When it comes to couture houses of the late 19th/early 20th Centuries, Maison Rouff was one of the more obscure and in many ways is an enigma. Today, except for the occasional reference (at least in English), Maison Rouff has pretty much been lost to history except for the fact that Jeanne Paquin got her start there before venturing out on her own in 1891. Complicating matters is that it’s often confused with the designer Maggy Rouff who was originally born Marguerite de Wagner in 1896 and ultimately bought Maison Rouff in 1929 and subsequently adopted the pseudonym of “Maggy Rouff.”

From what little information we do have, Maison Rouff was founded in 1884 by a one L. Rouff. Originally located in Vienna, the house at some point moved to Paris (Interestingly enough, Maison Rouff is noted as having participated in the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago). Unfortunately, it’s going to take some real digging into non-internet sources to find out the total story but in the meantime, below are a few images of some styles for Fall 1901 that were featured in the September 1901 issue of Les Modes:

First we start with a visiting dress:

Afternoon dress:

And here’s two images of a dinner dress (it appears to be the same dress from two different angles):

In all the above styles, the s-bend corset definitely creates the foundation and in all instances, the skirts have a train. Naturally, the train on in the dinner dress depicted above is the most elaborate of all and it’s quite impressive, enhanced by two very large ribbons extending down from a bow. Otherwise, the styles are fairly typical of the early 1900s. The history of Maison Rouff certainly bears more study and we hope that in future posts that we’ll have more to reveal.