The Conclusion of This Blog about the History of Fashion Illustrations

This is the end of my first project about the history of fashion illustration.

In this project I introduced the origin of fashion illustration, the interrelationship between World History and Fashion History, the famous magazines in the Europe, and the famous fashion illustrators in the past.

Till now 27 illustrators have been introduced in the previous blogs. I analysis them from a brief account of each illustrator and showed the master works in their lifetime. The illustrators are divided into different groups and these groups are based on two kinds of situation: the names of illustrators are sound similar no matter is the first name, middle name or the last name in one group; or the style of one group’s illustrators is analogous.

The arrangement of the blogs about famous fashion illustrators includes the introduction of each illustrator, the style of them, and a timeline of their lifetime.

The pictures of timeline of illustrators’ life are made by me. Each illustrator is shown in different color which could be separated easily by the reader. The nationalities of illustrators are distinguished beside the illustrators’ name and the ages are labeled beside the year of death, so the basic information could be noticed directly.

This is the last blog of me mini project, but not the last blog about fashion illustrations. I will keep writing and learn more about this subject.

The Giants of 20th Century – Mats Gustafson and Kareem Iliya

Mats Gustafson was born in Sweden but lives and works in New York now. He began his career as an illustrator before he graduated from the Scandinavian Drama Institute. In 1978 he finished his first international commission for the British Vogue. Mats Gustafson has published his illustrations in the magazine Harper’s Bazaar, The New York Times, Visionaire, Vogue French, Vogue Italia and Vogue Japanese.

Mats Gustafson likes to show the idea of fashion through simplicity and abstraction using water color or ink which are both water-based media.

Kareem Iliya started his illustration drawings when he works as a fashion designer. Iliya uses the same tool of painting as Mats Gustafson but his illustrations are more colorful and the final effect on the paper is bursting and radiating. Borrelli (2000) calls his illustrations “ethereal and mystical”.

Next, I will show you the timeline of these two illustrators.

The Giants of 20th Century -- Jean-Philippe Delhomme and Tanyalin

Jean-Philippe Delhomme is a Frenchman who graduated from L'Ecole Nationale des Arts Decoratifs in Paris in 1985. His first fashion illustrations were published in British Vogue and then his work appeared in a collection of publications including Vogue Nippon, Vogue Paris and House & Garden.

The style of Jean-Philippe Delhomme is described as “Precise caricatures” and “documentary with a twist” (Borrelli, 2000). Gouache is the commonly used tool of Jean-Philippe Delhomme. He usually uses soft colors to draw fluid and tentative illustrations. The latest works is a travel book for Louis Vuitton in 2013.

Tanya Ling was born in India, and grew up in Africa, the America and Britain. She worked in Paris after she graduated from St. Martins and now she lives in London and works here. Ling has drawn for Elle, Harper’s Bazaar, Frank, Nylon and Zoo.

Tanya Ling draws her illustrations quickly and impulsively and she usually uses a medley of media; for instance, water color for hair and gouache for the dress. She describes her own works as “manic, emotional, full of feeling and impulsive” (Borrelli, 2000).

Here is the timeline of these two illustrators.

The Giants of 20th Century – François Berthoud

François Berthoud is a Swiss but he moved to Italy after graduating in Switzerland. He is the main illustrator of the magazine Vanity and Visionaire. Capucci, Myla, Shiseido and Incotex are the mainly clients of advertisement.

The style of François Berthoud is changing all the time, but he maintained the same style in one period. The differences between his styles based on different techniques of drawing. However, enamel drip is his favorite and frequently-used technique. He said in the book Fashion Illustration Next (Borrelli, 2004) “What I like about the enamel process is that it is fluid and immediate.” He consider that working with enamel and dripping on paper are very complex and sophisticated as well as working with computer.

Here is the timeline of François Berthoud’s works.