TO WHAT DEGREE HAS FASHION ILLUSTRATION THROUGHOUT HISTORY REFLECTED THE SOCIAL EVENTS OF IT’S TIME?
Extended Project Qualification 2019
A study into the History of the Art of Fashion Illustration and style in the 20th Century and the link between society and its portrayal through fashion. This project focuses specifically on the 1940s, 1960s, 1970s and 1980s in the countries housing the 4 main Fashion capitals of the world, London, New York, Paris and Milan.
Exhibition Video:
I created this celebratory video of the exhibition opening night event to present the evening and document its events. The night along with the exhibition itself was a great success and allowed me to give further detail on the subject to the guests whilst they enjoyed refreshments and a unique personal viewing.
Fashion Illustration of the 1940s
In my illustrations I drew from typical magazine drawings that tended to take a far more monotone linear approach, and combined it with the stylised watercolour paintings by Loulou Brown to create a style which I feel reflects the era perfectly. The realistic yet slightly doll like appearance of the style suggests the impossible expectations of the era, showing women to have to look perfect like a doll at all times whilst housekeeping and taking over the men's work. Although the women role in the war was incredibly important, this did not change the outlook on women who were still seen to be weak and meant to stay in the home and look after the children.
Fashion Illustration of the 1960s
I decided to combine the style of Mary Quant and the linear styles of magazine illustrations to create an almost pop art look with solid colours and patterns. With the liberation of the 1960s shown through the miniskirt and many social reforms such as the sexual offenses act and the introduction of the contraceptive pill around the world, the bright colours of the illustrations reflects the mood of the ‘swinging sixties’ perfectly, using the art styles of pop art and the patterns that evolved in the psychedelic trend brought about by the increase in recreational drug use.
Fashion Illustrations of the 1970s
I developed an experimental oriental facial structure which I used within all of my drawings, taking inspiration from the face designs of YSL’s own drawings. These drawings were also incredibly colourful, using bright colours and expressive mark making to suggest coloured and patterned areas of fabric. This new change in outlook of illustrations strongly reflects the feeling of rebellion at the time against the traditions of each country, introducing them into a new modern world with an abundance of rioting and protest for better living standards. However the less realistic portrayal of the woman in terms of the “ideals” within society showed greater liberation with feminism growing massively throughout the decade.
Fashion Illustrations of the 1980s
The fashion illustration style I took inspiration from for this collection combined some of Viramonte’s interesting experimental portraiture work, clearly showing the emotion and pain within the eyes of the models. Although social reforms particularly in the 60s and 70s stopped homosexuality from being considered as a criminal offence, this did not mean it was accepted and Viramontes, as a gay man clearly shows this through the expressions in his portraits. By combining the expressive portraits of Viramontes and his usual illustration style, the use of block colours leaving lines in white in order to represent movement of fabric. The bold use of colours particularly interests me as I feel it represents the era perfectly, and the want to stand out and progress towards the future. At this time fast fashion and FADs were beginning to emerge, which are also conveyed by the bold lines of the illustrations.
