Très Parisien, 1925, No. 11, Pl. 11: Création Lucien LELONG - SPHINX 1925

This fashion plate, made by G-P. Joumard in 1925, is a little window into another world. I imagine the artist working on this piece, carefully rendering each line and color to bring the dress to life. The dress is a pale green shift, cinched at the waist with a ribbon. What does it mean to give shape to the shapeless? To imagine how light falls on fabric, how it moves, and how it makes the body move with it? The rendering is spare but sure. Look at the economy of lines that create the train, how the strokes of colour imply depth. It reminds me a little of Erté. It is the work of an artist deeply engaged with their time, and adding to a conversation about line, colour, shape, and possibility. It shows us how making is always about discovery, and how the act of painting or drawing helps us see the world in new ways.