Très Parisien, 1923, No 7: 8.- TANGO. - 1. Une jolie robe de voile... 1923

This fashion plate, “Très Parisien” from 1923, feels like a blueprint for the kinds of shapes that were soon to dominate abstract painting! I can imagine someone painstakingly drawing this, carefully filling in each form. What does it feel like to be this artist, to render the geometry of fabric and bodies and think of the newness of modernity? It’s as though each shape, whether a rectangle, a square, or a circle, has equal importance and is connected through the energy of the lines. The dress on the left has a very cool art deco vibe. Its crisp white is interrupted by a vertical stripe with abstract motifs, grounded with a thick brown belt. I love how the dress on the right uses blocks of red to shape the body. Fashion plates like this one were part of a visual conversation in the early 20th century that included not only fashion but also the fine arts. And this piece is part of a dialogue, a conversation in which ideas of color and line are continuously exchanged.