Très Parisien, 1927 No. 3, Pl. 8: Créations CHERUIT (Mme WORMSER) - BLACK AND WHITE 1927

This fashion plate, "Très Parisien, 1927," by G-P. Joumard at the Rijksmuseum, is like a little window into the art of dressmaking. I imagine Joumard sitting at a table, pen in hand, conjuring these forms, thinking about the elegant women of the time. The black and white palette pops! The textures of the garments are meticulously detailed, and they ripple across the surface with such energy that it is as if the figures might take a step and walk off the page. I think about those horizontal lines across the skirt on the left and how they work to pull our eyes across the page. There's a real dialogue here. It's all about an ongoing conversation, each artist responding to the other across time. Fashion plates such as this, though, are such embodied expressions. Even with fixed readings, multiple interpretations can be made.