by April Helms

Special Products Editor

"If we write here the story of dresses, the dresses will write in due time the story of their times."

That was the idea, expressed by Henri Bidou, in the Gazette's first issue after World War I, behind the Gazette du Bon Ton. The Gazette was a publication which ran between 1912 and 1925.

The Kent State University Museum has on display 82 original plates from the Algesa O'Sickey collection of Gazette du Bon Ton from 1920 to 1922 in its Palmer and Mull Galleries. The entire collection will be accessible on the museum's Web site. The exhibit will be on display through May 30.

Produced in limited editions on handmade paper, the series spared no expense and used the pochoir, or stencil, technique to hand watercolor what may be the 20th century's most extraordinary fashion plates, said Jean Druesedow, museum director. In addition to the plates, 20 garments from 1912 to 1925 from this period are also on display. The gowns are from the leading Parisian couture houses of the teens and 20s, such as those of Jeanne Paquin, Paul Poiret, Jeanne Lanvin and the House of Worth. Two of the garments on display, on loan from the Western Reserve Historical Society, were the models for two of the plates, Druesedow added.

"The Gazette was a combination of Architectural Digest, Vanity Fair and The New Yorker," Druesedow said. "We were given two or three years worth of the publication."

The Gazette du Bon Ton was the brain child of Lucien Vogel, a Frenchman who was fascinated by 19th century hand-colored engravings and set out to create a luxury modern magazine that would be the epitome of good taste.

"These hand-colored illustrations were really quite beautiful and witty," Druesedow said. "There's a lot of whimsy with them.

Many plates from the French publication were translated by Dr. Anne Bissonnette, the museum's former curator who put together the display, Druesedow said.

Hours and admission information

The museum is open Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4:45 p.m., Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 8:45 p.m. and Sundays from noon to 4:45 p.m. Admission is $5 for adults, $4 for seniors, and $3 for students 7 through 18. It is on the Kent State University campus, on the corner of Main Street and S. Lincoln. Parking is free.

For additional information about the Kent State University Museum, go to http://www.kent.edu/musem, or call 330-672-3450.

E-mail: ahelms@recordpub.com

Phone: 330-688-0088 ext. 3153