Très Parisien, 1923, No 9: 7. - ÉLÉGANTES. - Infiniment chic, ce tailleur... 1923

This fashion plate, Très Parisien, 1923, No 9, feels so immediate, like a quick sketch dashed off in a café. It's anonymous, but someone really knew how to balance detail and suggestion. Look at the dress on the right: that blue plaid is laid down with such confidence, the lines crisp and clean, but still with a handmade quality. It's not about perfection but about capturing the essence of the fabric, the way the light hits it. The fabric of the garment on the left is made of multiple intersecting brown lines. You get a real sense of the texture, almost like you could reach out and feel the weave. It’s this simplicity that really makes the image sing. This piece reminds me a bit of Erté, with its emphasis on line and silhouette, but there's a rawness here, an immediacy, that you don't always see in his work. It is a celebration of the spontaneous and the unfinished.