Before the magic of photography, 19th century fashionistas had to look to artists’ renderings of the latest looks for style inspiration. Now we can surf on over to style.com for up-to-the-minute runway looks, but isn’t a hand drawn illustration just so much more finger-painting-fun? Fashion can hang in your closet and on your walls! Get inspired with these five essential fashion illustrators…
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MERMAID HAIR (AKA ERI WAKIYAMA)
Who She Is:
As her blog’s url, EriTheMermaid, suggests Wakiyama has the cascading locks of nautical goddess- and her art is just as fantastical. Many of her illustrations are based off of runway looks, but Wakiyama adds a dreamy edge with pencil scribbles and sheer washes of color.
Why Her Work Should Be On Your Wall:
This girl is a fashion devotee and it shows in her work. Along with graduating from Parsons School of Design, Wakiyama interned as a patternmaker at Alexander Wang and currently works in sales at Comme des Garcons. She’s quickly gaining street cred and was recently featured as Harper’s Bazaar’s Illustrator of the Day
Can’t Stop Staring?
Get lost in Wakiyama’s drawings on her blog
Photos from EriTheMermaid
STINA PERSSON
Who She Is:
This Stockholm standout has a talent for forming the faces of fashionable ladies out of lush psychedelic swirls of watercolors, acrylic, ink, and cut paper. Everyone has been jumping to stamp their products with Persson’s paintings-her work adorns the labels of everything from water bottles to boxes of Scandinavian chocolates to snowboards. Nylon, Marie Claire, and Elle Seoul, Korea and U.K. have all splashed their pages with Persson’s colorful designs.
Why Her Work Should Be Hanging On Your Wall:
Like many great artists, Persson has used her work to make social commentary. She took a stand against the over-photoshopped mainstream ideal of beauty in her 2010 New York exhibit “Perfectly Flawed”. In creating the featured pieces she simply let her paint fall where it may, no matter what shape silhouette it created in her subjects.
Can’t Stop Staring?
Large prints of Persson’s works are available through her website. Can’t afford a Perrson original on canvas? How about on organic cotton and viscose from bamboo? She’s collaborated with the eco-friendly snowboard/skateboard/apparel producer, Arbor, to create some casual v-necks for that laid-back artsy look. The shirts are available here.
Photos from StinaPersson.com
CEDRIC RIVRAIN
Who He Is:
When wielding a pencil, Rivrain makes mesmerizing fashion statements. Produced on a variety of earth tone backgrounds, his sketches are intricate, realistic and elegant. They often include a sheer wash of color lighting up one feature of his muse. Many of his subjects fade into the background at the waistline, but certainly none appear are incomplete.
Why His Work Should Be Hanging On Your Wall:
Rivrain’s haute couture drawings are a treat for the eye. His models, including Lou Dillon and Milla Jovovich, pose in the prettiest of hats in his campaign for Chanel’s elite Parisian chapeau line, Maison Michel, and are sure to inspire some sweet summer outfits. Dior, Chloe and Sonia Rykiel have all commissioned Rivrain to share his artistic flair. He’s even tapped into the music scene with his work for the cover of French electronica band, SomethingALaMode’s latest EP.
Can’t Stop Staring?
Bookmark his website, CedricRivrain.com
Photos from CedricRivrain.com
THE BLAKE WRIGHT
Who He Is:
Wright spends his days in Dallas inking his ideas into art that is self-described as “Irreverent and/or whimsical commentaires, drawn purposefully-shitty.” Sure, he’s no Da Vinci, but Wright’s bare essential sketches of designer goods and fashion fiends are all the more covetable and hilarious for their simplicity. In addition to maintaining his comical blog, TheBlakeWright.com , Wright works as a graphic designer for Dallas design firm The Brand Hatchery. His quirky designs also take three dimensional form such as a series of ceramic vases shaped as toilet paper rolls.
Why His Work Should Be On Your Wall:
On those days when you realize you’ve spent an hour agonizing between the order of the rings on your fingers, a glimpse at Wright’s sketches are the perfect reminder not to take fashion too seriously.
Can’t Stop Staring?
Scroll through Wright’s blog.
Photos from TheBlakeWright.com
GLADYS PERINT PALMER
Who She Is:
Palmer is the current Executive Director of Fashion at San Francisco’s Academy of Art. When she’s not assisting students, she lets her paintbrushes loose, creating fluid simple portraits of fashion’s elite including Zac Posen, Kanye West and Carla Bruni. She takes broad creative license with many of the sartorial society’s big wigs-turning Vivienne Westwood into a ram and topping Jean Paul Gautier off with a pair of horns. With five years as the San Francisco Examiner’s Fashion Editor and a degree from Parsons School of Design under her belt, Palmer knows the fashion industry well enough to poke a little fun.
Why Her Work Should Be Hanging On Your Wall:
If the fact that the mayor of San Francisco gave her her own holdiay (May 24th 2006) doesn’t convince you that Palmer is a fashion illustrating legend perhaps her resume will. Her work has been featured in countless galleries since the ‘70s and has lent some spark to various book covers and publications such as Harper’s Bazaar, The New Yorker, Town & Country and American, Spanish, Italian, British, German, Australian, Singaporean, Japanese, and Chinese Vogue. Whew! The Fashion Book (1998) named her one of the most influential people in fashion since 1860. She reached the mecca of haute couture this year as her works greeted fashionistas entering the Lincoln Center for New York Fashion Week Spring 2011.
Can’t Stop Staring?
Grab your library card and check out her collection of illustrations in Fashion People (2003) or browse her portfolio at GladysPerintPalmers.com
Photos from GladysPerintPalmers.com
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Cover image from StinaPersson.com
