Poiret

Paul Poiret, French fashion designer, is not to be confused with Hercule Poirot, fictional Belgian detective. There is no comparison! Poiret is one of my fashion heroes, along with Madeleine Vionnet. They stepped outside the bounds of couture and took it to a new level - not least by Poiret liberating women from constricting undergarments.

Mere hours after reading a review of the book accompanying the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Poiret show, I came across it in Samuel French's theatre bookshop on Warren Street -- not somewhere I usually go. So this was a minor manifestation of Destiny, obviously. (I'm sure I read the review in the Jan/Feb issue of Fiberarts, but it seems to have disappeared from the pages of that magazine...)
My favourite item in the book is this 1912 "duster" coat, used to protect clothes when driving along unpaved roads in open cars, based on a traditional desert garment, the abaya. Conflation of Western elements and non-Western dress is a strategy that Poiret used throughout his career, the book says.
Clothes by Oska, a company based in Germany, have this kind of draped, asymmetrical styling.