Très Parisien 1923, No. 2: Tissus de chez RACINE.. 1923

This pochoir print, Très Parisien 1923, No. 2, was made anonymously in France, advertising the fabrics of ‘Racine’ in Paris. It’s an image that reflects the rapid social changes affecting women in the early 1920s. The First World War saw women take on new roles in the workplace. They were gaining financial independence and, with it, social freedoms. Paris was a creative hub for change and a place where traditional social norms were questioned. New fashions, like the ones depicted here, were a symbol of women's changing roles and the cultural shifts of the Jazz Age. These clothes, made from Racine fabrics, allowed a new freedom of movement for women. Images like this one are useful resources for social historians. By consulting sources such as newspapers, magazines, and trade publications, we can better understand the meaning of art as something contingent on the social and institutional contexts in which it was made.