The contemporary fashion illustrator community consists of a large group of mostly independent artists active in the global fashion industry who bring their creative energy to sales events and brand activations, advertising campaigns and editorials.
And this is a good time to be a fashion illustrator. Fashion art exhibitions are held regularly in the major capitals and illustrators can be seen everywhere from the Texworld fair to Paris Haute Couture Week, while organizations such as FIDA (Fashion Illustration and Drawing Awards) foster exciting partnerships between their member artists and convey to international design houses. After decades of being overshadowed by other disciplines, the art of fashion is now emerging as a respected and lucrative field for creatives.
In fact, we seem to have reached a point where illustrators trained in the fashion industry are also in demand in non-industry areas. The just-released music video by Alexander McQueen’s iconic muse-turned-musician Daphne Guinness for her single “Hip Neck Spine,” directed by Nick Knight, is an atmospheric homage to the sirens of the silver screen and showcases Guinness’s extensive Couture Archive. A dozen fashion artists can also be seen at their easels, and images of their artwork float across the screen throughout the video. An exhibition of these works entitled ‘Drawing Daphne’ runs until September 7th at SHOWStudio in London.
“It was a great experience because we always work alone in our studios, but it was so nice to see the production team, all the behind-the-scenes thinking, like lighting and props, stage set-up. There was a lot of waiting, but it was fascinating to be involved in such a big project,” enthuses artist Connie Lim, one of the creatives on set, to FashionUnited.
The three-day shoot is a concept by Nick Knight, who supports contemporary fashion art and frequently features illustrators’ work on the SHOWStudio website and social media. For Lim, it was a very different experience from sketching in the chaotic environment of fashion shows, and she noted that the artists were treated with the utmost care and respect.
“There was a little more control on the set,” Lim says. “Daphne had about 100 looks, so there were a lot of changes and the same scene was filmed with different looks, but it was a great opportunity to see the beautiful clothes.”
While Lim’s easel work isn’t uncommon, it encouraged her to do larger-scale work than what illustrators typically do for the fashion industry. She worked with colored pencils, ink and experimented with soft pastels. “It was a nice playground to experiment with the materials,” sums up Lim.
Fashion illustrators work in various industries
Detroit-based Nicole Jarecz, who spent the beginning of her career in Paris, works extensively with local and international brands, drawing live at weddings and private events. Last fall, she flew to New York to sketch at long-established toy store FAO Schwarz. “At the time, I was working for a PR firm that represented both Faber-Castell and Steiff teddy bears, and I had developed a long-standing relationship with Faber-Castell by shooting how-to videos for their social media,” Jarecz tells how the opportunity arose. “The head of the PR company has been my biggest fan for many years, and they suggested that I draw Steiff teddy bears at the 160th anniversary of FAO Schwarz.”
Drawing babies, kids, and teddy bears was different from her illustration work for brands like Louis Vuitton, Tiffany, or Gucci, but, “I love the variety,” says Jarecz. “I realized that ultimately I could make anything I want into fashion, and that really opened up other doors for me. Now I’m always asked to draw at events with children or to create custom drawings for families, which I really enjoy.”
Meagan Morrison founded her blog TravelWriteDraw.com in 2010 after earning her degree in fashion illustration from New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology and manifested her career aspirations in her brand’s three-word title. She made this her full-time job when she quit her job in the fashion industry in 2014.
“I made a conscious decision to include travel in my blog’s name in 2010 because I knew it was going to be harder to break into travel than fashion,” says Morrison. “I’ve always been interested in the intersection of fashion, travel and lifestyle, where the jet set hangs out when they’re wanderlusting.”
Not fashion brands, but customers from the travel industry have helped Morrison to two high-profile orders this summer. Having previously drawn guests at a Mastercard-sponsored wellness festival and being on the radar of an event planning team who recruited her to open a hotel in Dubai, Morrison was seen as a natural fit for the multi-sensory experience that Mastercard is had planned for Cannes. Guests filled out a survey that resulted in customized song choices that played while Morrison sketched their portrait. Her art contributed to an immersive Riviera experience that touched all the senses, capturing guests in the colors of the glamorous summer resort with her signature expressive watercolors.
Similar to Jarecz, Morrison’s new opportunities arise through a mix of past connections and serendipity. A Chase Travel events planner who previously worked for Ritz Carlton, a brand Morrison has worked with extensively over the years, took Morrison behind the scenes at this summer’s Wimbledon Tennis Championships to wear Adidas’ Stan Smith sneakers design.
Though she seems effortless, Morrison says, “It’s very tiring having the distance between me and the business. It’s really hard to separate that. This is probably one of the biggest hurdles. But the benefits far outweigh any challenges.”
Morrison finds 99.9 percent of her clients through Instagram, where she is a natural content creator with an outspoken demeanor that is symbiotic with her, her 174,000 followers, and the brands she represents. “Instagram is such a wonderful platform to showcase what artists are capable of. I know that TikTok is very popular, but I find it much more difficult to show my work style on this platform,” she says. “It’s more suited to large works on big canvases, but when you’re working in a smaller space it’s more of a challenge.”
Morrison’s most exciting performance to date was sketching at the Formula 1 Grand Prix, followed by a conversation about spirituality with World Champion Lewis Hamilton. She wasn’t a Formula 1 fan before but says the experience made her one. “I think that shows that as an artist you can go in so many different ways and how you connect with people. I was able to capture that fashion-lifestyle vibe in the illustration of the last race, even though it was on a different subject.”
Her most unusual experience to date has been illustrations on basketballs for Marriott Bonvoy: “Applying my art to a spherical surface really pushed me out of my comfort zone,” Morrison admits. “It’s weird when you come off a flat surface and suddenly have to look at your work from all angles, but it was a great project.”
Whether it’s fashion or other things; whether you receive a custom live portrait or a monogrammed leather bag, guests really appreciate the personal touch artists bring to their work, the illustrators we interviewed agreed. And in the age of the personal brand, such mementos, when shared on social media, help individuals cultivate their own online identities while raising the brand’s profile. So it’s a win-win, a neat cycle of self-expression.
Morrison’s very first foray outside of fashion was her dream job: Conde Nast Traveler commissioned her to illustrate her journey through Bermuda, photographing everything from fish and local foods to handcrafted jewelry and architecture. But she continues to live her dream. At this moment, she is preparing to travel through Peru, where she is commissioned by Marriott International to create a series of tourism-themed artworks. She looks forward to spending some time on site in the fall to create a personal work based on the many months of inspiration she has gathered.
“I live with a very optimistic attitude and I’m just so grateful for what I’m doing. I love it so much,” says Morrison of the secret of her success. “I consider myself lucky to be so passionate about my work.”
This article originally appeared on FashionUnited.uk. Translated and edited by Simone Preuss.