Art Meets Fashion at 'Line of Style'
April 09, 2010The scene: It was a crowded house of art followers and fashion fans gathered together at the Gallery Nucleus in Alhambra, Calif., for the April 3 opening reception of the “Line of Style” fashion illustration exhibit.
A global collection of fashion illustrators—whose work has appeared in publications such as Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Elle and Nylon—displayed their artwork in a variety of media—from watercolor to ink to pencil on canvases of handmade paper and textiles. The exhibit also included runway shows and presentations from designers Connie Lim, Valerj Pobega, Michel Berandi and Fernanda Pereira.
Artists featured in the exhibit included Danish illustrator and designer Naja Conrad-Hansen, high-fashion illustrator Jarno Kettunen, Finnish illustrator Laura Laine, Japanese artist Ohgushi, London illustrator Coco Pit and local L.A. artist Esther Kim.
Guest curator Jasmine Helm wanted to highlight the importance of illustration in the larger fashion world.
“Every culture and every person sees fashion as way to express themselves, whether for traditional purposes or for personal self-expression,” Helm said. “Fashion illustration has been used throughout time to help create a visual dialog.”
Before the invention of photography, fashion was captured on pen to paper, Helm said. Today’s illustration has adapted for the digital age.
“What makes this fashion dialog so unique today is the fact that information is so immediate,” Helm said. “Illustrators and designers have greater access to fashion in different regions. It’s no longer as isolated and allows for a true global dialog. Designers and illustrators are able to further play off each other’s ideas and find inspiration from each other.”
A number of the illustrators have worked with designers such as Dior, Jean-Paul Gaultier and Marc Jacobs. Helm described the use of fashion illustrators for ad campaigns, design books and even live sketching backstage at fashion shows. She also referred to notable illustrator and designer collaborations such as comic artist James Jean for Prada and Takashi Murakami for Louis Vuitton.
Fashion designer and illustrator Connie Lim kicked off the evening with a seven-look collection titled “Noir.” (Full disclosure: Lim is the cousin of the author.) Looks on the runway predominantly stayed on the dark side with a black palette of oversized ruffles on collars and shoulders that met at fitted waists and sleeves. The black caught light with subtle sequin and beadwork detailing.
The standout piece was the single white look that played an even larger contrast against the black. A high collar lay on top of an interwoven frame that opened out to oversized shoulders. The heavy top played against a delicate bottom of a draped skirt.
Lim said she used mainly organza because it created masculine forms from delicate fabric.
The collection was a live representation of the designer’s illustration of Gothic-inspired playing cards, which made the designs appear as if they stepped off the gallery walls.
“Fashion is another art form to me,” Lim said. “Rather than just clothes, it’s wearable art. My favorite medium when I’m painting is gauche and black ink, so I wanted to translate that onto the designs.”
Also appearing on the runway was an edited selection of looks from Valerj Pobega’s Spring 2010 collection featuring Japanese-inspired, raw-edged silk kimonos with hand-dyed streaks.
The runway was the centerpiece of the gallery and set by a floor-to-ceiling string installation by design studio Matik.
A live-model sketching session followed the runway presentation in the upper loft of the gallery with burgeoning illustrators putting on paper two looks from Lim’s collection.
Portuguese designer Fernanda Pereira also showed pieces for live modeling. Pieces included sequined headwear and large geometrically shaped neckwear and collars in bright hues of green and red.
Designer Michel Berandi also displayed two pieces of dark dresses that draped and fell in folded layers.—Connie Cho
Photography by Felix Salzman