Madison Muse: The Art of Fashion Illustration

Friday, January 28, 2011

The Art of Fashion Illustration

Fascinated by Fashion Illustration I was wondering who sketches the beautiful colorful illustrations seen in Vogue and fashion ads.There a select few of Talented Illustrators and today I wanted to share Fabulous Tanya Ling, Fashion Illustrator, and Manolo Blahnik, Designer known for his beautiful shoes! Who knew, Manolo, also sketched all his own illustrations when designing his shoes. Love to see art work created with hands verses computer generated. Happy Friday!

Tanya Ling Fashion Illustration

Tanya Ling is an artist, designer and illustrator. Born in Calcutta (1966), her childhood was spent in America, Africa and England. She now lives and works in London. Ling studied Fashion Design and Textiles at St Martins School of Art and after graduating in 1989 moved to Paris to work as a designer for Dorothee Bis and then for Christian Lacroix.

On return to London she set up a contemporary art project ‘Bipasha Ghosh’ with her husband William Ling and in 1996 produced her first exhibition of drawings in Gavin Turk's studio on the Charing Cross Road. This exhibition led to her first commission from British Vogue. Since then, Ling has contributed to leading fashion titles throughout the world including Harper’s Bazaar and US Elle, for whom she illustrated six, award winning, trend reports (1999 -2001). Ling has also contributed to non mainstream titles such as Zoo, Tank and literary magazine The Idler. Commercial commissions include work for Diane Von Furstenberg, Jil Sander, Louis Vuitton, Selfridges and Harrods.

In 2002 Ling produced her debut ready-to-wear collection, which was presented at London’s premier pop art and surrealist gallery, The Mayor Gallery on Cork Street. The collection was featured in the windows of Henri Bendel on 5th Avenue, New York where the collection was sold. British Vogue named Ling one of the most important trendsetters in Britain and in 2003 The Observer Magazine announced her as their designer of the year. Her A/W 2003 collection was shown at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London.

Ling has exhibited her fashion illustrations in international exhibitions and with artist, Georgie Hopton presented ‘Beautiful Drawings’ to critical acclaim at The Armory New York (2000). Her work has been featured in numerous newspapers and publications including '100 Years of Fashion Illustration' published by Laurence King.

In 2009 Ling was appointed the Creative Director of Veryta, a new RTW women's luxury fashion brand founded by Filippo Binaghi and Stefano Pilati to support the Veryta Foundation.

Campaign for Louis Vuitton

Manolo Blahnik

Working alone without assistants or apprentices, MANOLO BLAHNIK (1942-) is solely responsible for the design of every one of the thousands of shoes that bear his name. He has dominated shoe design since setting up in business in London in the early 1970s.

When Carrie Bradshaw, the shoe-loving central character of the HBO TV series Sex And The City, took a wrong turn after lunch in SoHo she found herself on one of New York’s grungier side streets and face-to-face with a mugger. “Please sir,” she pleaded. “You can take my Fendi baguette, you can take my ring and my watch, but don’t take my Manolo Blahniks.”

Unfortunately for Carrie, the mugger did just that and ran off with her favourite pair of strappy sandals. Thanks in part to Sex And The City Manolo Blahnik has become one of the handful of designers whose name is synonymous with their product. In his case it is his Christian name, because “Manolo” is now used as slang to describe very expensive, very beautiful shoes: even by the millions of people who have never actually seen a pair of Manolo Blahniks and could not dream of spending $300 or $400 to buy them.

BIOGRAPHY

1942 Born in Santa Cruz de la Palma in the Canary Islands to a Czech father and Spanish mother. He and his younger sister Evangelina spend their childhood there on the family’s banana plantation.

1965 After studying literature and architecture at the University of Geneva, Blahnik moves to Paris to study art at L’École des Beaux-Arts and L’École du Louvre.

1968 Moves to London, where he works in a fashion boutique, writes for Vogue Italia and becomes part of the fashionable art scene.

1971 Visits New York with a portfolio of drawings and set designs which he shows to Diana Vreeland, then editor of US Vogue. Spotting a sketch of a fantastical shoe which crept up the ankle entwined with ivy and cherries, she suggests: “Go make shoes.”

1972 Having settled in London, he designs and makes shoes for Zapata, a Chelsea boutique on Old Church Street. The fashion designer Ossie Clark invites him to create shoes for his runway show.

1973 With a £2,000 loan, Blahnik buys Zapata from its owner. Women’s Wear Daily describes him as “one of the most exotic spirits in London” who created “shoes which were, if not wearable, then certainly newsworthy”.

1974 Posing with Angelica Huston for photographer David Bailey, Blahnik becomes the first man to appear on the cover of British Vogue.

1978 Launches a collection for Bloomingdales, the US retail chain.

1979 Opens his first US shop on Madison Avenue, New York.

1980 Designs shoes for the US fashion designer Perry Ellis.

1982 George Malkemus, a young copywriter in Bergdorf Goodman’s marketing department, becomes his US business partner. Malkemus renegotiates Blahnik’s existing US distribution agreements.

1984 Designs shoes for Calvin Klein’s ready-to-wear collections.

1987 Wins a special award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) in the US.

1988 Starts a collaboration with the US fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi.

1991 Opens the first Manolo BlahnikHong Kong.

1992 Starts a collaboration with fashion designer John Galliano by creating shoes for his signature label.

1994 Works with the US fashion designers - Bill Blass, Caroline Herrera and Oscar de la Renta - in New York.

1997 Creates the shoes for John Galliano’s first couture collection for Christian Dior.

2000 The popularity of the HBO TV series Sex And The City makes Manolo Blahnik a household name in the US.

2001 Given an Honorary Doctorate at the Royal College of Arts, London. Awarded La Aguja de Oro (The Golden Needle) in Spain and made an Honorary Royal Designer for Industry in London. Designs shoes for the US designer Zac Posen.

2002 Awarded La Medalla de Oro en Merito en las Bellas Artes by Juan Carlos I, King of Spain.

2003 Manolo Blahnik becomes the first shoe designer whose work is celebrated in an exhibition at the Design Museum.

2006 Blahnik develops a 'heel-less' shoe balanced on an S-spring.