on the woman in black, 1884

in 1884 john singer sargent hung a portrait at the paris salon: an american in paris named virginie gautreau, in profile, in a black satin dress. one jeweled strap had slipped from her shoulder. paris lost its mind. the scandal was loud enough that sargent repainted the strap upright and, before long, left for london.

he kept the painting in his studio for thirty years. when he finally sold it to the metropolitan museum in 1916, he asked them to hide her name — she became madame x — and wrote: i suppose it is the best thing i have done.

look at the dress. it is almost nothing. black satin, a plunging line, no ornament to speak of. everything the portrait has, it has because of the line — the long run of the bodice into the waist, the spring of the skirt at the hip. the dress disappears so the silhouette can speak.

that painting hangs at the top of our essay on the silhouette. it has been our reference since the first sketch. the second edition is our answer to it — a black satin dress, cut simple on purpose, with the architecture where sargent's century kept it: inside.

the best black dress is the one that lets the line do the talking.