Jean Pagès, fashion Illustrator

Jean Pagès (1903-1976), according to this web site, received architectural training before becoming a fashion illustrator.  Most of his work was for Condé Nast publications.

Like other fashion illustrators, his style was based on what was favored at the time.   In the 1920s, fairly flat, simplified images were preferred.  But as the 1930s rolled along, free-style wash drawings became preferred.

Below are examples of his work from the late 1920s to the mid-1930s showing his stylistic shift.

Gallery

Vogue illustration - c.1927
Geometric feeling ... perhaps a reflection of his architectural training

Vogue (Germany) cover - 19 December 1928
German Vogue cover illustrations tended to be simpler than those for France, Britain and the USA.

Vogue illustration - April 1929
Tenniswear fashions.

Illustration - 1931
Again, architectural referring training allowed him to convincingly depict shadows and interior structures.

Vogue cover - 1 June 1931
Matelot style costume.

Vogue illustration - 15 April 1933
Pagès' style is becoming more loose.

Vogue (USA) cover - 15 December 1933
Horrors!!  She's smoking!

Vogue (USA) cover - 1 October 1934
No drama in this pose.

Illustration - 1935
His work shows less free brushwork than the fashion illustration norm of the time.

Illustration - 1936
This is more in the new style.  Similar looking fashion illustration was common in the 1950s.

Pierre Mourgue, Fashion Illustrator

Pierre Mourgue (1890-1969) was an important French fashion illustrator.   Some biographical information is here.

Much of his work was published in Condé Nast's Vogue Magazine's French, British, American and German versions.  Examples are shown below along with other illustrations whose sources were not clear from Internet sources.

It seems that fashion illustration, along with its subject matter, follows its own set of fashions.  1920s illustrations tended to simplify human figures and clothing, creating flattening to various degrees depending on the artist or perhaps the art director.  In the 1930s fashion changed to free-style wash drawings, this persisting into the 1950s and beyond.  There also seem to have been some national differences, as Mourgue's 1920s cover illustration for German Vogue are more simplified than those he did for other editions.

In two words, Mourgue was both fashionable and versatile.

Gallery

Monsieur magazine cover - February 1921
Some of his comparatively early work was for a men's magazine.  Doesn't look like that guy on the right spent much time in the trenches around Verdun.

Illustration - 1927
Mourgue's illustrations sometimes used more shape modeling than was common at the time.

Illustration - 1928
Not a fashion illustration.

Vogue (Germany) cover - May 1928
An example of his simplified German style.

Vogue (USA) cover - 15 September 1928
Mourgue traveled to the USA a lot, according to the link above.  The background of this illustration seems to be a greatly enlarged New York Central Park lake.

Vogue (UK) cover - March 1929
All is flatly done save the car's steering wheel.

Vogue illustration - 1932
New decade, new fashion trend.

Patou dresses - c.1934
Original publication illustration, probably for French Vogue.

Vogue (USA) cover - 1 March 1935
The new fashion illustration style.

Vogue cover illustration - 1935
Another example.

Sonia Delaunay Clothing in Black and White

Sonia Delaunay (1885-1979), Wikiperdia entry here, was a Modernist designer of note who during the 1920s and early '30s focused largely on cloth patterning for women's fashions.

In this post I present contemporary photos of some of her efforts.  Of course, they were taken black-and-white because color photography technology was still fairly primitive in those days.

Her patterns are geometrically based.  They are also "busy."  Perhaps too cluttered-looking from today's perspective.  Yet interesting.  Take a look.

Gallery

Color image of 1928-29 vintage dress.

A similar pattern top as worn by a model.

Dresses pictured at the famous (for Deco fans) 1925 Paris Exposition internationale des arts décoratifs et industriels modernes.

More dresses.

Beachwear.

More.

Swimwear.

Coat.

Modeling clothing in front of the same car.

Sonia even applied her patterns to a car, in this case a Citroën B12.

"Eric" et sa femme

Carl Erickson (1891-1958) was Vogue magazine's ace fashion illustrator in Paris from about 1925 to 1940 and continued his career at the American edition until his death. His wife, Lee Creelman Erickson also illustrated for the French Vogue and during the early-to-mid 1920s was more prominent than her husband.

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find biographical information on Lee. But Eric (as he was called and soon used as his signature) is better documented. For starters, you might link here and here.

Lee's style was comparatively solid and literal, whereas Eric soon blossomed into his characteristic sketchy style. Underlying that sketchy style was a solid grasp of the forms he was interpreting. For that reason, I respect him even though the sketchiness usually was too extreme for my taste.

Gallery

First some images of Lee's work. This illustration is from 1925.

A 1926 illustration. Here and in the image above she signs her full married name.

Finally, an illustration from about 1933. At this point she signs using her married initials in a form similar to that of Eric (see below).

Photo of Eric at work. The bowler hat was habitual attire.

Illustration from around 1925. Here he signs his full name.

By 1929 he was using "Eric."  The style here is similar to that of his wife, but freer sketching is on the way.

I'm guessing that was made around 1931. I include it because it shows a car being loaded on a passenger ship. My impression is that fashion illustrators and others who are good at depicting people often do poorly when cars are shown. But here Eric gets the form and perspective correctly even though the car is simply indicated, not rendered. This tells me that he really knew his stuff.

A 1938 illustration showing Eric's mature style.

This was probably done in 1939 after World War 2 started, but before France was defeated. It's a railroad coach scene where the subject might be the woman's attire. Next to her is a French Army lieutenant.

A 1943 illustration made when the Ericksons were in America. Less sketchy than his usual wash illustrations, this is an excellent line drawing.

Another 1943 work, also excellent.  To my embarrassment, I do not recognize the subject of this portrait and cannot find that information on the Web: please comment if you know.

Distressing Jeans

I find it interesting that many things tend to drift to extremes over time. Often enough, they seem to follow the pattern described by Crane Brinton in his 1938 classic study "Anatomy of Revolution." It's about politics. At some point conditions are very bad, but begin to improve. That's where reform movements kick in -- not when matters are at their worst. But the reform movements drift into radicalism because moderate reformers become regarded as not being pure enough in their beliefs and are purged. This is encapsulated by the phrase "No enemies to the Left." Eventually the movements drift to such an extreme that a successful reaction sets in.

This is not the exclusive case of politics and bloody revolutions and reactions. One far milder form is found in the world of clothing fashion. Here, a designer or clothing brand (or a designer working for a clothing maker) comes up with an idea about something that hasn't quite been done before. The company makes some items having the new style and the items sell well. So a competitor soon markets a similar, but slightly more extreme design with the intent of exploiting what is becoming a fashion fad. Then other firms jump in, adding more exaggeration and the initial firm joins the process. Soon it's a free-for-all where a number of rag trade outfits are offering a spectrum of such styles, many items pushing the limits of practicality. Reaction sets in when consumers get bored with the style and move on to a new fashion attraction. The only blood here is the red ink on balance sheets caused by large stocks of garments unsold when the market for them collapsed.

I've been noticing for quite a while a number of young women wearing tattered jeans. But now (I'm drafting this post early December 2017) the weather was getting quite cool, and I'm still seeing a lot of bare leg peeking out behind all those tatters. This post was triggered when I walked past the display window of my local American Eagle Outfitters store and saw some seriously "distressed" women's jeans on display. How much more distressing is possible, I wondered. Not much, I concluded.

Some background. Half a century ago, young men bought blue jeans from Levi's, Wrangler's and other brands. They were stiff and uniformly dyed. After a year or so of steady wear, the fabric would soften and the color faded, often most strongly in areas with heavy wear such as the knees and thighs. Eventually cuffs might become frayed and fabric might begin to wear through at the knees. This kind of wear-and-tear became something of a status thing. Some wearers of well-used jeans began to look down on folks wearing those stiff, new jeans. Clothing companies eventually caught on to this and marketed factory-faded garments. In recent years outfits such as Ralph Lauren were selling men's jeans that were not only pre-faded, but had factory-made fraying here and there.

This trend led to mass-produced worn-through knee areas on pant legs. And beyond, though mostly for women's jeans. Examples from American Eagle's website are shown below.

Gallery

Let's begin with jeans having a touch of factory fading.

Moving on, here are worn-through knees.

More faux- wear 'n' tear: frayed cuffs and holes on the thighs for some obscure reason -- not a place for normal wearing-out.

Now we must be getting close to the extreme. Much more of this trend and there won't be much of a garment left -- the fashion circling back to gal's cut-off jeans.

Porter Woodruff, Neglected Vogue Illustrator

Porter Woodruff (1894-1959) was one of five American fashion illustrators Vogue magazine had based in Paris in the early 1920s. He continued illustrating for Vogue through the 1930s, residing in New York City and Tunisia as well as Paris. He died in Tunisia. Why little else is known about him can be gleaned here (click on the "learn more ..." line).

Besides Vogue, he contributed covers to House & Garden magazine (another Condé Nast publication) around the time of the Great War, before moving to Paris. He also painted North African scenes that fail to impress me. You can Google on his name to locate some of these if you are curious.

Woodruff was not a great fashion illustrator, but was good in the context of his times.

Gallery

House & Garden cover - June 1917
A nice composition in synch with the architectural style.

House & Garden cover - November 1917

Sketch of Chanel costume - 1923

Vogue cover - March 1926
Interesting minimalist concept.

Wedding dress by Jean Patou - 1926

Fashion illustration - 1926

Vogue cover art - January 1928
Woodruff's best-known work.

Pen & wash illustration - Vogue - May 1929

Franklin Simon hat - Vogue - December 1931
By the 1930s, Deco geometry was out and flowing lines were in.