Art - Goût - Beauté, Feuillets de l' élégance féminine, Mars 1932, No. 139, 12e Année, p. 5 1932

Curator: This print, from a 1932 edition of "Art-Goût-Beauté, Feuillets de l'Élégance Féminine," features two women showcasing Riviera fashion. It's a mix of drawing and print techniques. Editor: Immediately, I’m struck by the serenity. It's almost dreamlike, a quiet sophistication captured in soft lines. There’s a delicate fragility to the figures and the airy fabric of their gowns. Curator: Yes, "Art-Goût-Beauté" was a journal showcasing high fashion and decorative arts during the interwar period. These weren’t just images, though. They reflected and helped to constitute emerging roles for women in production and consumption. Editor: Absolutely. These aren't merely dress designs. The slender, elongated figures embody the spirit of the Art Deco era, this craving for streamlined modernity. The emphasis isn't on opulent display but rather a confident grace. The muted palette – the beige, the ivory – suggests wealth, yet whispers, rather than shouts. Curator: Considering the context of the Great Depression, fashion, like other material forms, was increasingly defined by austerity and even scarcity. We see a tension between escapist luxury, represented through those soft pastel tones, and the economic realities of the era reflected in relatively pared down design, materials and techniques. Editor: It's an interesting dialogue. The Riviera promised escape but was deeply shaped by real conditions, so maybe these images perform a necessary trick of hope? Curator: Precisely. By focusing on the design and materials – linen, silk, even paper in print form - we can discern the complicated conditions of the industry and lived experiences reflected in those fashions. Editor: These designs suggest not just how women wanted to be seen, but what they were aspiring towards—that sense of gentle strength in difficult times. Curator: It really does tell you a story of labor, materials and ingenuity meeting societal conditions. Editor: Makes you think about the stories clothes tell beyond simple aesthetics, doesn't it?