Fashion Illustration: Vintage-Inspired Plaid Dress #3 & 4

  

Yesterday I finished the last two designs for my Line & Proportion notebook! I used cut paper on the Town & Country illustration for the Rectangle Figure (medium/broad shoulders, small/medium bust, medium waist, medium hip), and watercolor on the Classic illustration for the Inverted Triangle Figure (medium/broad shoulders, full bust, medium/large waist, narrow hip).

For the cut paper illustration, I wanted to focus on the clothing and overall figure of the model, with other physical features - arms, legs, face and hair - fitting the aesthetic without distracting from the design. Although I wasn't sure at first that I liked the sketched body with the pops of color from the paper, it's grown on me a lot as I've sat with it - overall, I think the illustration gives the effect that I wanted.

For the watercolor illustration, I played with my Copic markers to decide on the proportions of the plaid before doing them in watercolors. I knew that I wanted it to be a large-scale plaid print, to keep the lines clean and simple for our Classic lady. After a little Google Images sleuthing, I decided on this clean, modern pattern.  I'm still learning my style when it comes to watercolors, but I'm really happy with how this one turned out!

It's funny, so much of this process has depended on my being super aesthetically picky, but if you asked me exactly what I wanted in each case, I couldn't tell you. I know the right thing when I see it - which is that annoying thing that people say, but it's true! I did a lot of research and preparation in this project, looking for just the right colors and proportions for all of my materials, and I really feel as though it paid off. I'll be the first to admit I'm no great shakes as an illustrator, but because of this project, I feel very confident that I can express both the vision and technical aspects of my designs in multiple mediums.

Now to finish the last details of my notebook and submit it!

Fashion Illustration: Vintage-Inspired Plaid Dress #3

 

Next up on my Line & Proportion illustrations, I'm going to illustrate a design using cut paper, with Town & Country Style on a Rectangle Figure Type.  I'm going for preppy, Ralph Lauren-esque style, so I chose a classic red plaid for the dress.  It was surprisingly tricky to find the right plaid - I ended up having to special-order it from an internet scrapbooking company!  It made me realize how lucky I am that the scrapbooking and card-making hobby industry is as robust as it is: although I was pretty picky about the scale and color of the plaid, I was able to find it in the end, and had even less trouble finding leather-textured and velveteen paper.

I need to experiment a bit with it - I'm hoping that it will read as sophisticated and not third-grade-collage-y! - but I'm hopeful that I can make it work.

Illustration #1: Exotic Style, Triangle Figure Type

Illustration #2: Romantic Style, Hourglass Figure Type

3 Projects

 

1.  Line & Proportion Notebook

This week, I've been holed up on my couch - once until 3 am! - tearing examples of pleats, sleeve plackets, silhouettes, and colors from a pile of Vogue and Harper's Bazaar magazines. The pages above are for a Fall moodboard and a page on Tucks & Gathers, and I have approximately a billion other pages to complete.

Leafing through these magazines, mostly from 2010-now, is really interesting as a study of trends: in the past few days, I've found out that it's nearly impossible to find an example of a sailor collar on a contemporary garment, and that models Karlie Kloss and Laura Stone work a lot, and that the rest of the US must wear a lot more wool jackets and coats than we Northwest folks do, because the pages of Vogue are absolutely littered with them.

So if you stop hearing from me, it's probably because I'm lying in a pile of Vogues, page protectors, and thousands of little pieces of cut-up magazine paper on my living room floor, alternating between cackling maniacally and softly cooing at Dolce & Gabbana ads.

 

2.  Tailoring Techniques

I was halfway through my Tailoring Techniques class when I started the fashion show last year, so I jumped in last night to work on one of the final techniques I need to get it signed off: a patch pocket with a flap.

There's something really wonderful about the methodical care of tailoring: pressing seams with the heat of your fingers; gently pulling a basting thread to ease a seam; topstitching just a thread over the edge of the pocket to secure it. It reminds me that it's okay - and even desirable - to take time to do things correctly, and to enjoy the process, not just the result.

 

3.  Line & Proportion Illustration: Vintage-Inspired Plaid Dress #2 

I did my first illustration for this project a while back, and decided that I wanted to try different illustration techniques for each of my designs; I started with colored pencil and ink, and planned to illustrate the other three with Copic markers, paper cutouts, and watercolors. This is the second technique, Copic markers. The fabric is a check rather than a plaid, on an Hourglass figure with a Romantic style. It took me three hours of watching Dollhouse to fill in the check pattern, but in the end I'm really happy with it. It almost has a watercolor-like look, but it feels slightly more precise.  And this is a dress that I would definitely wear if it existed, which is kinda fun!

Welcome to new readers from Untangling Knots' recent post on Seattle knitters - if you haven't read it yet, I highly recommend checking out the other bloggers she mentions, as they are super great.  Thanks for reading, and happy Friday!

Fashion Illustration: Vintage-Inspired Plaid Dress #1

One of the projects I have left to do for my certificate program is to design and illustrate four garments to go in my Line & Proportion notebook.  Each garment has to be the same type - for example, all pantsuits, or ballgowns, or cocktail dresses.  Since I'm stuck on plaid and love vintage clothing, I decided to do little vintage-inspired plaid dresses for all of my garments.

Each drawing must be shown on a different body type*:

Rectangle:  Medium to broad shoulders, small to medium bust, medium waist, medium hip.

Triangle: Narrow shoulders, medium to small bust, small waist, full hip.

Inverted Triangle: Broad to medium shoulders, large bust, medium to large waist, narrow hip.

Hourglass: Medium shoulders, full bust, small waist, full hip.

  Lastly, each drawing should be an example of a stylistic genre**.  The four genres we were assigned, and some common design characteristics:

Exotic - jewel tones, animal prints, mixed prints

Romantic - soft colors, florals, flowy fabrics

Town & Country - neutrals, equestrian-inspired, preppy

Classic - solid colors, simple prints, very simple designs



For my first dress, I was designing for a Triangle figure type in the Exotic style.  I sketched the dress a few weeks ago and loved the idea of doing a bright plaid taffeta with black guipure lace accents, with a shape inspired by the all the fabulous cheongsams worn by Maggie Cheung in In The Mood For Love.  It was definitely interesting to think about how to design something that is inspired by another culture, but keep it from being too literal or appropriative.  I was very happy with the design I came up with; I think it echoes the inspiration without copying it wholesale.

  

  This afternoon, I grabbed my pens and Prismacolor colored pencils, traced the pencil sketch onto another piece of paper, and inked the outline.  I had to spend an hour or so developing the plaid pattern, since I didn't have a fabric sample to work from.  I think the only thing I didn't quite capture is the texture of the fabric - crisp and rich, with a soft glow.  Then I had to think about the construction of the dress and how it would affect the plaid and seam matching.  (I've been thinking a lot about seam-matching lately, because of the plaid love affair!)

The lace was really fun to ink, but took forever, so I listened to Starjay Knits and drew zillions of circles with dots around them for a few hours!  Now my hand hurts, but I'm a quarter done with the assignment, and almost caught up the podcast.  Hooray!

*These are general guidelines - most people, including myself, are a combination of these.  For this exercise, we're supposed to design to flatter each body type using the guidelines we learned in the class.  I have some differing opinions on the subject, but I also think it's interesting and constructive to learn the "rules".

**Again, I have my own thoughts about these genres, particularly Exotic, which can be a very problematic word because of the frequent sexualization and commodification of marginalized cultures.