Gazette du Bon Ton, 1920 - No. 3, Croquis Pl. 18: Worth / Beer 1920

Mario Simon made this fashion plate for the Gazette du Bon Ton around 1920, likely with colored pencil or crayon. Look at the marks that make up the shading, the gentle modeling that gives form to the dresses. It's so simple and direct, like a shorthand for form and texture. There's something kind of wonderful about fashion plates. So much information is communicated with so few marks. Notice how Simon uses line and tone to evoke the different fabrics: the soft, draping quality of the dress on the left, the heavier weight of the coat in the center, and the delicate pleats of the dress on the right. The limited color palette of blush and gray reinforces this sense of refinement. Each mark is efficient. And I love how these images are like a conversation that's happening between artists over time. You could see echoes of Watteau in Simon’s soft rendering of fabric, that early modern lightness of touch. Art, like fashion, is all about these subtle references and reinterpretations. It's an ongoing dialogue.