Fashion, A Passion

I'm not sure when this came about. I am absolutely in love with fashion illustration.

I am not, believe me, a clothes horse. Quite the opposite, actually. I'd be content to wear blue jeans and a tank top or sweatshirt each and every day for the rest of my life. And my husband would certainly back me up on this.

Ah, but fashion illustrations? whew. I cannot get enough. And I'm not sure why. I think part of it is my quilting/fabric stash background and all of the beautiful bits of fabric I've been able to collect over these years. Part of it, as well, is my love of paper dolls & cutting and coloring the pretty papers for the dollies' ever changing, ever expanding wardrobe.

Well, regardless ... these past few days I've been in Heaven! Just !!!LOOK!!! what I've scored!!

Printed in 1925 France, I have come by over one hundred large (14.625" high x 10.75" wide) cardstock-weight pochoir fashion plates for women's fashions from the year 1037 to 1870. The creator (editor) is Paul Louis de Giafferri ... and, well ... they are magnificent.

Each of the hand colored prints has approximately 9-15 images and each of thos images has been hand-inked (some with metallic ink).

They're divided into Fashion Eras (Moyen Age, Rennaissance, Henri III-Louis XIII, Louis IV, Louis XV, Louis SVI, Revolution, Empire, Restoration, Second Empire. The fashions include robes and capes, headdress, gloves, full dress, tunics, sleeve styles, neck pieces, embroidery & trim, purses, jewelry, footwear.

Heaven!!

I've been sitting here looking again and again at each and every one of them. I've been debating on selling them ... do I sell them as a complete set? I don't think so. I see each and every one of these framed. In a studio, in a bath or a dressing room. In a bedroom. And, I must admit, even for me 100+ framed large prints (matted, as well) would be a tad too many.

Do you know what the term 'pochoir print' means? It was a process perfected by fashion illustrators during the Art Deco era & really boosted the entire fashion illustration industry. If you've ever seen the art of George Barbier, you've seen a pochoir print.

Here you go ... From Art Deco Prints & Posters site "pochoir process is the hand-coloring of an individual black outline prints. The was done with the help of a thin zinc or copper cut-out stencil guide. Each color is applied separately brushed by hand on each print, one stencil for each color. The paint used was watercolor and gouache. The difference being watercolor paints are transparent and gouache paints are opaque."

This is probably a LOT more than you ever wanted to know about fashion illustration. But it does serve to demonstrate how absolute kookoo I am for this art form.

Here's a pic of the book & the first of the prints I'll be listing in my shop. And no, I won't be *quite* so wordy in the listing. The pictures just say it all. Ah, these are just soooo lovely!

Let me know what you think! xo