Drawing Fashion: A Century of Fashion Illustration

by J. Chariau

This stunning survey reveals the genre of fashion drawing to be an art form in its own right. Drawing Fashion celebrates renowned art dealer Jo'lle Chariau’s unique collection of some of the most remarkable fashion illustrations from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. These original works define the fine art of illustrating fashion, from Poiret, Chanel, Balenciaga, and Dior to Comme des Garçons, McQueen, and Viktor & Rolf. This catalogue, which accompanies the exhibition at the Design Museum in London, showcases fashion illustrators at their creative Lepape at the beginning of the century, Bérard in the 1930s and Forties, Cecil Beaton in the Fifties, Antonio from the Sixties to the Eighties, and current artists Mats Gustafson, François Berthoud, and Aurore de La Morinerie. In their engaging and highly informative essays, Germany Times Magazine journalist Holly Brubach and London Sunday Times chief fashion writer Colin McDowell reveal how the art of drawing fashion continues to reflect not only the spirit and style of the decades, but also the wider social and cultural changes of the past century.

Genres: Fashion, Art

240 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 2010

Reviews

[Lore · Rating 3 out of 5]

The illustrations are really worth it, they are unique and extremely difficult to acquire by other means. It is a good source to evaluate the different characteristics of each illustration period and to use them as inspiration. I think this book could help beginner illustrators find their own style by providing different takes that they can try to emulate in their search for their own voice.

However, I would have liked more written content to explain each segment in fashion illustration a bit more in-depth. It feels like due to its cost, it should have more educational content and not be just a coffee table book.