From 1911, the Orientalism of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade, Stravinsky’s Firebird and Strauss’s Joseph carried all before it. Lady Duff Gordon’s French rival, Paul Poiret, challenged the sweet-pea shades of the Edwardian era with strident scarlets, jades, purples and oranges. Not to be outdone, Lucile Ltd responded with têtes de couleurs: wigs of blue or pink to be worn while dancing the tango, which was all the rage from 1912. The fashionable silhouette remained narrow, but skirts were slit, draped and tiered, overlaid with wired ‘lampshade’ tunics, and surmounted by lamé turbans crowned
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