Dress c. 1940

Curator: It has such a sweet sadness, don't you think? All that fabric just swallowing a person whole. Editor: That's one way to put it. This drawing, simply titled "Dress," dates back to around 1940 and is the work of Virginia Berge. We're looking at a design rendered in pencil, likely intended as a fashion mockup. The details really draw you in. Curator: A mockup for what, a haunted house? It reminds me of faded wallpaper in a Victorian mansion where you just *know* something tragic happened. It’s that combination of the delicate lines and this almost smothering shape. And those sleeves! So many frills. So sad. Editor: Let's not get too carried away with the gothic atmosphere. What I find fascinating is the depiction of the materiality of the fabric. The plaid pattern meticulously rendered. You get a real sense of how much labor would go into producing a garment like this, even from a simple pencil sketch. You've got to consider the textile production, the weaving, the dye processes...it's a whole system contained in this one image. Curator: True. Someone definitely cared about showing all those pleats, ruffles, and tiny squares! Though I still find myself wondering what event this dress was meant for. It's clearly quite formal, maybe even intended for mourning? Though it's the overall effect, it projects a real sense of lost elegance, a fading dream. It also reflects an era of dressmaking and handcraft slowly getting consumed by industrial making processes, I am starting to see your material connections. Editor: And speaking to its status as a design rendering, there's also the hidden labor of Berge herself: The artist choosing to depict the object this way. Her technical choices emphasize consumption and creation in equal measure. Curator: I guess there's something beautiful even in acknowledging that a beautiful dress starts as raw cloth then gets re-invented over and over! Editor: Absolutely. And tracing those steps leads to a far richer appreciation than simply calling it "sad". Curator: Well, maybe a touch of melancholy is allowed. A single tear tracing the faded pattern, and what else do you see now? Editor: More production opportunities lost over time than fashion's whims dictate at present, but also, an object to be celebrated as an elegant historical artifact of skillful ingenuity that reminds us of both fashion's artistic past and its material future.