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)

Decoy vol. 5 now available!

It has been rather a long wait but worth it! Vol. 5 is the biggest yet in size and content.

Vol. 5 - 

Large format magazine, 40 pages

Limited edition of 400 numbered copies

"Boys, boys boys. I'm looking for a good time..."

DECOY vol. 5 brings together some of the most exciting illustrators in fashion to focus on an alltogether more erotically charged approach to drawing menswear.

Features

Colored Dudes - Leo Rydell Jost / Craig Green menswear by Rob Phillips / Unpublished Portraits - Tara Dougans / Kris Knight

Editorial

Dick Pics - Richard Haines / Bodymapping - Richard Gray / Hear Me Calling - Jiiakuann / Untitled- Stephen William Doherty / Conceal Reveal - Richard Kilroy

Interviews

Mel Odom / Liam Hodges (illustrations by Fiongal Greenlaw) / Luis Venegas

Click to enlarge.

Available now in the sidebar or via www.richardkilroy.com

Stockists announced soon

Artaksiniya

While Russian illustrator Artaksiniya has been on my radar for a while, I hadn't realised just how much new work had been pouring out of her these last few months. It's an intimidatingly consistent portfolio of beautiful characters and graphical prints, all fleshed out in biro and pencil. Both quality and quantity!

Artaksiniya, who will also be in the LCF's exhibition on fashion illustration (see the recent post on the blog) had this to say to Decoy about her style. 

"I have a journalistic backround with MA of Russian Literature (since I studied Journalism and Literature). But everybody in my family draws well, so I`m not an exception. A few years ago I gave up my journalistic job for the illustration thing (which I've always loved). I started with pictures for newspapers (and I`m still true to this style, as you can see at the-dose.com), *ED: make sure you check these out* but my personal works were always about women and men, clothes and all things fashion, and I`ve always been nuts over patterns and ornaments.

I`d define my style as eclectic, since I love balancing between clear lines,bold colours and excess graphic elements.

I`m in love with modernism, and unconsciously revert to the decadent  imagery quite often, with all those green-skinned peoples, flowers, etc. Being a child I loved Beardsley and Klimt, it had a massive impact on me apparently, and I`m a huge lover of traditional Chinese art, I have an obvious creative clutter in my head"

Her penmanship and appreciation for line and proportion quite clearly show a great passion for what she does, as well as her choice of designers and outfits in her illustrations. Simply, the girl knows fashion. If you check out her blog (which is updated constantly) you'll see that Artaksiniya is just as adept at modelling as she is drawing, and it's wonderful to see her interaction with fashion isn't just with pen and paper. 

Her style also reminds me of two of my personal favourites (who I know I always go on about), Mel Odom and Richard Gray. 

 I love coming across an illustrator whose work is truly blossoming and Artaksiniya is totally there right now. Her illustrations for The Dose show that she is able to interpret and focus on illustration not just fashion related (something I struggle with myself), and that she's extremely driven by beautiful clothing and art alike. A big agency would be stupid not to snap her up immediately.

Website: www.artaksiniya.com

Blog: http://artaksiniya.blogspot.com

Mel Odom, The Dreamer.

First and foremost, Mel odom is an artist, having worked on illustrations, dolls, masks and oil paintings. Yes, this blog is on fashion illustration, but while Odom has stated that he considers only one of his illustrations to be truly classed as a fashion illustration ('Shirts' for Playboy Guide, 1981), his body of work is of great style influence and his illustration can be quite easily placed in a fashion context. The surreal, often sexual and highly stylized qualities of the characters and creatures in his images lend themselves perfectly to the escapist nature of fashion.

As such, his illustrative work has inspired Nicola Formichetti, one of the most important and regarded stylists in the industry right now. Nick Knight and Formichetti styled an editorial based on Odom's work for Arena Homme +, and then featured his work (illustrations and masks) alongside an editorial for the latest issue of Vogue Hommes Japan.








I managed to buy his book 'Dreamer' off Amazon for very little as it was published back in 1984. There are more works in the book not featured here or online, including some striking pencil illustrations, and I have a feeling Mel's earlier work is about to go through a big renaissance from the likes of fashion students who will be coming across his work for the first time.

He illustrated for magazines such as Viva, Time Magazine, Omni, Playboy (winning 1980 illustrator of the year from them), multiple book covers for Nancy Collins and Ruth Rendell and, and most significantly, his work for Blueboy Magazine (for which I am DESPERATE to get ahold of - they contain super rare homoerotic drawings by George Stavrinos that do not exist anywhere online ), in some respects his work reminds me of the work of Tara Dougans and Richard Gray. The eye for such strong graphical compositions that runs through their work continues to amaze me, so make sure you check out their work too if you already haven't.

"Alex Sanchez at Blueboy Magazine would let me do anything I wanted, as long as it was gorgeous. So I did some very personal stuff for him, portraits of boyfriends and such, mixed into my illustrations. A lot of my best work from that period was done for Blueboy."

"My technique is basically lead pencil over dyes on a very smooth illustration board. I create the sketch initially in pencil on vellum."

"I think that's how you best approach commercial work, finding the personal thing within it that you can explore."

All quotes from an interview with TheArtPoint.
Make sure you read the fantastic interview on their site with Mel about his career and the evolution of his work. Anything else I would write would essentially be a rewrite of this interview. Another brilliant interview for showstudio can be read here.













More after the jump . . .