Editing Paul Poiret (section)

==Collapse of the Poiret fashion house==
Early in [[World War I]], Poiret left his fashion house to serve the military.<ref name=vogue/> When he returned in 1919, the business was on the brink of bankruptcy.<ref name=vogue/> New designers like Chanel were producing simple, sleek clothes that relied on excellent workmanship.<ref name=vogue/> In comparison, Poiret's elaborate designs seemed dowdy and poorly manufactured.<ref name=vogue/> (Though Poiret's designs were groundbreaking, his construction was not – he aimed only for his dresses to "read beautifully from afar.")<ref name=vogue/> In 1922, he was invited to New York to design costumes and dresses for Broadway stars. He took his top designer (France Martano) and an entourage with him, enjoying the elegant life at sea (see photos). New York City, however, was not home and he soon returned to Paris leaving his top designer there in his stead. Back in Paris, Poiret was increasingly unpopular, in debt, and lacking support from his business partners. He soon left the fashion empire he had established.<ref name=vogue/> In 1929, the house was closed, with its leftover stock sold by the kilogram as rags.<ref name=vogue/> When Poiret died in 1944, his genius had been forgotten.<ref name=vogue/> His road to poverty led him to odd jobs, including work as a street painter, selling drawings to customers of Paris cafes. At one time, the Chambre syndicale de la Haute Couture discussed providing a monthly allowance to aid Poiret, an idea rejected by Worth, at that time president of the group.{{citation needed|date=April 2018}} Only his friend and one of his right-hand designers from his pre-WWI era, France Martano (married name: Benureau), helped him in his era of poverty, when most of Parisian society had forgotten him. At the end of his life, he dined regularly in her family's Paris apartment and she ensured he was not wanting for food. (He'd previously erased her from his memoirs as, after designating her as his long-term replacement to design for Broadway in 1922, he was infuriated that she became an independent couturier upon her return to Paris.{{Citation needed|date=April 2018}}) His friend [[Elsa Schiaparelli]] prevented his name from encountering complete oblivion, and it was Schiaparelli who paid for his burial.{{Citation needed|date=April 2018}}