During April, Europeana Fashion will explore the history of couture, dedicating each week to a different less-known couturier. The first issue focuses on Vitaldi Babani, a textile importer turned into a designer, whose robe japonaise became a must for every fashionable woman in Paris.

A Frenchman born in the Middle East, Vitaldi Babani founded the fashion house of Babani in 1894. His boutique, set on Boulevard Gassmann, originally sold exotic goods imported from the Middle and Far East, such as embroideries, fabrics, rugs, furniture and artworks, but also oriental costumes and garments.

Manteau du soir in yellow velvet, designed by Babani in 1915/1920. Collection Les Arts Décoratifs, all rights reserved.

His nagajuban, kimono under garments, became a must for every fashionable woman in Paris after a successful series of advertisements published from 1905 on the French fashion magazine “Le Figaro-Madame”, refiguring upper-class women wearing the robe japonaise as elegant peignoirs.

1900-10 advertisement showing a Western woman wearing a Japanese kimono imported by Babani. Source Wikimedia Commons: http://bit.ly/1UZ3VeW

Paris and the European society were at the time fascinated by the art of the East, and it was use of many couturiers to get inspired by the volumes and ornamentation of the eastern traditional costumes to create their designs. Inspired by the goods he imported, Babani did that too, reproducing these costumes with luxurious fabrics and materials, such as precious silks and velvets.

Alongside his creations and oriental goods, Babani was also a licensed seller of Liberty textiles and – together with Paul Poiret in Paris – of the designs of the Venetian based couturier Mariano Fortuny, whose aesthetic was also reminiscent of a certain Orientalism.

"Delphos" dress, designed by Mariano Fortuny, 1920 ca. Photo by Stephan Klonk. Collection Kunstgewerbemuseum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, CC-BY-NC-SA.

From 1919, the son of Vitaldi, Maurice, joined Babani and carried on the business. He launched a series of perfumes that, accordingly to the fashion house’s style, bore exotic names, such as Afghani (1920), Yashmak (1924), Abdulla (1926) and Sousouki (1921).

Stay connected to Europeana Fashion’s Facebook page to learn more about Babani and his time and world through a selection of pictures from Europeana Fashion’s collection!