things that work

my son is increasingly fascinated by how fashion works, from conceptual musings about what becomes popular and why, to questions about how the shoulder of a shirt acquires its particular shape. i said, joe. there are things that have worked forever. one of them is a french curve. one of those old wooden drafting tools that helps to draw just exactly the right arc. these juvenile maidenhair ferns look as if they were designed by french curves. or, more likely, they look as if they were the inspiration behind the first prototype of a french curve.

immature maidenhair fern fronds (Adiantum)