(97) Swish...
8 x 16, oil
(Swish is the sound the tulle in this dress makes when I wear it)...I have read that many artists throughout history, including Degas and Sargeant, placed costumes on mannequins in order to study how the fabric hangs and better understand how to sketch and paint fabric folds. And, in the case of figure or portrait paintings, sometimes the clothing could be painted from the mannequin first--then the client would wear the costume for the remainder of the portrait sitting, thereby reducing the amount of time the client had to pose. Brilliant.
"Isn't elegance forgetting what one is wearing?"...Yves Saint Laurent