Dress c. 1937

Katharine Morris made this drawing, titled ‘Dress,’ with graphite and watercolor. Just imagine the artist making this, trying to capture the nuances of fabric and form, and using those light washes of color to bring a sense of life to a garment that hasn’t yet been brought into being. The way she’s laid down the graphite and watercolour is so delicate, it almost feels like she’s conjuring a memory rather than designing something entirely new. Maybe she was envisioning someone wearing this dress, moving through a room. I can imagine she was thinking about its texture and drape, about how the fabric would feel against the skin, and trying to translate all of that onto paper. You know, it’s interesting how artists, whether they’re designing clothes or painting canvases, are always in conversation with one another, borrowing, riffing, and expanding on ideas across time. I love the idea that art is this ongoing dialogue, where meaning is never fixed but always evolving.