Fashionable Illustrations

 

When we used to read large broadsheet daily newspapers, there was always on the 2nd page after the front page a large fashionable illustration of the newest collections at Lord and Taylor or Sax 5th Ave or another large department store that carried the latest collections from St Laurent, Dior or Chanel. I loved those illustrations, I loved the quick and bold strokes and the splash of watercolor. All were so evocative of style and fashion and invited your imagination to dress like that.

 

This collection of fashion illustrations by Eva Aldbrook were shown by Gray Modern & Contemporary Art at LAPADA Art and Antiques Fair last weekend at Berkley Square in Mayfair. These illustrations were shown for the 1st time since their publication in 1956 for The Sunday Times.  Eva Aldbrook, the artist of these fashionable illustrations was favored by the newspapers and magazines in London in the 50's and 60's. She was commissioned by the editor of British Vogue, Alisa Garland and Ernestine Carter, associate editor of The Sunday Times and other publications.

Eva Aldbrooks' illustrations caught that feel of the period, confidence, elegance and clean lines.

Fashion illustrations have always had an appeal to collectors, Erte being a favorite. They capture the style of the time. I like the quick sketching with charcoal pencils and contrast textures of watercolors, leaving lots of suggestions for us to imagine, those are the qualities that make them art and make great pieces to collect.

Introducing Vava

Hello all my friends, I am adding a contributor to my blog, she is Vava, she is my sister. She is in New York and has a home in Vermont with a fabulous garden. She is fantastic cook and has a well honed sense of fashion and style formed from years of working with clothes. We made paper doll clothes when we were kids and learned to sew making Barbie dresses.

When we Skype we talk about food, delicious meals we have cooked or a restaurant we have been to, a wine we have tasted. We talk about clothes and fashion, the cut of jeans, the blend of cashmere or the new collection of a favorite designer and I have often thought these conversations should be shared.

Being an interior designer and writing a blog on interiors and design, food and fashion would inevitably cross into the posts. When designing a kitchen, dining room or a cafe with a client conversations about food and cooking always arise, they go together. As so with many other parts of designing a home, we cross into other areas of design, art, culture, style, fashions.

I am looking forward to having Vava contribute, there will be recipes, there will be styling ideas and observations.... Come back tomorrow for Doomsday.

Art in Fashion

Calder

The fusion of art, fashion and textiles has a long history. A glimpse at a mid-century collaboration is on exhibit at Whitford Fine Art in a show of scarves with drawings from the collection of Ascher Squares. In 1947, Ascher Textiles commissioned several artists of the period to draw and design for scarves. The results were delightful, colorful and dynamic designs to wrap around shoulders and necks.

I rarely leave the house without a scarf, an essential decoration and a practical accessory and have a collection of scarves that resemble a rainbow, but these are special, they are wearable art.

Domingues

Derain

Wilson

Hepworth

Nicholson

Whitford Fine Art till 18th May