This hand-colored pochoir print from a luxury fashion journal satirizes the extravagant millinery of the 1920s. A woman's profile is crowned with an oversized, sculptural hat adorned with gold curls, purple ostrich plumes, and geometric forms in teal, black, and blue. The satirical "Modes et Manières de Torquate" series mocked high fashion excess through caricature—a tradition tracing from Hogarth and Gillray through 19th-century Parisian lithographers like Daumier and Honoré. The exaggerated proportions and linear elegance reflect Art Deco design. Such fashion satire bridged fine printmaking and popular visual culture, establishing visual comedy conventions that would shape early comic art and newspaper illustration.
About this artifact
- Date
- September 1920
- Rights
- Public domain — free to view, share, and reuse.
- Restoration
- Digitally restored and hosted by ComicBooks.com · high-resolution version available.
Part of our mission to preserve and restore the public-domain heritage of the medium.