The Invisible Hand 2: Philippe Venet

Gentle Reader -

With fashion as Big Business, it is sometimes hard to remember - or imagine - the days of haute couture's heyday. The masses who read the fashion titles know the designer names, but certainly not the names of couturiers (et oui, couturières aussi!).

Philippe Venet. Look him up. Study the images. This is homework.

There is a politeness of silhouette, as if Venet's muse never strayed very far from the exclusive worlds of the aristocratic 7th or grand bourgeois 16th in Paris - particularly after 1968. You might think this could hinder one's talent. In the case of Venet, it allowed for a flowering of a woman in a certain private world.

To put it another way, Venet could be called the Master of Discretion.

Venet's talent has never been underestimated, merely overlooked. This is both a danger and an advantage for those who pursue fashion with an Invisible Hand.

- AP