The ship was the first major ocean liner built after the conclusion of World War I and was the first liner ever to be entirely decorated with the Art Deco designs. She was neither the largest ship nor the fastest ship, but she was considered the most beautifully decorated ship built by the French Line until the Normandie. The construction of the Ile de France was part of the agreement between the French Line and the French government dating back to November, This agreement called for the construction of four passenger-mail ships, with the first ship called Paris and the second, Ile de France.
World War I delayed construction until the s, with the Paris being launched and not entering service until and the Ile de France in The ship would undergo fourteen months of fitting-out and left the shipyards on 29 May for her sea trials. In , the French Line released an elaborate gold-covered booklet devoted entirely to the company's new flagship.
The illustrations depicted huge, ornate yet modern public rooms, female passengers carrying feather fans and smoking cigarettes, and passengers being led around the uncluttered sun deck.
Never before had a ship shown its own style in interior design like the Ile de France. In the past, ships had imitated the shore-style.
By contrast, the interiors of the Ile de France represented something new. For the first time, a ship's passenger spaces had been designed not to reproduce decorative styles of the past but to celebrate the style of the present. The ship's degree of modernity was unlike anything previously seen. The first-class dining room was spectacular, never before had the traveling public seen such a room of massive simplicity yet startling attractiveness.
