concours de elegance

1935, Mlle Vera Gaulley, Renault Reinasport. Geometric patterns were popular in high fashion in the 1920s and 1930s. Although the horizontal stripes in the lower portion of Mlle Gaulley's dress run counter to the vertical lines of the car's radiator grill, note that the third visible stripe of the dress aligns perfectly with the horizontal chrome bumper trim. Mlle Gaulley's stature captures the grill's vertical lines and the stature of the car. The perfunctory semi-delta stripes on the dress's bodice and the pose of the lady's right elbow adumbrate the gentler shape of the upper shape of the grill. The billowy tree, Mlle Gaulley's hat, and the Reinstala all face away to our left.

Review by Patricia Lee Yongue
All images courtesy of Dalton Watson and Authors.

CONCOURS D’ELEGANCE: Dream cars and lovely ladies
Dalton Watson Fine Books, 2011. By Patrick Lesueur and translated by David Burgess-Wise.
ISBN 978-1-85443-250-6 Page Size 290 mm x 240 mm. 208 pages. Hard cover with dust jacket. 200 black and white photographs. Price US$69/£42

Click here to order from Dalton Watson.

One wishes that Mr. Lesueur had enhanced this elegant book of photographic images with more text and had secured the collaboration of a specialist in French fashion history. What a fine resource treasure it would then be for both coachbuilder and fashion historians—and also for scholars of modernism interested in interdisciplinary design theories and practice, Art Deco, socio-economic history, business history, and cultural and women’s studies. Nonetheless, the book delights the viewer and tantalizes the scholar. Perhaps one of the latter will write a companion book with information about the fashion component and more commentary on the relationship between the coachbuilt bodies of the “dream cars” and the ensembles worn by the “lovely ladies,” who were originally models from the couture houses but were increasingly replaced by high society ladies, actresses, other celebrities, and race car drivers.

1932, Citröen C6G Spéciale

The event that Lesueur aptly terms a “beauty contest” flourished in France during the interwar period, emerging in 1920s Paris in the Bois de Boulogne and resort cities in the north and on the Riviera, and flourishing until the onset of World War II. Organized by the newspapers l’Auto and l’Intransigeant and the journal Fémina, the concours d’élégance féminine en automobile evolved from publicity programs for the auto marques into an equally important exhibition of haute couture. Eventually, the competition judged the marriage of car design and fashion. Grand Prix and other prizes were awarded in various classes, and, Lesueur points out, everyone likely went home happy.