In the 19th century writers and artists—Gustave Flaubert, Victor Hugo and Eugene Delacroix among them—introduced the Western world to the wonders of the Orient, plundering the area’s indigenous art and crafts for inspiration. The aesthetics and ideals of the eastern reaches of Asia became so pervasive in Victorian popular culture that by the Edwardian era they had infiltrated the fashion vernacular. Since then Oriental themes have periodically popped up in collections throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, notable recent examples including the kimono sleeves and Hokusai-style prints of John Galliano’s Spring 2007 couture collection for Christian Dior, Marc Jacobs's The King and I-inspired spring 2010 collection, and Christopher Kane’s bright embroidered blooms for the coming fall. Karl Lagerfeld has also fallen for the charms of the East, hosting an extravagant show for Fendi along the Great Wall of China in October 2007 and opening a Chanel boutique in Shanghai in late 2009, also the location for his pre-fall 2010 collection. The latter was inspired by Coco Chanel’s fascination with the Orient—evident from the Chinese lacquered screens that adorn her apartment on Rue Cambon. Lagerfeld’s latest Asian flirtation for the French fashion house will hit stores to coincide with the Universal Exhibition in Shanghai, beginning May 1. The line of accessories and costume jewelry reference both traditional Chinese symbols such as the dragon as well as a more cheeky Western perspective seen in the "take-away box" bag—the ideal evening transport for a stick of scarlet lipstick and cell phone.
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