Fashion Illustration is the art of communicating

fashion Fashion is a form of self-expression and autonomy at a particular period and place and in a specific context, of clothing, footwear, lifestyle, accessories, makeup, hairstyle, and body posture. The term implies a look defined by the fash ...

ideas in a visual form that originates with illustration,

drawing Drawing is a visual art that uses an instrument to mark paper or another two-dimensional surface. The instruments used to make a drawing are pencils, crayons, pens with inks, brushes with paints, or combinations of these, and in more mod ...

and

painting Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

and also known as Fashion sketching. It is mainly used by fashion designers to brainstorm their ideas on paper or digitally. Fashion sketching plays a major role in designing to preview and visualize designs before sewing actual clothing.

History

Fashion illustration has been around for nearly 500 years. Ever since clothes have existed, there has been a need to translate an idea or image into a visual representation. Not only do fashion illustrations show a representation or design of a garment but they also serve as a form of art. The majority of fashion illustrations were created to be seen at a close range, often requiring the illustrator to have an eye for detail. Fashion illustration is said to be a visual luxury. More recently, there has been a decline of fashion illustration from the late 1930s when '' Vogue'' began to replace its celebrated illustrated covers with photographic images. This was a major turning point in the fashion industry. Laird Borrelli, author of Fashion Illustration Now states,

Fashion Illustration has gone from being one of the sole means of fashion communication to having a very minor role. The first photographic cover of Vogue was a watershed in the history of fashion illustration and a watershed mark of its decline. Photographs, no matter how altered or retouched, will always have some association with reality and by association truth. I like to think of them ashion Illustrationsas prose poems and having more fictional narratives. They are more obviously filtered through an individual vision than photos. Illustration lives on, but in the position of a poor relative to the fashion.,

Fashion illustration differs from the fashion plate in that a fashion plate is a reproduction of an image, such as a drawing or photograph, for a magazine or book. Fashion illustrations can be made into fashion plate, but a fashion plate is not itself an original work of illustration. In the modern day fashion illustrations are seen more as interpretations of garments rather than exact replicas. Illustrators have more freedom when working for themselves rather than for magazines, that valued realism over the illustrator's creative liberties.

Process of Fashion Illustration

Designers use mediums such as

gouache Gouache (; ), body color, or opaque watercolor is a water-medium paint consisting of natural pigment, water, a binding agent (usually gum arabic or dextrin), and sometimes additional inert material. Gouache is designed to be opaque. Gouache ...

marker The term Marker may refer to: Common uses * Marker (linguistics), a morpheme that indicates some grammatical function * Marker (telecommunications), a special-purpose computer * Boundary marker, an object that identifies a land boundary * Marke ...

pastel A pastel () is an art medium in a variety of forms including a stick, a square a pebble or a pan of color; though other forms are possible; they consist of powdered pigment and a binder. The pigments used in pastels are similar to those us ...

, and ink to convey the details of garments and the feeling invoked by the artist. With the rise of digital art, some artists have begun to create illustrations using Adobe Photoshop. Artists frequently begin with a sketch of a figure called a croquis, and build a look on top of it. The artist takes care to render the fabrics and silhouettes used in the garment. They typically illustrate clothing on a figure with exaggerated 9-head or 10-head proportions. The artist will typically find samples of fabric, or swatches, to imitate in their drawing.

Notable fashion illustrators

Notable active illustrators

* Meagan Morrison *

David Downton David Downton (born 18 February 1959) is an English fashion illustrator. He worked for ''Vogue''. Biography David Downton was in Kent, England in 1959. He studied at Canterbury (Foundation year 1977–1978) and Wolverhampton (BA hons illustratio ...

(1959–) * Julie Verhoeven (1969-) * Hayden Williams (1991-)

Notable Illustrators of the past

* Paul Iribe (1883–1935) * Carl 'Eric' Erickson (1891–1958) * 'Erté' Romain de Tirtoff (1892-1990) * Christian Bérard (1902–1949) * Max Hoff (1903 – 1985) * Dagmar Freuchen (1907-1991) * Ruth Sigrid Grafstrom (1905-1986) * Rene Gruau (1909–2004) * Irwin Crosthwait (1914–1981) *

Lila De Nobili Lila De Nobili (September 3, 1916 – February 19, 2002) was an Italian stage designer, costume designer, and fashion illustrator. She was noted for her collaborations with leading stage and opera directors such as Luchino Visconti and Fr ...

(1916–2002) * Bernard Blossac (1917–2002) * Kenneth Paul Block (1924–2009) * Andy Warhol (1928–1987) * Antonio Lopez (1943–1987) *

Joel Resnicoff Joel Hirsch Resnicoff (October 23, 1948 – December 28, 1986) was an American artist and fashion illustrator, who incorporated expressionistic art into commercial fashion illustrations, stating his belief that "commercial art is the art of the c ...

(1948–1986)

Digital Fashion Illustrators

*Inga Sandweg (1985-)

References

External links

Frances Needy Collection - information about research access http://www.fitnyc.edu/library/sparc/collections/frances-neady.php
* Frances Needy Collection - SPARC Digital - https://sparcdigital.fitnyc.edu/items/browse?collection=26 * Victoria & Albert Museum - Fashion Drawing and Illustration - http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/f/fashion-drawing-in-the-20th-century/
{{Fashion Drawing Illustration * Fashion design Fashion