Fashion Show c. 1933

Editor: This is "Fashion Show" by Hans Meid, a delicate drawing at the Harvard Art Museums. There's something quite ghostly and unfinished about it. What strikes you most about this work? Curator: The sketch-like quality invites us into the artist’s process, doesn't it? The man seated; is he a critic, a buyer, or perhaps just a daydreamer watching these women present themselves? It feels like a fleeting moment, a half-remembered dream of interwar style. Editor: I hadn't thought of it as a dream. Now that you mention it, it seems both present and distant, like peering through a haze. Curator: Exactly! Perhaps it's Meid's way of capturing the ephemeral nature of fashion itself. Editor: I see. It’s amazing how much can be conveyed with so few lines. Curator: Indeed, the simplicity is its power.