tight that it showed the wearer’s navel was challenging fashion on its own ground, rather than setting up an alternative style.
http://www.westminster.gov.uk/services/libraries/news/wrfexhibitions/