“Historically, imagery that promoted the fashions of the day, most notably from the early 20th century to the 1950s, was dominated by illustration. However, the discipline lost ground to photography and it was not until the 1990s that illustrators have returned to this domain.”

Alan Male 2007

Research Point:

From reading the quote above, I need to answer if there is a difference between the imagery created by fashion illustrators from the early twentieth century to the 1950s and those since the 1990s? I will research historic and contemporary examples of fashion illustration by accessing internet resources and answer how fashion illustration has changed over this period or is it the fashion of illustration that’s changed and what about the missing decades of the 1960s, 70s, and 80s? Was there no fashion illustration taking place during this period?

Yes, there have been many changes but I think it’s more the fashion of illustration that has changed rather than the fashion illustration itself. Fashion illustration has taken place all the way through since the 1900s, I think personally it’s the art style and mediums that have changed the most. There is a richer variety of mediums fashion designers/illustrators can use now, including graphics tablets which give the designer/illustrator an endless array of colours and textures to choose from, it’s also better for them if they wanted to create the illustration without the bother of using pens or ink. It also has other benefits like having a photo of the model ready and waiting for them to draw the outfit design on them etc.

Also looking at the functionality behind fashion illustration, I think it shows a mixture of persuading the viewer, editorial because of where the illustration ends up (magazine etc) and its functionality, explaining the materials used and how the outfit works. I think all fashion illustrations primarily share these functions, it doesn’t matter when the illustration was made.

Fashion Illustration from each Decade – illustrations:

1900s

1910s

1920s

1930s

1940s

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

Women and Men’s Fashion from each Decade – photos:

1900s

1910s

1920s

1930s

1940s

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

Timeline of research – large events, some that influenced fashion changes:

• 1900s – 1910s – WW1 (from 1914 – 1918) Activism, Suffragettes, Less restrictive outfits than in the 1800s but still elegantly dressed.
• 1920s – Woman’s dresses are noticeably shorter, no more full-length dresses that go to the ankle. Art Deco was born.
• 1930s – (1929) the great depression started.
• 1940s – WW2 (from 1939 – 1945)
• 1950s – Women were still feminised, high heels, thin waists, and skirts desired.
• 1960s – ‘The Swinging 60s!’
• 1970s – Individuality started flourishing
• 1980s – Photography (even though had been around for a while) was widely used to attract the attention of teens (the younger generation). Mods and Rockers and punks were born. Hip-hop was the rage.
• 1990s – The supermodel period, Slimming products, skinny-leg jeans, etc. Grunge exists.

As I was born in 1998 I had to do all my research online as I knew a limited amount of info on the different fashion trends of each decade but I think it’s a good amount of research.

References/Resources:

1900s – 1980s Fashion Illustration – http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/f/fashion-drawing-in-the-20th-century/

1990s – Fashion Illustration Hayden Williams – https://haydenwilliamsillustrations.tumblr.com/archive

1900s – 1970s Fashion – http://bloshka.info/

1980s Fashion – https://www.80sfashion.org/

1990s Fashion – https://www.retrowaste.com/1990s/fashion-in-the-1990s/

I went to look at the V&A’s online fashion drawing and illustration resource as suggested in the coursebook but unfortunately, it said that the page didn’t exist. I’m not if the link I found for the V&A is the same? Either way, I found something similar at the V&A.

Exercise 1: Everyday Fashion

For this exercise, I will draw myself wearing a few different outfits that depict my everyday fashion. I will describe my clothing but also my physical shape, posture, and character.

My photos to draw from:

Examples of my line-works – showing my design process:

The illustrations of my outfits:

Evaluation:

This one was hard! Probably because I’m not great at taking photos of myself hence the emojis covering my face and the fact that the day I scheduled to do this exercise was another hot day! 29C… So getting changed into different outfits was a sweaty experience! I also tried to get a good shot with good lighting so decided to use my roof terrace (hot!) For this evaluation, I feel like it would be beneficial if I cut it into parts and explained each part separately.

Clothing: I wanted to show a variety of outfits, going from left to right: Work Dress *French Connection* (corporate), Rick and Morty *TM* PJs (Nightwear), Rick and Morty *TM* T-Shirt & Patterned Leggings *Golddigger* (Casual), and Yellow Top *Vans* and Pink Skirt *Puma* (Summer)

Shoes: My staple shoes (in the summer!) from left to right. Black Strap Sandals *Steve Madden*, Space Purple Slidders *Ego*, Watermelon Flipflops *Primark*, and my Black Strap Sandals (again).

Accessories: Sunglasses in the Summer outfit (far right).

Poses: From left to right. Fingers interlaced and still, open and fingers spread, calm and hand shielding eyes from the sun and fancy and girly (slight ballet vibes).

Character: What each pose and clothing made me feel. From left to right. Weird strict country vibes, Pajama and Netflix slob vibes, Ready for the day whatever it brings vibes, and Fancy tennis skirt tea party vibes.

Art style: (all) I wanted to show my outfits but also give each illustration some character and personality which is why the faces are so different depending on what character I wanted to depict. I also didn’t really change my actual body type.

I think overall it worked out well, I think both the outfits and characters are well depicted. I’m happy I chose to use my iPad as this enabled me to have an infinite amount of colours to choose from that matched my outfits, rather than a small selection of 15 coloured pens. I also thought the iPad was a good medium as it allowed me to show my linework and final illustrations with a pure white background. I think working digitally is my favourite medium because the outcomes are so vivid.