Antonio Lopez and Roger Duncan

Antonio Lopez

Antonio Lopez was a big fashion illustrator in the 70's. He was known as the Picasso of fashion illustration. He captured the pulse of style from the 60s to the 80s, and is still revered as the most inspiring illustrator by today’s practitioners. He worked with a variety of materials including pencil, pen and ink, charcoal, watercolor and polaroid film. His work appeared frequently in Vogue, Harper’s bazzar, Elle. 

In the early 60’s Antonio free-lanced for Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Elle, Gentlemen’s Quarterly, and Andy Warhol’s Interview. By the end of the decade Paris beckoned where he soon established both career and a lifestyle that saw him surrounded by an entourage of beautiful men and women. Antonio was known to be the number one unpaid model scout in Europe. When he called an agent or a designer suggesting a new face, they didn’t hesitate. Jerry Hall, Pat Cleveland, Donna Mitchell, Grace Jones – all became a part of the Lopez group of beautiful people who frequented the clubs of Paris, particularly the Paris disco Club Sept.

Returning to New York during the middle of the 70s, Antonio’s work appeared in almost every fashion publication of the decade on both sides of the Atlantic. His work was always evolving and he used a variety of materials – pen and ink, pencil, charcoal, watercolor – often combining several within the same image. His unique style of illustration injected a sense of movement and energy that had been missing from the medium and he joins company with past illustrators like Erte, Bolin, Dali, and others who have had a hand in raising fashion illustration to an art form. 

The reason I like his style as it is very free and minimal. He's line work captures the drape of the fabric effortlessly and is really inspiring. It definitely catches the purpose of it and draws you in. 

Roger Duncan

There was a shape and feeling in Duncan’s dynamic brushstrokes and glowing gouache colours, which, coupled with his ability to capture a likeness in just a few lines, were much appreciated by American Vogue. They regularly commissioned from him both fashion drawings and portraits of elegantly dressed socialites.

I love Rogers pieces, they definitely fit the Parisian Chic style with the classyness and rough sketchiness of it. I definitely want to give with style ago when it comes to my illustrations. I love how its not precisely neat gives it and edge of the Parisian style. How it looks classic. 

Fashion Illustrators...

Hayden Williams

Im thinking about keeping my illustrations black and white as Hayden Williams has done this breakfast at tiffany's illustration. I love the classic style and feel it gives to the illustration. However I will try different colouring patterns and shades.

I have been looking for fashion illustrators work for inspiration when it comes to me having to draw my illustration. Im loving the illustration that has an actual image of Paris as the background with the illustration on top, it adds more reality to the illustration than it already has. 

Art Nouveau

Art Nouveau (1880 – 1910) was a reaction to academic art through the use of organic forms, curved lines, and unity with the natural environment. People embraced it by bringing this decorative style into their households and supporting it in the fine arts as well. A new style that rejected the imitation of the past. Art Nouveau embraced new materials and electrical lighting as well as modern industrialization. It is a blending of art which included art glass, painting and sculpture. A period of great exploration and the embrace of returning to nature. Art and the objects of art become a part of the interior. It was a style that was very ornamental, but it was not based on past historical design and it always referenced nature. Below are pictures that highlight "a new style for a new age". I personally find the style the quirky and very appealing. As to whether it fits my Parisian Chic I am uncertain yet, I will need to make some mock screen prints with the Art Nouveau style. 

I have started looking pattern inspiration for the Art Nouveau. I am loving how the pattern is really twisting and curving. 

A French designer I have took interest in is Louis Majorelle. I came across him whilst looking for Art Nouveau inspiration. Louis Majorelle was a French decorator and furniture designer who manufactured his own designs, in the French tradition of the cabinet making. He was one of the outstanding designers of furniture in the Art Nouveau style. The Majorelle firm's factory was designed by famous École de Nancy architect Lucien Weissenburger in the western part of Nancy. In the 1880s Majorelle turned out pastiches of Louis XV furniture styles, which he exhibited in 1894 at the Exposition d'Art Décoratif et Industriel [Exposition of Decorative and Industrial Art] in Nancy, but the influence of the glass- and furniture-maker Emile Gallé, inspired him to take his production in new directions. Beginning in the 1890s, Majorelle's furniture, embellished with inlays, took their inspiration from nature: stems of plants, waterlily leaves, tendrils, dragonflies. Before 1900 he added a metalworking atelier to the workshops, to produce drawerpulls and mounts in keeping with the fluid lines of his woodwork. His studio also was responsible for the ironwork of balconies, staircase railings, and exterior details on many buildings in Nancy at the turn of the twentieth century. Some of his original woodwork designs can still be found in Grand Hotel Moderne, Lourdes. Often collaborating on lamp designs with the Daum Frères glassworks of Nancy, he helped make the city one of the European centers of Art Nouveau. At the apogee of the Belle époque, during the 1900 Paris World's Fair,  Majorelle's designs triumphed. By 1910, Majorelle had opened shops for his furniture in Nancy, Paris, Lyon, and Lille.

Surface Pattern Inspiration...

I am looking at French architect and buildings for surface design ideas for my FMP. I am either going to screen print or embroider it. I want to use it as the back drop for my collection or as a possible print on my garments.

The first building I looked at was the Ferdinand Cheval Palace, France.

This building is very quirky and great for design inspiration. THE STORY BEHIND IT: One day, French postman Ferdinand Cheval was making a walk, suddenly a stone fell at his head. He was OK, picked up the stone and the next day returned to this place, gathered a lot of these stones and was full of eager to create a building out of the beautiful stones. He spent 33 years building this “Ideal Palace” as Ferdinand Cheval called it.

I love how the building is a simple design made up with fascinating detailing and care with each little bit that goes into it. From this you can take away the idea of putting simple things together but layering them also. This can be done with clothing as well. I can also denote some clothing aspects within it such as seeing  flared bottom trousers with in the supports. This beautiful building would be great for use in a surface design pattern by being screen printed.

This would be another good building to screen print, possibly just the silhouette and make it repetitive. I could see this being good layered over one another and changing and playing with the colours. 

Another thing I love from the French architecture is the beautiful balcony railings. The pattern in the railing is so beautiful and definitely fits the Parisian Chic style and could potentially be used for lining in garments such as the cape I plan to make.

The Eiffel tower is a clear main attraction to Paris, France. It's iconic and would suit the purpose of the Parisian Chic. Even though it being a beautiful piece of architecture its a common choice for most people looking into the parisian style. Although I would still like to incorporate in my work somehow.

Victoria Beckham Cape....

WORKING DESIGNS

I have started working on some design ideas from inspiration I have found and so far I like the way they are shaping up although they still need some design and embellishment work. I also need to starting thinking of material ideas and material prints, or if I am going to screen print material or embroider it. 

-L

MORE TUMBLR INSPIRATION

I think the this cut-out design is very nice and different. Normally the cut outs is on the sides on or just above the way but  having the cut out coming down towards the hip is very nice and different as well as eye catching. 

I again love the way this cut out, wrap dress looks. Having the slash between materials across the chest to waist it beautiful and can look very beautiful. I then love how the slash has a piece of connecting material to look like embellishment to just keep it in place.

The design embellishment on the centre of this dress is what caught my attention. It looks amazing and really drew me in. How 3D it is is amazing and very different. 

The embellishment on this is really amazing, and must have took so much time and care, I really love it. Its very detailed. I also love the way the shoulder parts are connected instead of having your same old shoulder seem. The shoulder looks very uniform and I really love the Military look. 

I loved the love V necked part to this dress, I would really like to be able to produce something with this style of neck lining on it. 

I scrolled past this design and fell in complete adoration of it straight away. It looks like the drawing from the Kim Kardashian collection (which will be seen below) and I really love the Fashion Week styling to it. It definitely looks like a runway piece and is very beautiful. I especially like all the care and detailing that has gone into the sketching of it. It clearly shows the different parts to the outfit. I am unsure of the artist of this design.

Kendall Jenner always has a Black and White classy style. Everyday. I adore the wardrobe choices she picks and choosing a simple pair of trousers and pairing it with a classic white t-shirt is beautiful, and shows you can make the simplest of things look good.

This Christian Dior design I immediately fell in love with because of the black classy look to it. I think Emma Watson wore it really well and I really love the way the material falls and sits and the sheer hem at the bottom with the 'shiny moons' it's such a good design and looks amazing! I definitely would like to make up my own design ideas from this and incorporate it into my work some how. 

I thought that this pattern would look great screen printed on to sheer material and used in part of one of my final designs. It could be changes around and made monochrome and would great, I really like this patter especially how it is repetitive and simple.

These are designs drawn and published by SEW_TRILL based upon Kim Kardashian and I really loved the high slitted leg in the first design that shows some leg at the top without it being called "trashy". I think it looks really sophisticated and I really love that idea. I also fell in love with second design, I love the look of the material how the blue and pink blends and all the embellishment detail that has gone into it. The high neck and long selves really set it off as-well and pull the whole outfit together.