Très Parisien, 1925, No. 7 : Création BERNARD et Ci (...) 1925

This fashion plate, "Très Parisien, 1925, No. 7," an anonymous work from the Rijksmuseum, has a kind of flat, graphic style that's just so, so appealing. It’s all about line and wash, a simple rendering technique. The charm here is how direct and unaffected it is. The lines are economical, suggesting forms without fuss. Take the hemlines of the dresses, for instance – just a few flicks of the brush or pen that create the illusion of movement and texture. The colors are muted, almost faded, which gives it this lovely vintage feel. It feels like a moment captured, a fleeting glance at the fashions of the time. The overall effect reminds me a bit of some of Erté's work, although Erté had a kind of baroque, stylized extravagance that's very different in tone to this piece. I love the way this piece embraces ambiguity, inviting us to project our own fantasies onto these fashionable figures.