Très Parisien magazine sold itself as ‘chic’ and ‘elegant’. Published between 1920 and 1936 it presented creations by such couturiers as Louise Chéruit, Premet (best known for La Garconne, or The Flapper, a black dress with a white collar and cuffs introduced in 1923, Philip et Gaston and Jeanne Lanvin. The illustrations were of young, white, slim models dressed in the latest ultra-modern styles.
Though uniformly svelte, these young things of the Roaring Twenties pushed the limits of acceptable clothing: new cuts, new fabrics and hairstyles once considered eccentric. This was the Paris of Art deco, Joséphine Baker, American star of the “Revue nègre” at the Théâtre Music-hall des Champs-Élysées, Japanese artist Tsugouharu Foujita and Polish painter Tamara de Lempicka.
The images were printed on transparent paper using a stencilling technique known as en pochoir (as favoured by E.A, Seguy in his fabulous work) and then hand coloured. Many of them are unsigned. Although many were created by Germaine Paule Joumard, aka ‘Joujou’, Très Parisien’s publisher.
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