The exhibition Art Deco. 100 Years of Fashion celebrates the centenary of the Art Deco style and explores the evolution of European women’s fashion during the interwar period. On display are 56 historical costumes and over 200 accessories, photographs, and artworks from the collection of fashion historian Alexander Vassiliev, reflecting the transformation of European fashion in the 1920s and 1930s.

During this era, Art Deco was the dominant style in architecture, interior design, and applied arts — a name derived from the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes, held in Paris in 1925.

The end of the First World War brought significant changes to Europe’s political landscape: the great empires — Russian, Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman, and German — collapsed, giving rise to new nations such as Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and the Baltic states. These young countries directly influenced the development of fashion, inspiring a fascination with Eastern European national folklore.

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The emancipation of women, their access to higher education, voting rights, and the right to divorce led to a rise in self-awareness and a desire to resemble men in professional and social life. The abolition of the corset, proclaimed by Parisian designer Paul Poiret in the early 20th century, transformed the traditional hourglass silhouette and ushered in the straight-line cut of the 1920s.

The enormous loss of men during the war upset the gender balance and increased competition among women. Sex appealentered fashion, along with an unprecedented boldness to reveal the body: bare backs, arms, and legs became hallmarks of Art Deco femininity. By the mid-1920s, skirts reached the knee, and a passion for jazz and new dances — foxtrot, ragtime, and the Charleston — brought to the fashion scene shimmering silk dresses adorned with beads, sequins, and crystals, sparkling even in the dim light of nightclubs. The “vamp woman” makeup style took inspiration from the divas of Hollywood silent films. Their look was completed with vibrant accessories: beaded handbags and clutches, long pearl necklaces, tiaras and brooches, cigarette holders, small bell-shaped cloche hats, ostrich feather boas, silk stockings, and open-heeled shoes with French heels.

This period was shaped by many prominent Parisian couturiers such as Jean Patou, Robert Piguet, Madeleine Vionnet, Drecoll, and Callot Soeurs, whose creations are also featured in the exhibition. The Art Deco aesthetic was further enriched by Russian artists and designers who emigrated to Paris, Shanghai, and Constantinople after the 1917 Revolution.

A turning point came in the autumn of 1929, when the financial crisis that began in New York triggered a worldwide economic depression. Fashion responded swiftly to declining consumer purchasing power: elaborate bead embroidery disappeared, replaced by longer, tailored, monochrome silhouettes, often in black and white, echoing the aesthetics of black-and-white cinema that influenced 1930s tastes.

The new ideal of womanhood differed sharply from the “vamp” of the previous decade. In the era of totalitarianism, the ideal woman was seen as a positive member of society — a mother, and often a party member. During the early 1930s, a more feminine and glamorous silhouette (from the English glamour, meaning “charm” or “allure”) emerged once again, emphasizing the bust, slightly raised waistline, and hips. This shape, reminiscent of classical antiquity, was achieved through the bias cut introduced by the genius Madeleine Vionnet, whose creations are also presented in the exhibition.

The feminine ideal of the 1930s became embodied by Swedish-American film star Greta Garbo, whose broad shoulders and long eyelashes inspired the popularity of shoulder pads and false eyelashes in fashion.

The exhibition can be viewed as a two-act production:

• The first act (December–March) presents the winter fashion of the Art Deco era.

• The second act (March–summer) showcases spring and summer fashion of the 1920s1930s, marking the 100th anniversary of the Art Deco style.

We are delighted to continue our long-standing collaboration with Keila-Joa Schloss Fall in Estonia!

Alexander Vassiliev