Fashion Illustration by Fashion Designers [Hardcover]

Laird Borrelli (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 5, 2008

For anyone who loves fashion, this is a dream book: a vast collection of original sketches by 50 of the world's most celebrated fashion designers. Style maven Laird Borrelli has brought together 250 stunning sketches, designs, and concepts by a galaxy of prominent designers from every international fashion capital. Top names like Christian Lacroix and Karl Lagerfeld join hot up-and-comers such as Roksanda Ilincic and Yoshikazu Yamagata in a magnificent and unprecedented gallery of distinctive signature illustration styles, unique creative thought processes, and work in a huge variety of media. Lively text introduces each designer, and an utterly invaluable reference section in back provides contact details for each designer's label. Fashion illustration has never looked so good.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Laird Borrelli is senior fashion editor at Style.com. A fashion historian, curator, and writer, she is the author of Fashion Illustration Next. She lives in New York.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books (March 5, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811863360
• ISBN-13: 978-0811863360
• Product Dimensions: 11.4 x 9.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #143,328 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Just so-so, November 17, 2008

By 

Peabody "macmurphy" (Nowhere, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Fashion Illustration by Fashion Designers (Hardcover)

Though the book covers a wide range of both up-and-coming as well as established designers, to be honest, if i would have had the chance to page through it I wouldn't have purchased it. I was looking for inspiring fashion illustration, but what this book confirmed for me is that fashion illustration is best done by fashion illustrators, not fashion designers. I agree with other that comment that the cover is deceiving-- but not because, like other commenters, I DIDN"T like it, but because I LOVE the cover illustration and hoped that similarly fresh, contemporary, and cutting edge drawings would be inside. Instead, most of the illustration is in a very generic minimalist fashion design style (you know the generic line/stick figure body drawn with sweeping strokes to represent draped cloth) or very dated a la 80s-90s (probably because most of the designers featured were in school about that time and continue drawing their sketches in the style they developed in school). Most of the drawings are more functional for the designer rather than original but don't contain technical notes on garment construction.

I was hoping to buy a book I could pour over, and really sink my teeth into each drawing, but most of the drawings are minimalist, generically styled, or dated looking. I also assumed, even if the actual drawing didn't inspire, that the book would provide a really inside, intimate look into the creative process with handwritten notes or detailed description, but alas, it does not. The book covers a huge range of designers offering a few illustrations from each along side a very brief half-paragraph about who they are (often information you could find in wikipedia). It seems more quantity over quality.

To be fair though:

there are some really original drawings by Hanuk kim, Costello Tagliapietra, antonio ciutto, aitor throup, ricardo tisci, lovisa burfitt, and over course the cover artist Alena Akhumadullina.

The book is large and comes in a very sturdy hardback cover, making it an ideal coffee table book.

There are contemporary 'it' designers like Rodarte, Badgley Mischka, etc along side legends like YSL, Lagerfeld, betsey johnson, etc.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Best of Fashion Illustration Books, February 24, 2009

By 

K. Tanis "i heart pretty books" (San Francisco) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fashion Illustration by Fashion Designers (Hardcover)

I own or have thumbed through many many times all the fashion illustration books that are out there. They all seem pretty appealing but leave me wanting more. I'd say this is the best collection of the bunch. It feels more up to date and varied than many of the others I looked through. If you are going to buy one of the many fashion illustration books out there - I'd say this is your best bet.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful Fashion Illustrators, June 8, 2008

By 

Consumer "J Lew" (Brooklyn, NY, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Fashion Illustration by Fashion Designers (Hardcover)

To all the aspiring fashion designers, illustrators, and hipsters... this is a beautiful book to own. I love it so much, it is such a great look at how fashion designers see their creations. Art can be anything, even a sketch of what you think people should wear. I highly approve of this purchase, along with a new pair of shoes.