Maharani Chic

The Indian princesses who defied convention and influenced Parisian style!

Behind India’s Art Deco palaces and the salons of Paris’ storied couture houses, lies an alternative narrative about the French luxury trade. One which has attracted a cosmopolitan clientele from the Global South since its early beginnings. Among them was a group of Jazz Age Maharanis, who became important clients of Paris’ couture houses during the 1920s and ‘30s. Unconventional for their time, these style icons formed an unlikely bridge between India and France through their hybrid lifestyles. Their patronage and sartorial choices would not only influence the tastes of Parisian society, but fuel the emergence of French luxury houses that catered to their needs; producing a hybrid form of luxury fusing Indian refinement with French savoir faire. Alex Aubry, Director of SAIC’s Fashion Resource Center, explores this overlooked chapter in the history of haute couture, through a visually immersive lecture layering imagery, film and press clippings.

Doors open at 6:00 p.m.
Pre-program video and program starts at 6:30 p.m. in the Auditorium .
With a flute of French bubbles!

About Alex Aubry

The Director of the Fashion Resource Center at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Alex’s research, publishing and curatorial work focuses on alternative histories of French haute couture, which center voices and individuals from the Global South. In addition to co-curating the Alliance’s first Chic and You Series, he has collaborated on programing exploring the Francophone world’s contributions to French culture. For 12 years, Alex served as the International Features Editor for Harper’s Bazaar Arabia; covering the arts, culture and design in the region and its Diaspora. In addition to teaching Museum Studies and Modern/Contemporary Art of the Middle East, he has contributed to books on museum development and collecting in the Arabian Gulf region, as well as the catalogue for the 2018 exhibition, Contemporary Muslim Fashion, at San Francisco’s De Young Museum.