Très Parisien, février 1922: 16.- BAVARDAGE 1922

This print, titled "Bavardage" or "Chatter," was published in Paris in February 1922, part of a fashion album called Très Parisien. The scene depicts two women in stylish dresses. The print relies on a visual vocabulary of modernity: streamlined silhouettes, geometric shapes, and a bold contrast of black, white and green. The dresses themselves reflect the key fashion trends of the early 1920s, a period when designers like Coco Chanel were liberating women from the constraints of earlier styles. France in the 1920s was experiencing a cultural and economic rebirth after the First World War. Fashion magazines such as Très Parisien played a crucial role in shaping the image of the "new woman" – independent, stylish, and embracing a more liberated lifestyle. The title, "Chatter," might allude to the social interactions and conversations that defined the lives of these women, even as it implicitly celebrates the institutions of Parisian fashion. To fully understand this image, we can consult publications from the period, explore fashion archives, and examine the history of French magazines and the fashion industry. By situating art within its institutional and social contexts, we recognize that its meaning is never fixed but always contingent on the circumstances of its creation and reception.