Bolero Jacket c. 1940

Editor: This is Josephine Romano's "Bolero Jacket" from around 1940, rendered with mixed media and watercolor. It’s incredibly detailed, and it makes me think about luxury and the craft involved in fashion. What stands out to you? Curator: Considering the period, let's think about the materials available, and the labor needed to produce something so embellished. Was this destined for mass production, or a one-off piece? How does the watercolor medium itself – often associated with preparatory sketches – influence our understanding of its "finished" state? Editor: That's interesting, I hadn't considered its production. Could it have been a design prototype perhaps, rather than a piece intended for wear? Curator: Precisely! This could very well be a document relating to industrial or commercial garment production, allowing us to look beyond notions of "high art" to the context of clothing manufacturing. What sort of cultural codes around gender and status might this garment convey if realised? And what does it mean when captured in watercolor and ink? Editor: So it is less about admiring the jacket itself and more about the ideas it represents related to labor and the fashion industry during that time? Curator: Yes, by focusing on the materiality and its potential life as a 'real' object of production we move beyond mere aesthetics. How does this drawing participate in or challenge hierarchies between artistic disciplines and labor at this time? Editor: That perspective really changes my perception of the artwork; it becomes more about the social implications of fashion than just its surface beauty. Curator: Indeed, this 'Bolero Jacket' prompts us to rethink what constitutes art, forcing us to consider artistic choices in dialogue with socio-economic structures. Editor: Thanks for showing me how to see the bigger picture.