Dress

A rich vocabulary of forms derived from the arrow, vector, quill, chevron, and line into box pleat is incorporated into this sports outfit of the 1920s, in the quality and manner of Jean Patou, though without label or documentation. Patou, as importantly as Chanel but with far less recognition, advanced and promoted the knits and sweater dressing of sportswear style immediately after the First World War. Ironically, Patou had planned to show his first collection in 1914 but was interrupted by the war, in which he subsequently served. By 1919, he had presumably revised his silhouette to offer the first glimpses of a supple, leggy but dignified sportswear that would become his distinction. Such soft dressing was literally superficial, stressing a piece veneer using a decorative vocabulary strategically, suggesting dynamic motion through angled lines.