Très Parisien, 1923, No. 2: Tissus de J. MEURICE & CIE...Au soliel 1923

This fashion plate, made anonymously in 1923, advertises fabrics by J. Meurice & Cie. The design is all about the careful placement of line, the flat areas of colour, and the rhythm of the repeat patterns. It’s interesting to imagine the hand-drawn process behind this print, where the artist would have had to work with a high degree of control and accuracy to create the different layers and details. I can really imagine the artist, hunched over a drawing board, carefully rendering the intricate patterns of the dress and imagining its flow. What would it have been like to sit and imagine the drape of a dress, one tiny pen stroke at a time? How can you capture the feeling of movement with such a static image? The artist would have considered how to make the print visually appealing for potential customers, how to capture the spirit of Parisian style. It reminds me of other artists who have worked with fashion, like Sonia Delaunay or Erté. Artists and designers have always been in conversation, inspiring one another’s creativity, each adding something to the mix. Painting, design, fashion – it’s all just another way of thinking through feeling.