Specializing in corsets, dresses and coats, Maison Margaine-Lacroix is a French fashion house that has remained famous for its creations of corsets and its Sylphides and Tanagréennes dresses. Maison Margaine-Lacroix was created in 1868 by Armandine FRESNAIS-MARGAINE (1835-1899) under the name Maison Margaine then developed by the daughter of the founder Jeanne-Victorine MARGAINE-LACROIX (1868-1930) under the name Maison Margaine-Lacroix on the death of his mother. Born December 3, 1868, Jeanne Victorine MARGAINE is the daughter of the seamstress Armandine FRESNAIS-MARGAINE and the watchmaker François Arsène MARGAINE. Jeanne MARGAINE becomes Jeanne LACROIX by marrying Philippe LACROIX. At the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1889, Maison Margaine won a gold medal for its creations and the press already mentioned the contribution of Jeanne LACROIX, the designer's daughter, in particular for her flower designs. Margaine-Lacroix is a member of the Collectivité de la Couture which presents models in the Salon des Lumières of the 1900 Universal Exhibition in Paris. The Margaine-Lacroix house was located 19 boulevard Haussmann in Paris. It was the architect of Paul POIRET and Jeanne PAQUIN, Louis SUE who, with the Atelier Français, designed the interior and exterior of the Margaine-Lacroix house around 1912-1914. In 1923, the house left its premises at 19 boulevard Haussmann and moved to 29 avenue Marigny. Launched by the house Margaine-Lacroix in 1899, the Sylphide dress does away with the corset which "it replaces by means of an ingenious combination of lining". This inner jumpsuit is an elastic silk jersey underwear to which the petticoat is attached. The stockings are attached to the inside of the petticoat, eliminating the need for garters and holding the petticoat in place. Knitted in tight mesh, this bust-to-knee swimsuit serves as a substitute corset. The dress itself with its reinforced bodice also acts as a corset. The Sylphide corsets, also called Sylphide bra and Sylphide sheath, are based on the same principle as the interior combination of the Sylphide dress. The Sylphide bra is in silk canvas and the Sylphide sheath in kidskin. Margaine-Lacroix also developed the Sylphide sheath, in a silk knit, which Figaro-Modes indicated in 1904 that "this sort of ideal swimsuit" gloves the shapes with a soft firmness and removes all traces of the corset to the eye. The invention is patented S.G.D.G. the year of its creation. The three models presented at the 1900 Universal Exhibition reproduced in the exhibition catalog are three Sylphides dresses, one in green charmeuse, the second in pink swanskin and the third in white lambskin. The Margaine-Lacroix house associated with the painter Consuelo FOULD for the creation of a corset that is laced on the front. The American firms H.W. Gossard Company and Coronet Corset Company mention the association of the two women in the advertisements which they published in the American edition of Vogue in particular in 1908 and 1911. Coronet Corset Company thus presents itself as the agent for the United States of corsets lacing on the front of Margaine-Lacroix. H. W. Gossard Company explains that the idea of ​​a corset laced on the front and easy to adjust is due to Consuelo FOULD and that Margaine-Lacroix then developed this principle under the name "L'Irresistible"; Gossard corsets are presented as improved versions of Margaine-Lacroix corsets. We find the trace of a patent filing relating to a corset made by Consuello FOULD from 1901. The Maison Margaine-Lacroix notably uses feather whales from the Weeks company for the manufacture of its dresses and corsets. The contribution of Maison Margaine-Lacroix in the abandonment of the corset is today studied by fashion historians while the transformation of the silhouette in the Belle Époque is traditionally attributed to the influence of Paul POIRET and Madeleine VIONNET. The historian Caroline EVANS however recalls that Margaine-Lacroix produced in 1910 corsets created for the Tanagra and Sylphide dresses and that its advertisements affirmed that the Sylphide-sheath corset was essential under the sticky dresses thus invalidating the assertion that the dresses were worn without corset.