Fashion Illustration by Fashion Designers (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "Looking back, Phillip Lim remembers drawing in kindergarten (his favourite subject then wasn't haute couture, but horses)..." (more)
Key Phrases: roksanda ilincic, colour crayons, final garment, Central Saint Martins, New York, Parsons School of Design (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

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.

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: 11.3 x 9.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #159,405 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 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

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.

1 of 1 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

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.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stylishly Sketched, March 27, 2008

By	BOYWAY (new york city) - See all my reviews

An exciting collection of drawings, paintings and illustrations created by international fashion designers showing (once and for all) the tremendous variety of drawing styles one can use to communicate ideas for clothing and accessories design. From the classically trained drawing skills to the uniquely stylized,personal work to a few using the computer.Most of the work looks hand drawn with energy and passion. A welcome change from the many books showcasing cold, high-tech-HACK work with no individuality.
This is not a How-to-draw-fashion book (and thank god!) for there are far too many of those HACK-books: dreadfully boring, mediocre, unstylish and uninspiring books that never seems to be in touch with ANY kind fashion. This is the kind of book that really inspires a fashion professional or student.
The cover seems a very odd choice considering all the knock-out art inside. Alot of people have mentioned they would never be attracted to open the book based on the cover.