Fashion in the making. Photographs of 1920s and 1930s designs

Models deposits, a component of industrial property along with patents and trademarks, were filed with labor courts or court registries until 1979 to legally protect a creation and act against copying. Their creation during the First World War was aimed at combating the “fashion pirates”, smugglers and imitators who were rampant in France and abroad. Lawsuits reported in the press, such as that of Madeleine Vionnet in the early 1920s, solidified the practice. Until the late 1930s, couturiers had their new creations photographed from every angle. A model deposit could be a collection of several photographs or the result of a photographic system that combined lenses or mirrors to capture the different facets of the outfit: front, back, profile. Attracting a specific category of photographers, often professional studios or portraitists, or even famous figures such as Man Ray or Thérèse Bonney, these deposits illustrate the importance of photography in the fashion industry and the protection of intellectual property.