Dress c. 1936

Curator: This work, simply titled "Dress," dates to around 1936. It’s a drawing, primarily executed with coloured pencil on paper, by Jean Peszel. What's your initial take? Editor: My goodness, what a confection! It’s all frothy pastel blues and pinks – like something Marie Antoinette might have dreamt of while nibbling petit fours. A little faded grandeur. Curator: Grandeur, yes, but also consider the material reality. Paper, pencil – these are accessible, quotidian materials. Peszel uses them to depict high fashion, a realm often associated with luxury and exclusivity. It presents a fascinating tension. Editor: I see what you mean. There’s this tension between the fantasy and the rendering. The puff sleeves look like clouds! But rendered with, as you say, coloured pencils. A yearning made tangible with humble tools. I think there's real longing. Curator: Absolutely. And the process itself – drawing, as opposed to constructing the garment – implies a level of remove. This isn't a seamstress, necessarily, but someone imagining, perhaps desiring, a certain kind of lifestyle and elegance. And this relates to consumerism in that era… Editor: Right! The consumption of fashion and the *idea* of fashion. Look at that second sketch to the right—it’s unfinished, more ethereal than the central gown, and more modest. Perhaps hinting at a life less complicated, beyond status. The artist is letting her imagination explore this dual concept... Curator: Precisely. Peszel gives us more than just a dress; she presents an artifact of yearning, crafted through simple means, prompting considerations on access, labor, and aspiration. The finished and unfinished gowns contrast aspirations as well as reality. Editor: Beautifully put! Looking at it again, I see the echoes of my own artistic process - a simple attempt to give material form to something fleeting, full of sentiment. A way to create something tangible with ephemeral inspiration. I like her way. Curator: A suitable reflection indeed. Hopefully this dialogue illuminates just one perspective of considering the economic value versus the beauty embedded within this lovely garment image.