Fashion Sketches

I recently gave my niece two India ink fashion sketches I made and framed for her birthday. She is in the business and has a passion for all things related to fashion (See above for an image of one of them.) How did I come to make fashion sketches? For many years I have been interested in fashion drawings. Inspired by a painting at the entrance to the restaurant in the Hotel Monteleone in New Orleans, I combed the local used bookstores in the French Quarter in search of vintage fashion drawings from the 1800’s.

I had seen the drawings reproduced in design and fashion books and longed to examine them in person. Several years ago, I traveled to Paris. While there I made an early morning trip to the flea market or brocante just at the edge of Paris. I was in search of original fashion drawings.  Once there, I strolled through open door displays of reclaimed architectural materials. I leaned in as close as I could to the window of a cavernous space filled with vintage dishes and serving pieces (unfortunately this space was closed). I fortified myself for further searching with quiche and a salad at a café within the market.

Later that day, inside a covered building filled with individual stalls I finally came to a print dealer. I eagerly rifled through the stands, rewarded with several original Balmain fashion sketches from what I guessed to be the 1960’s. The sketches pictured are not the ones I saw at the Paris flea market, but they are similar in nature.

To begin the process of drawing my own fashion sketches, I researched online vintage fashion images. I particularly like the black and white images from the 1940’s through the 1950’s. The black and white images and refined shapes of the clothing appeal to me. I searched for vintage Balmain, Dior, Givenchy, and Lanvin fashion images from this period to provide me with a bank of vintage photos. I have collected numerous books on the history of fashion as well as books featuring the work of Balenciaga and Dior so I was also able to study these as well.  

I planned to use the photos as inspiration and a beginning point for my drawings. I didn’t want to copy the clothing exactly, but instead to look at the photograph and then, to make a gestural drawing using India ink and a bamboo brush on heavy weight Arches Cover paper. To create a gesture drawing you place your drawing implement (brush, charcoal, pen, pencil) on the paper and begin to draw in one continuous line, looking only at the object you want to draw.

My first memory of gestural drawing and drawing with ink is from classes at the Glassell School of Art. Later, in a study of art history and a visit to Monet’s home in Giverny, I learned how he had collected Japanese ink drawings, fascinated by their fluidity and sense of immediacy.

Additional influences are from the artist Cai Guo-Qiang and his work with drawing, paper cut-outs and dynamite powder explosions. The Museum of Fine Art in Houston hosted Cai Guo-Qiang who created an installation with images including some from native plants from Houston gardens. I lived nearby and made numerous visits to the museum to watch the film of his process and simply to stand in the middle of the gallery and be surrounded by the images he created spanning the four walls from the ceiling to the floor.

As I sketched, I found it worked better if I began the drawing with a single line representing the basic overall form. I had to dip my bamboo brush in the ink fairly frequently, so this ruled out the one continuous line of traditional gestural drawing. I liked making slash strokes to indicate fabric folds, feathers, and so on. I diverted from replicating the clothes exactly and tried instead to capture the feeling, adding or subtracting to suit the sketch composition.

As I worked, I found I needed to stand up and stay loose in order to maintain the spare, gestural look I wanted. If I added too much detail or tried to reproduce the dress itself, I lost the look.

Ink drawings such as this feel modern.  The graphic nature of the stark coloration and gestural movement in the drawings would work well with many interiors.