Chanel Haute Couture 1937

Here’s a drawing made by Jean Cocteau, I guess sometime in the 1930s, in pen and ink. It's a fashion sketch, of a Chanel dress. Look at the way he's used the line – so fluid, like a dance across the page, capturing the drape and flow of the fabric. I can almost see him, leaning over the paper, cigarette in hand, letting the ink lead the way. I wonder, did Chanel give him specific instructions, or was it more of a collaboration, an exchange of ideas? The dress itself, with its simple elegance and those little black flowers scattered across the skirt, has a touch of playfulness to it, right? It's like Cocteau is bringing his own sensibility, a little bit of poetry, to the world of fashion. And those little annotations, scribbled on the paper, what was he thinking about? Fashion drawing is a conversation between the artist, the subject, and the viewer.