For Spring 1952, Hermes Paris created a series of trompe l’oeil dresses. Plain lengths of fabric were screen printed with painted details like lapels, buttons and pockets.  The fabric was then cut and sewn into the dresses shown at blog page.

Later in 1952, the dresses were copied with permission in the USA by Herbert Sondheim (owned a high quality dress manufacturing business).  The Sondheim dresses were made of rayon that was woven to look like linen and, due to the screen printing. Each dress style was made available in 4 colors: white, navy, black and copper. Meanwhile, back in Paris, Hermes applied the same technique to raincoats, you can see on next post page. The buttons and pockets are screen-printed and the coat closes with a hidden zipper in the front and has a trompe l’oeil hood painted on the back of the coat. the belt at this page is also photographed by gordon parks.