Above all, drawings of this kind must be crisp and fresh. Anything heavy, dull, humdrum, or realistic must be banished from a drawing that is intended to instruct and attract a public that is likely to suffer from an excess of these things.

Hats are rarely shown in the inexpensive women's weeklies. The illustrations are nearly always of things that can be made and it is not very easy for the amateur to make any but crocheted caps and berets. But every now and again readers are instructed how to make a more ambitious hat, and it is quite conceivable that this little tricorne might be attempted, probably in felt. Besides the drawing shown here there would be one or two diagrams showing how to cut and sew it.

The face, as in the full length, done in this style, is heart-shaped and ingenuous (pi. 7, No. 5). It is easier, here, to study the particular type aimed at. The eyes are wide and easily startled, while the abundance of lashes on the upper lid, and their entire absence from the lower, contribute more than anything to the innocent kittenish look. The brows, rather surprisingly, are severely plucked, the mouth is sweet, the chin short, and the cheeks rosy. The angle of the shoulders gives the impression that the head is on one side. It is very usual to put this kind of drawing in a circle, or in a frame of some kind.

Plate 6 (6). The inexpensive department store, while comparatively rarely advertising in a weekly paper, forms the backbone of daily paper advertising. Variation No. 6 is typical of the drawings used. Erratic attempts are always being made to ginger up this kind of advertisement by grafting bizarre details and a modern face on to a woman who remains, for all that, the stock type. Of course, one or two of the grand stores have fashion drawings much more like No. 2, but this is a very prevalent model with the cheaper shops.

She is the same height as the original sketch, but much smaller round the hips. The wording that inevitably accompanies these drawings is ". . . cut on slimming lines." The public is supposed to be chronically dissatisfied with its figure and incapable of altering it; and so every dress advertised claims to have the remedy for this. Your drawing, then, must show Mrs. Everyman after she has put on the magic dress, and is looking delightfully slender. She is given a bag to hold because the psychology is " New dress, new bag." The hair is well waved, but quite inconspicuous, and drop earrings denote quality. Of the kind of women who will see this advertisement quite a number possess a treasured pair of pendant earrings. When they see a dress displayed on a woman who is wearing a similar pair, they say to themselves, instinctively if unconsciously, " Why, that dress would look nice with my garnet earrings ! " or vice versa. A woman of this kind is repelled, rather than attracted, by the exotic and unattainable ; what appeals to her is the easy stage between something she already possesses and something she would like to possess. Of course, on the occasions when a drawing like this is one of twenty on a page, that kind of cunning is rather lost, but it often counts for a good deal.

The flare of the dress is certainly exaggerated here, but there is a marked tendency in advertisements of this class to stress the flare in any dress, or even to introduce a suggestion of one where none exists. Nothing implies slenderness of the hips so much, and this may be the reason. Here again the lace has been made shiny, for it is almost inevitable that it would be an art silk lace in a dress which is probably priced at 79s. 6d.

After the outline and the lace have been drawn in pen and ink, a brush is used, either with ink or Process Black, to put in a few folds, which must be thought of in connection with the tone that is to follow. The half-tone is done in blue pencil and you must leave some high-lights, particularly on the cape, where the chiffon is only single. It would be nice to leave some high-lights on the hair, but as the drawing will probably be greatly reduced, it would only look spotty and confusing, and it is wiser to put a tone all over.

The merit of a drawing of this kind is that you have only to glance at it to see exactly what the dress is like. It may easily turn out to be a disappointment, but at least you are not puzzled, at the moment of looking at the drawing, as to any feature of the cut or detail, while colour and outstanding quality will be described in a caption underneath.

The typical daily paper hat advertisement has the shoulders at a rather affected angle (pi. 7, No. 6), while beads, fur, and a small gloved hand suggest an entourage of some distinction, without taking up too much room in the process. The restriction of space may account for the rather involved constricted attitudes of hands, when these are included ; and genteel elegance is suggested by their being too small, even when this is at variance with the

prevailing fashion, which has been for some time that hands are rather bony and capable.

The hair is arranged in a rather new way, though not weirdly, the idea of this being twofold. In the first place you do not want to frighten the woman who would not risk buying a hat if it implied a dashing and impossible style of hairdressing. At the same time you want to stimulate the woman who is enterprising enough to try having her hair done in a new way to go with the new kind of hat ; and who would, therefore, go through from the millinery department, having bought the hat, and would spend time and more money in the hairdressing department.

The rather coarse large-featured beauty so often seen in these advertisements is a symptom of the " gingering up " to which I referred above ; and this arises from the ever-present fear of the pretty-pretty, and perhaps also to put at their ease that vast majority of customers who are not pretty at all. In faces of the kind I have drawn here, the features, all magnified to twice their normal size, seem to jostle one another for space. Huge eyes are negatived by a nose that is full of character and a large, very shapely mouth.

If the shaded area can suggest brilliant illumination, so much the better, nor need you be logical about the source and direction of light. Obviously, for example, in the drawing here, the flood of light on the right side of her face would catch the greater part of her nose, and the line that divides light from dark would be less perfunctory and far more subtle ; but as the blocks have probably to be made in a great hurry, and these tints are all laid by hand, it is best to keep them very simple in outline.

Fashion Drawing Sections

Part-1 Part-2 Part-3 Part-4 Part-5 Part-6