A rare Poiret for Liberty velvet house robe, circa 1930, of double-layered contrasting purple and crimson velvet, frilled collar, with simple tie belt threaded through gold lace edged openings, embroidered to the velvet lining in chain stitch `Liberty by Poiret', chest 96cm, 38in When Paul Poiret's business empire crumbled in the late 1920s (he became bankrupt in 1929 also the year his wife divorced him) he became a freelance designer as a means of scraping a living. In 1933 Printemps commissioned him to design a ready to wear range but it ended in failure due to Poiret's inability to make affordable clothing. This rare example of Liberty clothing must have been a similar venture. Edna Chase the celebrated US Vogue editor wrote of a visit to Paris where she came across him one morning "I hated the hotel coffee so would walk to a small nearby restaurant run by Sherry's for my breakfast. On several mornings I saw Poiret there looking soiled and shabby and someone told me he was completely broke and that Sherry's gave him his breakfast." cf 'Always in Vogue' Edna Woolman Chase p.120
