Is it a feature or an advertisement? Call it an infomercial for a dress and for a retailer, to rouse the interest of readers around the country to buy one of these, or another from the same department store.

Charles Gates Sheldon (1889-1960) was a student of Alphonse Mucha, the Art Nouveau master who blurred the line between fine art and advertisements. By the 1930s, Sheldon orchestrated the "Breck Girl" advertising campaign on behalf of a line of beauty products, which had started when Dr. John Breck marketed the first pH-balanced shampoo. (Although the interior of the human body has pH 7.4, the hair and scalp are in the 4.0-5.5 range, and they benefit from shampoo of this acidity.)

The caption at the bottom of the published page: "Henri Bendel calls it an evening gown, but we call it a triumph - in crushed-rose taffeta - and in that subtle blend of the fashionable, the beautiful, and the appropriate that we term the 'wearable.' Like so many of the season's bodices, this one plays a demure basquelike role. There's a bit of coquetry, however, in the almond-shaped neck outlined with a heavy cream insertion crossed on the shoulders to make diminutive sleeves. The skirt, over its cream lace petticoat, is smartly one-sided, caught up bouffantly on one hip with purple-tinged roses."

The "demure, basquelike bodice" refers to the cleavage-free neckline -- an aspect not clear from this side/rear view highlighting the asymmetrical roses on the right hip. The Basque style, popular in the 1890s, was a dress whose top half looked something like a form-fitting petticoat. Despite this, the coyly coded advertising copy promises readers that the nearly-bare shoulders, encircled with lace, will still draw the male gaze; that's the "coquetry" bit. The dress' swooping contours stand in contrast to the baglike, straight-sided flapper dresses that would be all the rage as the Roaring Twenties progressed.

Henri Bendel (1868-1936) was a pioneer in women's retail, offering exclusive fragrances and in-store makeovers from his flagship department store in Manhattan. His company survived him, was an early promoter of designer Ralph Lauren, and employed Andy Warhol as in-house illustrator in the 1960s. It still had 29 stores as of 2015, but all were closed by 2019. This dress would have been designed by one of his employees but was credited to Bendel himself in advertisements, since he was the boss. This dynamic was not unknown in the world of comic books.

I purchased this illustration from Grapefruit Moon Gallery, whose description reads: "A large fashion original illustration by Charles Gates Sheldon which served as an interior fashion plate for the September 1921 issue of The Woman’s Home Companion. This lovely model is adorned in the latest and stylish current evening wear, a gown by Henri Bendel, asking 'Very Wearable – Don’t You Think?' This large pen & ink and wash is executed in a fine en grisaille style for interior black and white print reproduction. A stylish example by this illustrator who of course also worked as a cover artist for Photoplay magazine and the other early Hollywood Silent Movie era titles... The work has some foxing and could use some restoration and or cleaning and is finely matted and framed in a period silver gesso art deco frame."

The need for "restoration" is not evident from Grapefruit's online image but is, shall we say more obvious from Heritage Auction's photo; see additional images. I ran it through Photoshop to improve its online presentation at least. Protect your art from the sun, folks! There are also a few spots of mold.

Social/Sharing