John Cavanagh 1956 Paper Taffeta Evening Dress Illustrated by Rene Bouche

John Cavanagh Paper Taffeta Evening Dress
UK Vogue
November 1956
Etsy #71291823

Very little detail is known about Rene Bouche himself.  Born in Europe in 1906, he arrived at what would be his "bread and butter" career at age 33, when he persuaded the editors of the French-edition of Vogue to allow him to contribute sketches of the latest fashions.  His work appeared in both the French and British versions of the magazine, and he produced one of the prettiest covers of the year, showing a milliner's shop full of the summer's bows and flowers, ribbons and laces, straws and tulles. 

It was that spring of 1941 that Bouche's career effectively began.  Almost immediately he made a considerable "second impression" on Vogue's New York editors, and he quickly became a regular contributor to the magazine.  His work was almost exclusively black-and-white sketches, with a few full-color pieces offered up when the assignment or subject-matter warranted. Stylistically, his sketches often resembled what one critic called "frantic calligraphy," yet their mood was always soft and gentle.

Schiaparelli Bengale Chiffon Evening Dress Illustrated by Reynaldo Luza

Schiaparelli Bengale Chiffon Evening Dress

Illustrated by Reynaldo Luza

Harpers Bazaar

June 1935

Etsy Listing #66900928

Elsa Schiaparelli, the flamboyant fashion designer of the Art Deco period, is renowned for her fabulous eccentricity and innovation. She changed fashion and people's attitudes to it with her scandalous dresses and colourful personality. Her legacy of spectacular designs and an entirely innovative approach to fashion design has moulded contemporary fashion and inspired countless fashion designers, including Galliano, McQueen, Gaultier and Yves Saint Laurent. In short, Elsa Schiaparelli was the woman who shaped fashion as we know it today - creating the pattern for all dresses to come.

Reynaldo Luza (1893-1978), pre-eminent fashion artist, was born in Lima, Peru. He began training as an architect at the University of Louvain, Belgium, but returned to Peru at the outbreak of World War I, where he changed his studies from architecture to art. In 1918 he came to the United States, where he earned his living by contributing drawings to several fashion publications, principally VOGUE, HARPERS BAZAAR, and VANITY FAIR. In 1921 he joined HARPERS BAZAAR as the principal fashion artist, a position he was to hold for 27 years. He divided his time between New York, Paris and London, working closely with all of the leading fashion designers of the times--Poiret, Patou, Lelong, Paquin, Douillet, Doucet, Cheruit, Worth, Drecoll, Callot Soeurs, Redfern, Martial et Amand, Premet, Reboux, Chanel, Vionnet, Molyneaux, Schiaparelli, Hartnell, Steibel, and Balenciaga, among others. In 1940 Luza made New York his principal base, where, over the next few years, he continued his activities at Harpers as well as creating fabric and furniture designs, and the costumes for the movie "The Bridge of San Luis Rey".