The 'Golden Age' of fashion illustration where it peaked in its breadth of use in modern media was the first quarter of the 20th century [3,4]. At this point, fashion illustration was effectively commercial illustration. The illustrators involved had an expert technical command of their skills, and were expert draughtsmen. They could convey not only the look, but the texture and weight of the fabric. After the Great Depression, American fashion became less dependent on the fashion houses of Paris and Milan. People dimply could not afford haute couture, and instead worked to make fashion efficient and affordable, interpreting the the European styles of the time.
There was an optimistic face to the illustration of this time [3], even going as far to delve into surrealism as a way of escapism [1]. However, at this time there was also a rapid increase in the quality, speed and fidelity of photography. Illustration had been a practical medium to convey information and patterns to those having to create their own clothes or adapt the cutting-edge designs of the fashion houses. But increasingly publication editors were dedicating an increasing amount of their budgets to photography. First the illustrations were relegated to the internal pages, and then largely fell into obsolescence.
The rise of the celebrity fashion photographer in the 1960s was the death-knell of fashion illustration [4] outside of the fashion houses themselves [8]. There were some publications that focused on youth culture that still used illustrations. The emphasis of these publications was not to convey information, but to inspire, and illustrations were the perfect vehicle to talk about who would wear certain clothes, rather than just the clothes themselves [3].
By the 1980s there was a certain revival of fashion illustration in its own right. Similarly to the illustration of the teen demographics in the 1960s, these illustrations didn't care so much about the technicality of the clothes they depicted. They were designed to promote the lifestyle that that clothes represented. As such they featured more as advertising than they did as a reporting aid. The revival is probably best known by the advertising campaign by Barneys in the 1990s [3,5]
This movement has allowed fashion illustration to re-emerge as its own discipline. It sits on two sides - first, it remains an integral part of the creative process of designing fashion. Second, it is now a key part of the marketing efforts of fashion. As technology has improved and evolved, so has our cultural appreciation of what beauty looks like. Digital drawing tools have allowed illustration to be created at a similar pace to photography, and while photographs are still the mainstay of fashion publications, fashion illustration has managed to brach itself out to fit into multiple difference genres. Ironically, while photography was originally the reason why many illustrators will have lost work, in time it became fashion illustration's liberator.
Before 1960, the role of the illustrator was to depict clothing accurately. The space for interpretation, creativity and personality was limited in these illustration briefs. As photos took the burden of representation, illustrators have been freed to take creative risks, to experiment and inspire others. The fashion houses are bringing artists back in-house [7] and the creativity of the digital age gives room for more expansive and inspirational ideas than ever before.
References
Artspace Editors (ed.) (2016) See the evolution of fashion illustration through 10 seminal artists, from Dalí to Delhomme, Artspace. Available at: https://www.artspace.com/magazine/art_101/book_report/phaidon-fashion-book-fashion-illustrators-53980 (Accessed: 17 July 2023).
English, B. (2018) A cultural history of fashion in the 20th and 21st Centuries: From catwalk to sidewalk. London: Bloomsbury Visual Arts.
Goethe-Jones, S. (2019) Fashion illustration from the 16th century to now, Illustration History. Available at: https://www.illustrationhistory.org/essays/fashion-illustration-from-the-16th-century-to-now (Accessed: 17 July 2023).
Jones, G. (2021) The birth and death of British Fashion Illustration, Blue17 vintage clothing. Available at: https://www.blue17.co.uk/vintage-blog/fashion-illustration/ (Accessed: 17 July 2023).
Manic Metallic Team (2022) A brief history of fashion illustrators: Why they matter, and a few to check out, MANIC METALLIC. Available at: https://manicmetallic.com/personalities/a-brief-history-of-fashion-illustrators-why-they-matter-and-a-few-to-check-out/ (Accessed: 17 July 2023).
Miller, S. (2022) ‘Conclusion’, in Images on the page: A fashion iconography. London: Bloomsbury Visual Arts, pp. 249–252.
Paleari, L. (2022) Fashion illustration: History and the most famous artists, The Italian Rêve. Available at: https://www.theitalianreve.com/fashion-illustration-history-and-the-most-famous-artists/ (Accessed: 17 July 2023).
Victoria and Albert Museum (2013) Fashion drawing and illustration in the 20th Century, Victoria and Albert Museum. Available at: http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/f/fashion-drawing-in-the-20th-century/ (Accessed: 17 July 2023).
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