Nymph Errant

The artistry of working with sheer and transparent ideas and fabrics is an eternal fashion thread. In these images we observe how weightless and airy silhouettes can drape, outline, conceal or reveal the body of the wearer. Our model may be poised for flight, or motionless as we study the lines of construction and the intricacies of each seam and fold. The liquid fluidity of a train, the clouds formed in the air created by dancing, or the sculptural antiquity of drapery, all start from the idea, and the inspiration of sheer fabric. From the end of the eighteenth century onwards the use of transparency in fashion has been strong, although even in medieval times sheer, from flyaway headpieces to deeply slashed décolletage, was incorporated in dress. In these twenty first century images we find new ways to offer this story, the business of fashion continues to explore technology in sheer fabrics both for the underpinnings and the garments themselves. It’s fashion both traversing hundreds of years, and experimentation continuing to surprise and delight. These beautiful images invite us to consider once again the complexity and possibilities of the whole idea of transparency.