“A lot of people think that fashion illustration is something that died circa 1930, when photography came in — but that’s absolutely not true,” says Connie Gray, curator of “Drawing on Style,” an exhibition running during this London Fashion Week. “They ran very much hand-in-hand up until the 1960s and 1970s, and they really complemented each other on the page. Very often there would be a mixture of photography and illustration within the same fashion story.”
Though this kind of artwork doesn’t take center stage in fashion reporting anymore, the medium, Gray says, can sometimes be more effective than photography. “The photography of the 20th century was wonderful, but it was often quite static,” she says. “With illustration, there was a lot more feeling, movement, and expression.” Click through the slideshow for a peek at the new show.
“Drawing on Style,” presented by Gray MCA in collaboration with SHOWstudio, is on display at Gallery 8 in London from September 15–20.