The Last Seasons

The social seasons of 1910-1914 glittered with particular brilliance. The opera staged Wagner despite German tensions. The Grand Prix at Longchamp saw record crowds and betting. The salons competed in luxury and wit. Maxim's and the Tour d'Argent served elaborate dinners to international elite who would soon be enemies.

Fashion reached new extremes. Paul Poiret's 1911 "Les Mille et Deuxième Nuit" (Thousand and Second Night) party saw guests in elaborate Oriental costumes. Women's skirts rose above the ankle—scandalous exposure that would seem quaint after war's social disruptions. The tango arrived from Argentina, its sensual movements shocking conservatives who saw civilization's breakdown in dance steps.

The 1913 social season proved particularly frantic. The Duchesse de Guermantes (Proust's model was composite of several hostesses) held a ball described as "the last dance before disaster." Young officers waltzed in uniforms they'd die in. Debutantes who would become war widows made their entrances. The orchestras played while Europe prepared to burn.

Summer resorts filled with nervous gaiety. In Deauville, Biarritz, and Vichy, the wealthy gathered as if collective proximity could ward off danger. The casinos reported record gambling—risk-taking displaced from politics to roulette wheels. The season extended later than usual, as if no one wanted to return to cities where newspapers carried increasingly grim news.