Natalia Sergeevna Goncharova

Lefebvre-Foinet Collection

By the time Goncharova and Larionov settled in Paris permanently in 1917, the city had been in thrall to all things Russian ever since the spectacular success of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s Schéhérazade at the very beginning of the decade and they found themselves very much in vogue. Goncharova had already indirectly influenced fashions with her highly stylised costume designs for the Ballets Russes when she was approached by Marie Cuttoli to design for her couture house Myrbor. Myrbor, which took its name from a conflation of the Arabised form of Marie and Cuttoli’s maiden name (Myriam Bordes), had originally started as a hobby but became official in July 1922 with the opening of a boutique in Paris.