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Illustrators in fashion

The Alliance is hosting some remarkable illustrations that measure up to the pace and presence of the contemporary arts in France

STYLE AND SUBSTANCE The exhibition presents an array of styles, techniques and approaches in fashion illustration

History has it that a young British designer Charles Frederick Worth (1825-1895), who left England when he was just 20 to work in France, went on to become "the dictator of Paris fashion". Worth is credited with having several firsts in his career — to prepare and show a collection in advance, to become prominent in the field of fashion, and to feature young girls as models.

In an illuminating essay titled Fashion Illustrators, Olivier Saillard, curator, Museum of Fashion and Textiles reveals that while the history of haute couture (literally "fine dressmaking") began with Worth, it was the French designer Paul Poiret (1879-1944) who really created the image of the couturier in the modern and contemporary sense. In 1908, Poiret published a collection of fashion illustrations, which he commissioned from the illustrator Paul Iribe. The remarkable quality of the printed work became instrumental in raising the status of haute couture and its illustrators to new heights, and brought official recognition to fashion illustration for the first time. Fashion illustration, of course, has come a long way since then.

New directions

"The last five years have seen unprecedented developments in French fashion illustration," say Cedric Morisset and Helene Convert in their introduction to Traits Trés Mode, an exhibition of contemporary French fashion illustration, currently on at the Alliance Francaise. "The new style of illustration is no longer a mere visual representation of fashion objects. Rather, it transforms the mental worlds and fantasies embodied by those objects into images, while in turn each new image nourishes the next of fashion's ephemeral cycles. Gradually, a new landscape is taking shape in the graphic art of fashion illustration, a landscape peopled by images bordering on the contemporary arts, street art, ever-present photography and new technologies, yet never abandoning its demanding aesthetic heritage — a development that is shaping the unique artistic world of contemporary French fashion illustration."

On display at the Traits Trés Mode exhibition are the works of fourteen well-known artists, presenting an array of styles, techniques and approaches in fashion illustration.

Emblematic figure

While Carlotta, one of the most emblematic figures in French fashion illustration, creates her own vision of women's fashion that carries through her drawings, Alexandra Compain-Tissier working from photographic collages, comes out with an amazing set of images combining drawings in black and white, and watercolours. Twenty-seven-year-old Charles Anastase, an illustrator-cum-designer (whose own company is curiously called A Frog With a Cigarette Ltd!) juxtaposes lively, multi-hued motifs on his delicate pencil drawings.

Delhomme, who is not only an illustrator but also a writer and novelist, is credited with having worked in the U.S. in the early 1990s, creating illustrations for an advertising campaign that broke every rule in the advertising book. His images (gouache on paper) carry pretense of theatricality and staging, touched by wry humour and satire. Felix Lahrer, who wears several hats as an illustrator, photographer, painter and interior designer, creates dramatic images full of colour and energy. Stephane Manel and Monsieur Z seem to enjoy mood and movement, which they quite deftly combine in their colourful works. Equally absorbing are the striking portraits of Nawel and Cedric Rivrain.

The exhibition is being held at Alliance Francaise de Bangalore till February 18. For details, the Alliance can be contacted on 22258762.

ATHREYA

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