Très Parisien, 1925, No. 10, Pl. 17: Créations Martial et Armand - ESTEREL 1925

This fashion plate, "Très Parisien," was made in 1925 by G-P. Joumard. The colours are so muted, so restrained; pale greens, creams, and greys, as if the world is only just coming into focus. It's like Joumard is handing us a set of soft pastels and inviting us to finish the drawing ourselves. The plate has a delicate touch, a kind of see-through quality, especially in the rendering of the figures. Look at the dress on the left. The tartan skirt seems to shimmer. It’s a play of lines, a kind of quiet geometry. Then your eye catches the coat on the right with its contrasting fur trim. There is an appealing tension between the flatness of the design and the desire to make it dimensional. Fashion plates like these remind me a little of Matisse’s paper cutouts, the way they suggest form with the bare minimum of means. You can sense the process of discovery, of making and unmaking, as Joumard teases out the essential elements of style and elegance. It’s a reminder that art, like fashion, is always a conversation, a process of reinvention, never quite settled.