Maggy Rouff

Maggy Rouff is known for tailored sportswear and lingerie. Through the 1930s, her house developed a reputation for ruffles, draping, and bias-cut evening gowns.

Maggy Rouff was part of the Art Deco movement. This style emerged in the 1920s, following the First World War. Originally called Style Moderne, Art Deco influenced many creative fields, such as fashion and architecture. Its influences included Cubism, Fauvism, and art from India and the Far East. The discovery of Tutankhamen’s tomb in 1922 increased public interest in ancient Egypt, adding another element to the style. Art Deco celebrated the modern, mechanised world through architecture, design and fine art. It was an international style that started in Paris and is named after the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts held there in 1925. The movement's streamlined works symbolised wealth and sophistication. Art Deco fashion is characterised by simple lines, stylised natural motifs, Cubistic patterns and futuristic streamlining of form.

Maggy Rouff's creations, aligned with the Art Deco movement, can be viewed in several museums. In the United States, these include the Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art (Winter Park, Florida), the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, the Museum of Modern Art (New York), the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (Richmond), and the Wolfsonian at Florida International University (Miami Beach). In Canada, Rouff's work can be seen at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. In the United Kingdom, museums include the Bakelite Museum (Williton), the Brighton Museum & Art Gallery, the Geffrye Museum (London), the Manchester Art Gallery, the National Museums of Scotland (Edinburgh), and the Victoria & Albert Museum (London). In Europe, see the Musée des Arts Décoratifs (Paris), the Musée de l’Ecole de Nancy, and the Musée des Beaux-Arts (Nancy).

Maggy Rouff (1896-1971) was a French fashion designer, who took over her mother's couture house, Maison Besson, in 1929. She renamed it Maggy Rouff. The firm operated until 1965. Rouff's influence is discernible in the work of designers who apprenticed or worked at her house. These included Anne-Marie Beretta, who started at Maggy Rouff in 1956. Beretta later designed for Pierre d'Alby, Scherrer, and Max Mara. Laura Biagiotti, the Italian designer, also worked at Maggy Rouff early in her career. Additionally, Rouff mentored young designers through competitions. One such designer was Emmanuelle Khanh, who won the 1952 "Young Creators" competition organised by Elle magazine, with Rouff as one of the judges. Khanh's later work showed a modern, youthful aesthetic, diverging from Rouff's more established style. However, Rouff's support provided an early platform for Khanh's career. By providing opportunities and training, Rouff aided the careers of several important figures in the fashion world.

Germaine Maggy Besnard (1887-1971), known as Maggy Rouff, directed the Rouff fashion house after her father's death in 1930. The house had been founded in 1916 by her parents, Juliette and Pierre Rouff (1845-1938). While sources do not discuss specific artistic influences on Rouff's designs, some context can be inferred from her background and the general artistic environment of Paris at the time. Her father, Pierre Rouff, had previously been a manager at the Drecoll fashion house. Drecoll was known for its close relationship with theatrical costume design; this connection may have shaped the Rouff house's aesthetic from its beginning. The Rouff fashion house operated during a period of significant change in fashion and art. The rise of modernism, with its emphasis on simplicity and functionality, influenced many designers. Similarly, the artistic movements of the early 20th century, such as Art Deco and Surrealism, impacted fashion through their motifs and approaches to form. It is reasonable to assume that Rouff, as a designer working in Paris during this period, absorbed some of these wider artistic trends.

Maggy Rouff's importance lies in her intersection with the Surrealist movement, particularly in Paris during the 1930s. As a physician and hand-reading expert, Rouff, also known as Dr. Charlotte Wolff, contributed an article titled “The Psychic Revelations of the Hand” to the journal *Minotaure* in 1935. This article analysed the hands of prominent artists and writers, including André Breton, Paul Éluard, and Marcel Duchamp. Rouff's work appealed to the Surrealists because it mirrored their interest in psychoanalysis, the occult, and expanding the investigation of human nature beyond scientific constraints. Her approach, while rooted in medical and psychoanalytic theories, incorporated elements of traditional palmistry, further blurring the lines between science and psychic insight. Her association with Surrealism, though brief, elevated her to the role of seer, adding chirology to the occult disciplines explored by the movement. This connection is a valuable case study for understanding the complex relationship between science, esotericism, and artistic expression in the Surrealist milieu.

The fashion illustrations and graphic work associated with Maggy Rouff reflect the Art Deco sensibility of interwar Paris.