Diana Vreeland, the Illustrator's Muse

Mel Odom, Portrait of Ms Vreeland, 1980s.

With the possible exception of Anna Piaggi, the appearance of no other fashion editor or matriarch in fashion has had quite the influence on illustrators and artists like the figure of Diana Vreeland. Former editor in chief of American Vogue, Ms Vreeland's symbolic profile, one that can be reduced to just a nose bump and cigarette holder is one so recognizable and so emblematic of an era that many continue to be inspired to transcribe her image to this day. 

The results shown here by a significant roster of artists from past and present interestingly all portray Vreeland's iconic appearance consisting of black clothing, pale skin and red make-up, proving Vreeland's self-constructed image has equally immortalized itself alongside her leadership.

Mel Odom on the story behind his portrait:

"It was done in the 1980s as a thank you to Ms Vreeland for the giant signature she wrote in my copy of Allure. I did it overnight and ran it to her building the next day after I got the book. I did it so fast that years later when it was auctioned off with her other things I had forgotten even having done it. When the one-woman show about Ms Vreeland, "Full Gallop" was running in NYC I went to see it with friends. My drawing (actually a copy) was framed and hanging on the set of her apartment. I spoke with the stage manager who let me go on stage after the show for a closer look. He told me that if it was hanging on the set it had also been hanging in her home the same way, as the set was a precise copy of the real thing. I was thrilled!" Mel Odom

David Downton, Personal Work, 2013

"I think she appeals to artists so much because she was self-invented. Larger than life. In a sense she had already done the drawing. I would have loved to have met her..." David Downton

Richard Haines for What I Saw Today, 2011.

Richard Haines for What I Saw Today, June 2011.

Zoe Taylor, Too Much Night, Syntax Editions 3, 2010.

Diana Vreeland looks at a drawing with Cecil Beaton, 1965.

Jean Paul Goude, Lady Diana Vreeland, 2015.

Kenneth Paul Block, 1967.

Kenneth Paul Block, year unknown.

Mats Gustafson, 1982.

Antonio Lopez, year unknown.

Joe Eula, year unknown.

Richard Bernstein, Interview Magazine, December 1980.

Richard Ely, 1989.

Cecil Beaton, 1954.

Cecil Beaton

Diana Vreeland, The Modern Woman; The Bazaar Years 1936-1963. Rizzoli Publishing, 2015. 

René Bouché, Date Unknown

(t/y Mel Odom, David Downton)

Tony Glenville - New Icons Of Fashion Illustration.

On wednesday evening the launch party for Tony Glenville's, 'New Icons Of Fashion Illustration' was held by F.I.G at the Mayor Gallery, London. On display were originals and prints by several of the featured illustrators including Tanya Ling, Richard Haines, Richard Gray and David Downton. Tony was of course on hand to sign copies, along with a handful of the illustrators featured.

In an industry that, admittedly in parts, can be unaware of how to utilize illustrators, New Icons Of Fashion Illustration is a very welcome and much needed publication. Whilst books on fashion illustrators tend to do well because fans struggle to find illustrations consistently in magazines, being the niche area that it is, they are most often not as tight nor selective as New Icons, and don't provide an adequate showcasing of the upper tier of established and significant talents. Frustratingly, it's the overload of compilation books with claims such as "200 illustrators! 500 images!" that potentially do more damage than they do promotion for the placement of illustration within fashion. It's important to provide focus and respect to the most revered and inspirational, and to reflect on their relevance, which is exactly what New Icons does with it's sumptuous layouts, full page images and informative information on each artist.

The final line up of a book that focuses on 'Icons' is always going to prove a contentious area. There is never a clear cut definition of exactly who is the 'best', or who are the most prolific or deserving are. There are illustrators out there who are considered to be the most revered and honoured, yet can seem obscure or even irrelevant in terms of their presence in media and publication. There will always be the question of why so-and-so wasn't involved, or why a certain illustrator was featured that perhaps the reader doesn't rate as strongly. It's a question of curation, and Tony Glenville, as a revered journalist and a master of knowledge in the area, provides an exceptionally formidable roster of talents (including who I deem my personal holy trinity, Richard Gray, David Downton and Julie Verheoven).

New Icons focuses on a range of illustrators that offer varying styles of inspiration, whether it's Tanya Ling's beautiful and expressionistic female figures, Cedric Rivrain's stunning approach to a distinctly classic rendering style or Stina Persson's vivid ink silhouettes. There are several illustrators I myself was unaware of yet have taken an interest in after reading, and will pursue them further.

If you wish to learn who the best in the area are, then look no further than New Icons.

Tony is currently Creative Director of the School of Media and Communications at the London College of Fashion. As a journalist, his work has appeared in The Independent, The Express & Sunday Express, View on Colour, Textile View, French Vogue and The FT "How to spend it" Supplement. Tony joined Conde Nast in 1996 as European Editor at Large for Vogue Australia, later becoming Fashion Director for Asia Pacific working with Vogue in Taiwan and Korea and the launch of Vogue Nippon. In 2007 he also published Top To Toe; A Comprehensive Guide To Grooming The Modern Male.

The Rise Of The Illustrated Catwalk Report

Whilst the use of illustrated reportage in fashion has been around far longer than many other forms of coverage, the standard method before photography in fact, it is the increased urgency and desire for immediate content in recent years that has led to websites looking for new paths to draw viewers to their site, away from the Vogue and Style.com slideshows. Backstage photography, live feed video, instagramming, panel discussions and sketches from the shows, all are now a regular part of the continued frenzy that dominates the fashion week calendar.

Tara Dougans, Giambatista Valli Couture, for Showstudio. 2013.

When commissioning illustrators for this, there are usually two paths to the content. There are the series of works that are commissioned to co-inside with a full article or round up of the shows, perhaps created within the space of two or three weeks. The illustrator is given time to produce fully flourished works in their normal capacity. Then there is the burgeoning new focus on immediacy, illustrations that are uploaded within a matter of minutes of the look coming down the runway. The nature of these works are deliberately sketch-like, keen to imply the impressions gathered, some drawn direct on an ipad, some at the shows themselves. This urgency relies on the illustrator of course to have the ability to sketch an outfit as fast as possible. Gesture, presence of hand and an instinctive ability to capture proportion and anatomy are paramount. Again, hardly a new concept, it's a lesson in skills and observation that any artist or student will have undertaken at some point, whether or not it is relevant to their own style.

Richard Haines. 'Luigi in A.A'. October 2011. 

Dazed Digital states in it's new article on the matter:

"How does illustration fit into the fashion zeitgeist today? It has to be quick and expressive, like scratching a note. Which Grace Coddington does, known for the volumes of sketchbooks she gets through during fashion month."

While this is of course true, and it is indeed important for many illustrators to be able to capture a certain something, be it movement, the billowing of a fabric or a suggestion of the environment, is it certainly not the ONLY way that fashion incorporates illustration, a notion that I can imagine many hard working illustrators ( and artists in their own rights) would take offence to, myself included.

David Downton, Dior Couture look for Vogue.co.uk. 2013.

This increasing trend for new material to retweet, retumble and reblog poses a risk however. The nature of social media is a continuous feed, whereby information is quickly replaced by more information in an almost Orwell-ian fashion. There is a potential loss of artistic integrity when one is at risk of sacrificing their style to achieve this by cutting corners, digitally using the same head in every work in a copy & paste manner and losing any form of expressiveness. (of course, not many illustrators are doing this, and I won't name who does).
My issue is that there simply needs a clear defining that this is indeed sketching, and reportage. It is illustration at it's most primary and at times, most effective and occasionally brilliant, and sometimes downright terrible. The brief to produce instant reportage within an hour or two, or that it has to be quick and expressive, is just simply not a representation of fashion illustration as a whole, like Dazed suggests.

Julie Verhoeven, Jil Sander SS09, for Ponystep.com, 2008.

"When I was first asked to draw at the Couture shows for the Independent it was a really interesting time. The first couple of seasons were in the early 90’s so I saw Couture shows designed by Gianni Versace, the last shows of Hubert de Givenchy, Gianfranco Ferre designing for Christian Dior, amongst  the others: YSL, Chanel, Lacroix, Valentino, and then was lucky enough to go to John Galliano’s first and second shows for Givenchy and was working with Alexander McQueen for his first Givenchy show. All the big supermodels were still working the catwalk, but there was this big change happening of these Couture Houses being passed onto new English designers. At that time there was no internet access, and no photography, so you had to quickly sketch every outfit that came down the catwalk in case the editor decided she wanted you to draw it, because there was no other way of getting reference.

 The first ever Couture show I went to was Versace, where for this show,  every item, skirt, coat, top, bag shoes, gloves was in a different and very specific print and texture. Several prints per outfit.  And all the way through the shows, two models were always sent down the catwalk at once.   

The roughs would be drawn in the hotel room in Paris that evening, after the shows, and the artwork completed by the time I returned to London. All on a tiny little hotel table and table light, stretching the paper in the bathroom, drying it with the hairdryer, and painting into the early hours of the morning. "

Richard Gray - Decoy Issue 3.

Matthew Attard Navarro. Balenciaga, for Dazed Digital. 2013.

Of course, the nature of Richard's work only required the immediacy of sketching and getting details down, not the immediacy of output. Fully rendered works were created from these sketches. David Downton is also fond to mention his first experience of drawing from the shows, (Versace also), whereby he had managed to draw one arm before the model, Kate Moss, had already disappeared again. 

American illustrator Richard Haines is a great example of how reportage illustration can be done brilliantly. Famed for the drawings on his blog What I Saw Today, his talent relies on his innate ability to capture bodily proportion and gesture so well, whilst retaining a sense of flare.

Richard Kilroy, Thierry Mugler SS13, for Homme Style, 2012.

Hellen Bullock, Gucci AW13, for Showstudio. 2013.

I've included in this post a selection of my personal favourites from various reports, both a mix of instant and non-instant works, illustrators established and emerging. While I'm not one to admit whom I'm not personally a fan of, each to their own after all, I'm not convinced that ipad reports using the same head in every illustration, or styles where the talent has been compromised in order to dish out the looks quickly to suit the client's social media, are the best way to promote the placement of fashion illustration in an industry that already struggles to place it comfortably, in the era of photography and digital immediacy.

I will say this though, this immediacy aspect is of course a fantastic idea, allowing artists to both explore their style and timing abilities, whilst incorporating an illustrative element that will spark the interest of many. It just may not necessarily be suited to every illustrator's technique.

Richard Kilroy, Raf Simons AW09, for Ponystep.com, 2009.

A Magazine curated by Stephen Jones

Milliner Stephen Jones is the latest in a long succession of high profile curations with Antwerp's A Magazine Curated By, the magazine that works with a different designer for each issue. Previous issues have included the likes of Rodarte, Ricardo Tisco and Haider Ackermann.

Comme des Garçons Women's Spring 2012 Look 29, by Howard Tangye

Stephen chose to have the issue illustrated throughout, including a pullout illustration calendar (which I'm honoured to have new work featured in). Talking exclusively to Style.com, Jones said "I like a magazine that looks like a magazine. It's not a book. I didn't want it to be page after page of slightly meaningless photographs. That's why I thought illustration. I love illustration, I draw every day, and that's the way designers communicate, through drawing."

"Dita in a Top Hat", by David Downton.

The beautiful cover illustration, a tribute to the late Anna Piaggi, is by Gladys Perint Palmer, and the issue features new work by a grade-A list of revered talents, including David Downton, Howard Tangye, Donald Urquhart, Richard Gray and Dior's Peter Turner, amongst others.Other highlights include ten of Stephen's personal favourite drawings, and unseen collage drawings by Raf Simons.

Vivienne Westwood Fall 2010 Look 53, by Richard Kilroy 

Issue 12 will launch at Bookmarc during Paris Fashion Week. To read the style.com exclusive, click here.

"Upstage Downstage," a portrait of Leigh Bowery by Donald Urquhart.

Michelle Dockery for Vanity Fair, February 2012, by David Downton

Text originally by Laura Jacobs for Vaniy Fair. Styled by Jessice Diehl.

It's all in the gaze. "She thinks before she speaks," says actress Michelle Dockery of Lady Mary Crawley, the character she plays on Masterpiece's hit Downton Abbey. "From the get-go mary has always been someone who thinks." The same can be said of Dockery, who recently spent an afternoon at Claridge's in London with the celebrated illustrator David Downton, master of the light touch that goes deep. "The sense I had of Michelle," says Downton, "is of somebody that is very intelligent and very 'watchful' ... no, 'watchful' is the wrong word. She's alice to life, to what's going on."

For three hours the artist sketched, the actress wore Givenchy and Balenciaga and Oscar de la Renta, and the two “Downtons” talked while a face was captured. Regal in the cheekbones, between-the-wars in her aloof beauty and that arched eyebrow, it’s a face that can go icy in an instant or warm like the dawn. “She has that thing of being classic and contemporary,” explains Downton, “that very strange mix where she looks at home, at ease, in period. But there’s also a glimmer, a spark.”

David Downton for Luxure and L'Officiel Italia

I'm a little late in making this post admittedly, but it's nonetheless still worth posting, as Downton scores again with a double whammy of september issues.
L'Officiel launches it's debut Italian issue with an exclusive cover of Shana Zadrick wearing Armani Privé, and Luxure commemorates it's fifth anniversary by commissioning Downton's for it's cover artist. Hopefully most readers will be aware that David famously drew Cate Blanchett for Australian Vogue's 50th anniversary issue, with a varied range of covers, all of which now impossible to find or buy online. Make sure you buy these while they are still available, regardless of content, as they will certainly become collectors items in the future. (for collectors like myself!)

www.daviddownton.com is regularly updated with all of his latest work, and his book Masters Of Fashion Illustration (which is truly recommended) has recently been released in paperback.

F.I.G's open evening - Vogue's Fashion Night Out.

As part of the annual event, Fashion Illustration Gallery showcased the prints and originals of it's roster of illustrators at it's venue on Cork St in London (situated just behind Bond St).

I strongly suggest going to F.I.G's open evenings whenever possible if you are fortunate enough to live in London. William Ling, gallery owner and the man in charge, has created a public platform for showcasing the most prolific illustrators in the business, something that has been somewhat lacking when it comes to fashion illustration. Seen as the minority and occasional alternative to photography and editorials, public and industry folk alike aren't always aware of the history of fashion illustration and aren't exposed to just how incredible some of the best talents are, or the work they put out for for high profile clients. With a focus on displaying commissioned pieces, F.I.G had three gloved assistants on hand to display to visitors both prints and originals from the artists.

A big focus of the open evening was on David Downton, who was on hand to sign copies of Masters Of Fashion Illustration in the new paperback edition, and previewing a new series of prints with the gallery which will be available later this year. I managed to have a small chat with Downton again after meeting him previously at LCF's Go Figure exhibit, talking mainly about Gruau and naturally asking him to sign my copy of Pourqoui Pas? (fanboy moment - being very flattered when he mentioned he loved my work, argh). It was also great to manage a brief catch up with Decoy favourite Richard Gray (Downton and Gray have known each other for years having both illustrated from the couture shows and salons) who I'm happy to say is still interpreting Keko Hainswheeler's accessories for a series of personal works after illustrating one previously for the double page spread in Decoy 3.

On display; Downton's original of Cate Blanchett for Vogue Australia's 40th anniversary issue.

With illustration legends Gray and Downton at F.I.G.

Also showcasing their newest member, a series of three new prints by Ricardo Fumanal are available with F.I.G, including 'Automatic Lover' for Hercules Magazine, 2008, which was used for Decoy's cover on Issue 2.

I unfortunately ended up rushing out to meet a friend and didn't get a chance to have a look through their selection of rare books like 'Antonio's Girls', or take enough photos for this post like I should have. Regardless, make sure you sign up to F.I.G's mailing list or their facebook to keep updated with their latest news, signings, and available pieces.