Fashion illustration

Fashion Illustration is the communication of fashion that originates with illustration, drawing and painting. It is usually commissioned for reproduction in fashion magazines as one part of an editorial feature or for the purpose of advertising and promoting fashion makers, fashion boutiques and department stores.

History
Fashion Illustration has been around for nearly 500 years. Ever since clothes have been in existence and there was a need to translate an idea or image into a garment there has been a need for fashion illustration. Not only do fashion illustrations show a representation or design of a garment but also served as a form of art. Fashion illustration shows the presence of hand and is said to be a visual luxury. (Drake, 9).

More recently, there has been a decline of fashion illustration in the late 1930s when Vogue began to replace its celebrated illustrated covers with photographic images. 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 (Fashion Illustrations) as 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" the fashio

Past illustrators
Andy Warhol (1928-1987), Cecil Beaton (1904-1980), Paul Iribe (1883 – 1935), Christian Bérard (1902 – 1949), Irwin Crosthwait (1914-1981), Lila De Nobili (1916-2002) and Rene Gruau (1909- 2004), Kenneth Paul Block (1924-2009), Joel Resnicoff (1948-1986), Antonio Lopez (1943-1987).

Present illustrators
Those working today include, Francois Berthoud, Mats Gustafson, Jean-Philippe Delhomme, David Downton, Tanya Ling, Ruben Toledo, Julie Verhoven, and Kime Buzzelli. Between them these artists have made work for virtually every major international fashion magazine as well as a myriad of fashion businesses including Barneys, Selfridges, Louis Vuitton, Viktor& Rolf, Chanel and Burberry. Other notable artists include Kenneth Paul Block