I've been looking back at some of my fashion drawings from about three, four years ago and thought I'd share some of my favorites... Hope you enjoy!
Some of these (the Zac Posen, Matthew Williamson, and Chloe pieces) I actually sent to the respective design houses -- it was a fun experience and turned out to be a kind of thesis project for me -- then, at the age of seventeen, all the learning and growth that the experience produced was priceless -- and I got pretty exciting feedback (so exciting that I pinch myself -- ow! -- yep, it's still true) in the form of phone calls and a wonderful letter that I will always treasure in both memory and memento. No one had to respond to my work, but they did and that meant/means a lot.
Some of these (the Zac Posen, Matthew Williamson, and Chloe pieces) I actually sent to the respective design houses -- it was a fun experience and turned out to be a kind of thesis project for me -- then, at the age of seventeen, all the learning and growth that the experience produced was priceless -- and I got pretty exciting feedback (so exciting that I pinch myself -- ow! -- yep, it's still true) in the form of phone calls and a wonderful letter that I will always treasure in both memory and memento. No one had to respond to my work, but they did and that meant/means a lot.
Zac Posen | pencil on paper | 2005
Sophia Kokosalaki | pencil on paper | 2006
Prada | pencil on paper | 2006
Missoni | pencil on paper | 2006
Matthew Williamson | pencil on paper | 2005
Chloe - hollering | pencil on paper | 2005
Chloe | pencil on paper | 2005
Louis Vuitton | pencil on paper | 2006
I haven't been doing much fashion work lately (as I've said, I've been focusing on portraiture more) but I'm itching to get back into it... It really is combining two of my passions and what's more fun than that?
The funny (not funny-haha but funny-weird) thing is, that when I was focusing on fashion subjects, I got a lot of flak for it -- I kept on doing it, of course, but I think it lingered in my mind as a teeny tiny voice of second-guessing-doubt. What really lifted that doubt was, back in February, when I got an e-mail from a girl in England who had come across my work and was contacting me seeking fashion illustration advice. Within her e-mail she mentioned that she was looking into studying fine art to apply to fashion illustration and that her college advisors told her that she was more of a designer or illustrator than a fine artist. Though no joy came out of her struggle, what admittedly came to my mind was: "Finally! Someone else has experienced what I have." Her sharing that with me not only resulted in my lending her advice but it really opened my eyes to how ambivalent some people (i.e. her advisors, any doubters) can be when it comes to fashion art/illustration. They think that when you draw fashion subjects you are no longer a 'fine artist' whether you are applying fine art techniques and/or skills learned in fashion design school.
It reminds me of, and can be summarized perfectly in, the beginning of The September Issue when Anna Wintour explains how some can view people who care about fashion as being silly/frivolous/etc. But has that stopped anyone at Vogue? No! Anyone in the fashion industry? Not that I know of. So, prevail, fashion art, prevail. Because, when you think about it, fashion art isn't just fashion art...it also is a sentiment of past fashion illustration (look at vintage Vogue patterns and magazines -- even newspaper ads -- where everything was illustrated) and a record of today's trends interpreted by an artist for the present and the future.
Thanks for reading!
M
The funny (not funny-haha but funny-weird) thing is, that when I was focusing on fashion subjects, I got a lot of flak for it -- I kept on doing it, of course, but I think it lingered in my mind as a teeny tiny voice of second-guessing-doubt. What really lifted that doubt was, back in February, when I got an e-mail from a girl in England who had come across my work and was contacting me seeking fashion illustration advice. Within her e-mail she mentioned that she was looking into studying fine art to apply to fashion illustration and that her college advisors told her that she was more of a designer or illustrator than a fine artist. Though no joy came out of her struggle, what admittedly came to my mind was: "Finally! Someone else has experienced what I have." Her sharing that with me not only resulted in my lending her advice but it really opened my eyes to how ambivalent some people (i.e. her advisors, any doubters) can be when it comes to fashion art/illustration. They think that when you draw fashion subjects you are no longer a 'fine artist' whether you are applying fine art techniques and/or skills learned in fashion design school.
It reminds me of, and can be summarized perfectly in, the beginning of The September Issue when Anna Wintour explains how some can view people who care about fashion as being silly/frivolous/etc. But has that stopped anyone at Vogue? No! Anyone in the fashion industry? Not that I know of. So, prevail, fashion art, prevail. Because, when you think about it, fashion art isn't just fashion art...it also is a sentiment of past fashion illustration (look at vintage Vogue patterns and magazines -- even newspaper ads -- where everything was illustrated) and a record of today's trends interpreted by an artist for the present and the future.
Thanks for reading!
M