21st Jun, 2023 10:00 GMT+1/BST

The Mr Steven Philip Collection (part 1) & Passion for Fashion

 
Lot 233
 

A rare and important Chanel couture tunic, embroidered by Kitmir, 1922

un-labelled, of black silk crepe with square neckline, 3/4 length sleeves, hand-embroidered overall with traditional Romanian inspired motifs, worked in ecru and silver outlining threads with red, brown, green and pale blue satin stitched fillings, further embellished with steel-grey facetted and bugle beads, silver thread border edges, shirred gathers to shoulders, bust 101cm, 40in.

Provenance: an American private collection

This tunic was featured in British Vogue, early March 1922 "CHANEL LENDS ORIENTAL BRILLIANCE TO BLACK CREPE DE CHINE BY RUSSIAN AND BALKAN EMBROIDERIES: "(left) In this daytime costume of black crepe de Chine, Chanel turns to the Balkans not only for embroideries, but for the lines of the blouse itself. Blue, yellow, and red appear in the embroidery of the blouse, which is worn over a plain, straight skirt.’’.

In 1921, Coco Chanel was introduced to the Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovana - sister of her then lover Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich. After the Bolshevik revolution in 1917, many aristocrats fled Russia to settle as refugees in Paris. In the Grand Duchess' memoire 'A Princess in Exile', she described how she liked to assist Chanel in her studio. When Coco complained at the exorbitant cost of embroidery, the Duchess offered her own services and indeed went on to set up her own specialist company which she called 'Kitmir' after a legendary dog in Persian mythology. It employed up to 50 young Russian exiles at its height, who had been trained in embroidery as part of their aristocratic education. Although some hand embroidery was produced, the majority was made using Cornelly embroidery machines which allowed for the quick production of embroidered high-quality yardage for dressmaking. The Paris magazine 'Illustrated Russia' wrote of Kitmir:

"A Russian émigré lady has shyly entered this city. There was a time when her mother and grandmother ordered their dresses from Worth and Poiret, but this young Russian woman has just escaped from the hell of the revolution and civil war! She has arrived in the capital of female elegance and knocked on the doors of a luxury maison de haute couture. And the massive doors opened to let her in and she has captured everyone's heart".

In 1922 there was a craze for 'Russian' or folkloric embroidery and many of the couture houses, including Lanvin and Premet incorporated traditional Slavonic embroideries in their collections. Fleeing the Bolshevik revolution, Grand Duchess Pavlovana with her husband Prince Putyatin received an invitation from the Romanian Royal Court to stay as the guest of Queen Marie and it was here that she came into close contact with the traditional Romanian embroidery patterns used in this tunic.

In Alexandre Vassiliev’s book ‘Beauty in Exile’, he describes how Maria Pavlovana on her exile from Russia spent time at the Romanian court on their way to Paris, pp 153 -159

‘’The crown princess Elizabeth had a passion for embroidery, collected Romanian folk embroideries … and then copied them on her hoop. Fortunately, Maria Pavlovna received as a gift from the Romanian queen several dresses …On ceremonial days, Maria Pavlovna, like all the women of the royal house of Romania wore Romanian national costumes.’’

As she had lost all her fine wardrobe during the revolution, she would have taken these traditional Romanian clothes with her when she eventually travelled to Paris and used them as the basis for this Kitmir tunic design.

Initially, Kitmir worked solely for Chanel but by 1925 the business expanded and began to take orders from other fashion houses. Chanel, disliking the lack of exclusivity promptly ended the relationship.

Although the Vogue fashion illustration shows extended sleeves, this version seems to have been made with sleeves of a more practical length. There is a photograph of Mme Coty arriving in America in 1922 wearing a similar tunic.

This is the only the second extant example known of Chanel's famous 'Russian' tunic.

For a labelled tunic of identical design see Kerry Taylor chez Maurice auction, Paris, October, 2-22, lot 147 for 130,000 euros.

Sold for £70,000

Buyer's premium: 25% (exclusive of VAT)


 

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Last updated: 23rd May 2014

 
 

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