Dress c. 1937

Mary E. Humes made this dress design, of an unknown date, with what looks like watercolor on paper. The loose and flowing watercolor gives the tartan pattern a soft edge, like the dress is shimmering or in motion. The texture isn't concealed; you can see the strokes, the way the colors blend on the page. Look at the red stripe next to the grey, and how they bleed into each other, becoming almost purple, but not quite, just a hint of something unexpected. It reminds me that art is an accumulation of small moments of imperfection and unexpected beauty. I’m reminded of Sonia Delaunay, and the way she also worked with textiles and abstraction, but in a bolder, more graphic way. Humes is more subtle, more suggestive, allowing the fluidity of the watercolor to evoke the dress’s potential movement. It shows that art, like fashion, is an ongoing conversation, where artists borrow, respond, and reinvent.