By Monisha Shivaraj
Fashion illustration is the skill of binding the main components of fashion in harmony and with grace. The main elements of fashion design are shape, form, value, colour, and texture. The art of covering these components in a visual manifestation unshackling in the form of illustrations, drawings, and painting is the authentic definition of fashion illustration. Fashion sketching plays a crucial part in designing as it determines what to stitch. Any form of portraying a fashion design or idea is a form of art.
Illustration of the vision of a designer. It’s the creativity prospect of a designer's mind. It’s the initial thought that plays a vital role in the foundation of design. It’s a visual representation of what happens in the chaotic minds of a designer. It’s all about how a designers as an individual make peace with their disordered minds.
The Rise
The illustration of fashion has been on a long continuing voyage for the past 500 years. Although there were halts for exploration, fashion illustration always seems to find its way back to the sea route. Fashion illustration began when the exploration led to a fascination with the way people dressed around the world. To document these, they started illustrating the dressing pattern of people which led to an important element of fashion, that is fashion illustration
Magazines such as The Lady's Magazine, Le Cabinet des Modes, Le Mecure Gallant were the first magazines published in England and France, they bluntly weren’t fashion magazines, they still implicitly promoted illustration of fashion. Women of the times were anxious and impatient to read these magazines as they disclosed
the newest fashion news.
The 19th century saw the rise of couture fashion in various design houses. They hired illustrators to sketch and design. These fashion plates acted as a base for stitching. These illustrators mainly focused on precision and detail. Finally illustrating at fashion houses was considered a profession.
As the 20th century appeared, designs were based on an individual designer's style. This decade was the beginning of Magazines precisely meant for fashion. The century is known as the golden age of fashion illustration. The Vogue magazine, although started in 1892, the end of the 19th century, flourished in the 1900s. Fashion illustrations put the cover of Vogue. Developing technology introduced photography and printing. Now magazines started using photos instead of hand-done drawings. Gazette du bon ton, a luxury French magazine put together a group of artists who had the freedom to interpret their fashion. Each of its editions consisted of color palettes and design sketches.
The Fall
Everything that rises tends to fall in due course. The earlier decades of the 20th century saw the rise of fashion illustration. The covers of magazines like Vogue and Gazette du bon ton were covered by pleasing fashion illustrations. Each edition of these magazines contained beautiful art pieces that portrayed fashion of the time. Artists such as Charles Martin, George Barbier, Eduardo Garcia Benito contributed their astonishing illustrations to these publications. Firstly, these magazines could only be purchased by the upper class of the society which meant they had very few readers.
By the mid-1900s magazine publishers realized that investing in photographs to reflect fashion ideas was much more budget-friendly than the creative hand-drawn illustrations that required time, techniques, and pastels. The 1960s saw the demise of fashion illustration mainly in magazines. Fashion illustrations declined From getting featured in magazines covers to the pages in the magazines.
Just like the economic recessions and booms of the time, fashion illustration was competing to pull through. Although fashion illustration didn’t entirely cease to exist, it didn’t play a very vital role in the industry. Very few magazines saw the face of illustrations. People were not being hired as illustrators as every designer himself played the role of an illustrator. Fashion illustration was still important to designers as it was the only way they could predict their designs.
The Revival
Fashion and art coexist together in the modern world. They are an inevitable force that revolves around each other. Art gives fashion the elegance and beauty it deserves. Photography captures and documents the depth of every design. By the mid-20th-century fashion, illustration had lost its accuracy which created its unpopularity.
Students of the 21st century opting to study fashion at a university level are professionally taught to illustrate their designs and notions on paper. This has been another pace that has helped revive the art. Jotting down of designs plays an important role in determining the caliber of a fashion student.
We blame developing technology for the decline of fashion illustration, but developing technology is the cause behind the revival of fashion illustration. Today technology has developed well enough for us to depict our designs without actually having to draw on real paper. Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, are advanced computer-based programs that have helped revive the traditional art form of fashion illustration.
No matter what, fashion illustration plays an extremely exceptional role in the fashion industry. Designers always put down their ideas in the form of drawings. Fashion illustration is the base for fashion designing. The illustration of fashion will always be under the beam of the spotlight.
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