What is a pochoir print? : How are pochoir prints made?

The POCHOIR technique enjoyed a brief popularity during the art nouveau period. It involves printing with the use of hand cut thin metal stencils, with the colour added by hand brushing with gouache or water colour paints. The word pochoir is French for stencil. A different stencil is used for each colour and the whole painstaking process is extremely time consuming and consequently very expensive. It was soon abandoned as uneconomic but the surviving prints are a fine record of the fashions of the day and as works of art in their own right.

Pochoir printing was often used by Parisian fashion periodicals  such as “Les Elegances Parisiennes” and ”Le Style Parisienne" to illustrate the fashions of the day. These  highly influential fashion journals were published in Paris during World War I. The leading Parisian fashion designers endeavoured to maintain their position in the English, French and American fashion markets during the difficult wartime years. The lavish illustrations from the journal are now extremely scarce and highly collectable.