This has been an incredible year, full of adversity and transcendence.

What follows is a redux, final fashion‘s finest for the year. Thanks so much to everyone who visits, reads, comments, emails and reaches out. Friends and colleagues, you inspire me. You are all wonderful. Thank you.

My favourite blog posts

• what it is for – it girls and fashion – You are in denial if you think you can make it in fashion without embracing it.
• the economics of style – youth culture patterns - we fetishize “functional” work because our own so-called work is so ephemeral and indulgent.
• the aesthetics of scarcity - the last visceral shocker left to fashion is olfactory. This is why crust pants represent fashion’s last stand.
• the technique trap - so many young hopefuls come to London to go to these star-making schools and yet the instruction they receive sends them down the path of obscurity.
• the insider issue - In fashion, insider status is coveted by those who lack it and flaunted by those who have it.

Paper dolls

• Vionnet – both back and front views. Braless, just the way Vionnet liked it.
• Agyness Deyn – the first of a model series, I have a wishlist.
• Anna Dello Russo – for the Hudson’s Bay Company. She is such a perfect fashion phoenix, delightful to draw.
• Pink Martini Collection – my first completely hand-rendered, watercolour paper doll.

Incredible encounters

• Colin McDowell – respected writer, historian and curator of the Fashion Illustration exhibit. I had chance to show him some live sketches to at the Design Museum in February. Later in September he recalled my work and invited me to sketch at Fashion Fringe.
• David Downton – the 21st century’s finest fashion illustrator picked my work out of a lineup.
• Stephen Griggs – the owner of Dr. Martens invited me to visit the factory and see how my favourite boot gets born. Highlight.

Extraordinary projects

• Jabberdust – designed a scarf/accessory collection with Leah Barrett and blogged the process. Rough, finished fashion illustrations, specs, first samples, and the final results.
• my beauty icon – I paint a heroine in beauty products for the Toronto Standard.
• Rokit Vintage – contributed a window display illustration among some other bright fashion illustrators at a great vintage shop on Brick Lane.

Print appearances

• The Times 27-04-11 – my proposal for a princess’ wedding gown received some good words.
• Cosmopolitan Australia November 2011 – I talk it girls with the smart and spirited Rachel Hills.
• The Big Book of Fashion Illustration – featured in the definitive compendium of contemporary fashion illustration.

London life

• … London can really beat you down sometimes. This year had some real low points.
• … and then it transcends. When it got tough I got tough. I redeemed myself.

This was a year that started hard for me and then turned around in the second half. While I didn’t tick every box, I feel like I got the gist if not the gamut of my 2011 goals.

I’m looking forward to 2012. How about you?

I have been illustrating fashion full-time now for five years. Every once in a while I like to revisit the subject of how to hire a fashion illustrator. I often work with fashion designers, more than editorial clients, so as a guide this reflects that, though much of this information will be useful to any type of client for any type of creative work.

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“I need a fashion illustrator to draw my ideas!”

Cool! Wait, do you really? I get a lot of inquiries from people who want to be fashion designers and assume the first step is to hire someone to draw their ideas professionally. The truth is, a lot of established fashion designers do what they do with the roughest sketches you can imagine. Illustration is not a necessity, and in the early stages of a business it can be yet another liability. Hiring an illustrator before you’ve done anything else is a red flag that you don’t know what you’re doing and won’t be a reliable client.

I always refer these types of inquiries to Fashion-Incubator and Kathleen Fasanella’s book The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Sewn Product Manufacturing. This is required reading for any wannabe fashion designer. Often fresh designers don’t really understand the scope of what they’re attempting to accomplish – this textbook lays it all out in plain language.

Ok, so you’ve read the book and you’re on your way. When do you need a fashion illustrator to draw your ideas? Here’s a few common scenarios:

1. You are making a persuasive business presentation or creating a sales document like a line sheet. Whether you’re selling to an investor or a buyer, if you’re in fashion you know that great images sell. Sometimes those images need to be illustrations.
2. You are communicating very specific design ideas to patternmakers, sample makers, and production. Sometimes language barriers and oceanic distances are involved, so very accurate, precise drawings are required to reduce the number of iterations involved in developing a finished design. This can save you money in the long run.
3. Your products require instructions for the consumer. Drawings have a simplicity and clarity that works well for instructional use, often better than photography and easier to reproduce, especially in black and white.
4. You want to use illustrations in your branding. Again, great imagery sells. So if it suits your brand, the right type of illustrations can lift your website, printed materials, and PR content to the next level.

How do you find the right fashion illustrator?

Look at their portfolio! When hiring a creative, a lot of people rely on their social network – they look for a friend of a friend who is an illustrator or a photographer or whatever. This is a terrible way to get the results you want – creativity isn’t a commodity. Two different illustrators working to the same brief can produce completely different  illustrations. You want to make sure that the illustrator you’re hiring has the ability to nail your vision. So checking out their portfolio is critical. Here’s what to look for.

1. You love their style. Their past work will be a good indication of their future work – so check out as many examples as you can. If you like certain images, bookmark them to refer the illustrator to later when you present the brief. Sometimes potential clients will send examples of work by other illustrators for reference material – my feeling as an illustrator when presented with this is “why didn’t you just hire that illustrator?” Being asked to imitate the work of another illustrator can feel borderline insulting/unethical. That doesn’t mean you should never use illustrations as reference, but if you do please make it clear that you understand the illustrator will interpret that material through the lens of their own style.
2. Their skills suit your project. If you’re looking for a technical fashion illustrator, you need to be working with someone who understands how clothing is constructed. If you’re doing children’s wear, you want to be working with someone who demonstrates flair at illustrating children. If you need an illustration that will be used as a logo, find an illustrator who understands the practical principles of graphic design. And so on.

So you’ve found the illustrator – or maybe several – you might want to work with. How do you approach a fashion illustrator with your project brief?

You do you have a project brief, right? A great project brief is a short document that has the following information:

1. A brief but detailed description of the scope of the project. What type of drawings do you need, and how many of them? What are they of? Do they need to be in colour or just line art? Front views only or back views too? Including a couple examples of reference images can be really helpful – the illustrator needs to know if the content they’re rendering is simple or complex.
2. An explanation of where and how the illustrations will be used. This will give the illustrator a sense of how visible or important the project is, which will help them accurately assess the value of the project.
3. A due date or timeline. When do you need the finished work by? Remember that rush jobs are very expensive – the more lead time you can offer, the better the rate will be.

This is the basic information an illustrator needs in order to develop an estimate. How much does a fashion illustration cost? It depends on these factors. So knowing that…

“Budget is totally an issue! How can I get the best deal?”

1. Let the illustrator set the schedule. As freelancers, our schedules vary wildly. If you give us the ability to fit your project in between other priorities, we can be more flexible with the rates.
2. Rethink the scope of the project. It would be great if you could afford 10 illustrations, but maybe you can get by with one. Perhaps you don’t need back views of every style. Perhaps line art is sufficient and you can forget about colour (cheaper to print, too).
3. Work with emerging talent. Working with students or recent graduates can be tricky as they won’t necessarily have a good sense of what they can do best and how long it takes. However, if you can give a promising young person a modestly paid opportunity you will benefit in good karma – and often excellent work – at a fraction of the price of a more experienced professional.

You’ve hired a fashion illustrator – awesome! What can you do as a client to help the project run smoothly?

1. Take the time to assemble and organize all your reference material. This is especially important for designer clients – create a folder for the project and subfolders for each specific style. Include as much information as you can to get your ideas across, both written and visual. Make sure your file names and your style numbers are all in order – it will make communicating about your project much simpler.
2. Respond clearly to correspondence. Good email hygiene goes a long way. When the illustrator gives you a rough sketch to review, take enough time to compile all your comments into one email, and understand that the project can’t move forward until you send them. Try not to send constant, ongoing updates or changes, especially by IM or other social networks. Keep all of the project-related correspondence in one place, keep it concise, and use appropriate subject lines.
3. Limit revisions. There is a statute of limitations on revisions before the illustrator starts adding them to the invoice. The first two points go a long way to reducing the amount of correspondence and iteration it takes to reach the finished work. The essence is all about knowing exactly what you want and communicating that clearly, sooner rather than later. Being aware of this saves you time and money, not only on illustration but in all aspects of life.
4. Pay promptly. A conscientious client makes an illustrator want to go the extra mile. If you pay the agreed amount at the agreed time, you’re a model client that the illustrator would want to work with again – and the work you receive will reflect that good will.

Any questions, is there anything I missed? Are you an illustrator yourself, do you have any comments to add?

I am so pleased to be included in Martin Dawber’s definitive yearbook of contemporary fashion illustration. This hefty volume contains so much to admire and inspire. It is an honour to have five illustrations interspersed throughout including a full-page featuring my Jeremy Laing paper doll.

I am briefly quoted in the introduction from a longer email interview I did with the author – the best bits are below the fold. Keep in mind this was written a year ago!

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Cristina Sabaiduc‘s audacious London debut. This is an image of the rehearsal. You can see the magnetic garments clinging to the back wall there. Cristina dressed her models in these modular effects as they walked around the block. Check out her full collection here.

The video is off the hook.

CRISTINA SABAIDUC SS12 Motion from Cristina Sabaiduc on Vimeo.

My sketches and notes from the show are here.

This wonderful candid was captured by Lynsie Roberts. See more of Lynsie’s shots at her site.  Emma and I were absorbed in sketching by Cristina’s runway. Emma Block does brilliant illustration with a delightful collage technique.

The much anticipated finished samples of the Jabberdust project have arrived in Toronto, been photographed, and on the suggestion of Leah, I fitted them on illustrated models. Are you a retailer or an individual interested in purchasing any of these beautiful, hand-embellished accessories? Contact leah@jabberdust.ca for more information.

These are based on ideas I proposed, which Leah then developed. If you’re interested in the process of creating these designs from pencil scratch to embellished sample, check out these posts.

Paris! If you were wondering where I was, I was in Paris for fashion week – okay, I went to a handful of shows. Straight up, I went to Paris to be in Paris.

The first show I saw after stepping off the Eurostar was Manish Arora (above right). It was one of the best fashion shows I have ever seen, even though I couldn’t see much of it. The clothes were vivid and imaginative, the beauty was striking (from my vantage point I mostly saw heads and shoulders of the models). The show featured a magician who made a girl appear and disappear on the runway, something which was obscured by smoke and crowds for me, but the excitement was palpable even so.

Getting into the Manish Arora show was a lesson in and of itself. Unlike London, Parisians do not queue – they cluster.  I don’t like a cluster, so I tend to stand to the side, and in this case I positioned myself against a wall. However, my position was such that the cluster swallowed me and I ended up being jostled or shoved around, something I find very uncomfortable. Just as I was starting to feel a sense of absurd panic, I turned around to find myself face to face with Suzy Menkes who was carving through the crowd. “I don’t belong here,” I thought (or may have said aloud) and I squeezed my way out of the cluster. Just a few feet away, outside the cluster, there was a virtually empty parking lot where I stood at a cool distance trying to assess how this worked. I watched the cluster part for famous fashion editors and important fashion people, and people with seat assignments, and then in due course the security guards called those with standing tickets, and I found at that point, I could walk right in too. The cluster was just people without invitations who were hoping to get in, like some kind of parasitic (Paris-itic?) infection at the door of every show.

Lesson learned – stand at a cool distance and my turn will come.

The second show I saw was Barbara Bui (above left). She showed a series of neutrals – sandy beiges, whites and blacks, that played on texture blocking, arranged in horizontal layers. It was a simple, confident idea, executed very well. What was also very striking about this show was the statement non-diversity of the casting. Not only were all of the models white-skinned, they were also almost all blonde, and it was clear in the final procession that they were all within an inch or two of the same height. The lack of diversity was clearly not only unapologetic, it was very deliberate.

The Barbara Bui show was inside the tent at Place Concorde, and it is the nicest fashion show tent I’ve ever been in – in particular, the seating was at a steep grade so every row and the standing room all got a terrific view of the show.

Sonia Rykiel had brilliance and spectacle – it is clear that Paris really knows how to put on a fashion show. With a chain link fence down the middle of the runway and a soundtrack that sounded like a story, the scene was set for (once again, nearly identical) models who sat amongst the front row, sashayed down the runway hand in hand, met and chatted by the fence, and most endearingly, smiled. All while wearing fabulously vibrant colours, lush furs, deeply saturated plaids. This show really gave me the boost I needed to start mixing my pinks and reds, a combination that is so incredibly lively – in fact I did that the very next day.

Waiting to get into Sonia Rykiel was an exciting event in and of itself – many celebrities and famous fashion folks came through the crowd surrounded by much flash and fanfare, though the only one I recognized was Kanye West. It was incredible to see him come through the crowd, and everyone was smiling and lifting their cameras. He literally lit up an already very bright scene. That is real celebrity!

The first show I had a seat for was Amaya Arzuaga, so I attempted to sketch with watercolours live – which isn’t an easy proposition – above shows what I managed to get. This show was incredible for the exploration of dimension, volume, and line – using stiff felted fabrics in saturated colours. The construction ideas were new and interesting to my technical curiousity – the best was the way Arzuaga used the fabric on edge to create honeycomb embellishment echoing bone structures. It was a nearly flawless show, marred only by a finale dress which was too long for the model to walk in.

As I said, I spent a lot of time just sketching from imagination in cafes, and two of the better results are above. In addition to my new paintbox, I acquired a few brush-pens (introduced to me by Steffi in Berlin) – brushes that have water in the handle. You can squeeze the handle to dispense water as you need it, which makes watercolours so much more mobile – no need to carry around a container of water with you. Watercolours do take a bit of practice to use, and I’m still exploring the difference between an unintentional mess and an intentional mess.

My final two shows were Estrella Archs and Valentin Yudashkin, and once again I was seated and attempted to paint live, with the rough results above. They both had some lovely pieces, they were both shows that would have seemed quite outstanding in any other city. I think Paris had raised my expectations very high by this point. Archs show was all camel and fluorescent pink, and raw edges that seemed either not raw enough or just unfinished. My favourite piece had a tangle of spaghetti straps accenting a bare back. Yudashkin’s show was a series of very rich girls in rich-girl dress-up clothes, short short skirts, fishtail trains, lots of lace and exaggerated fedoras, finishing with a great furry black hat and an orange and black coat. It was much muchness, and not to my taste.

I think the best part of Paris, besides the fashion which was spectacular, was the spaces in between shows. Watching the street life and fashion crowds was sublime. The weather was perfect – I didn’t see a single cloud the entire time I was there. In between fashion shows, I spent my time walking the streets and my euros on cafe au lait in cafes. With my new watercolour box, I spent a lot of time just doodling fashions I saw or imagined.

The spaciousness of time and mind was just as clear as the skies, as open as my schedule. Nothing is as satisfying as nothing. Exactly what I wanted, exactly what I needed. Merci, Paris.

Last week I warned everyone on my social networks that I had entered yet another internet popularity contest. I try not to enter these too often because they are, uh… silly. But when I got an idea for reinventing the Anne Klein lion logo that I felt was half decent, I decided to go for it.

I’m not kidding myself – I know I won’t be able to keep up the e-whoring for six straight days (especially because I am in Paris at the moment), however the higher ranked I am on this thing the more visible I am to the real judges, so if you like my logo idea or you like me, please indulge me and give me your vote. You only have to vote once. It would be sweet to get in the top 50, but realistically, anything better than dead last would be wonderful. Thanks so much to all of you.

Also, please scroll all the way down and check out the full concept – there’s two elements to it that I’ve shown used in a variety of ways to suggest the versatility of it. I couldn’t tell if it was too obvious or too conceptual when I was rendering it – its obviously a bit of both which is what I think makes it neat. I should have used the logo mark as the leading image instead of the figure, in retrospect.

This is a really cool project – I was asked by designer-entrepreneur Leah Barrett to submit some ideas for her accessories line, Jabberdust – and as an added benefit, she’s encouraged me to blog the process.

You can see my original rough pencil thumbnails here, the refined drawings here, and Leah’s early spec sheets here. The first samples have just arrived back from India for review, and here they are, with comments from Leah and me:

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Reversible Tabard

Leah says:

Embroidery worked on both sides at the same time has turned out very interesting. You can see how the stitches have been picked up.. looks great. The new sequin made from wood laminate is eco-chic looking.. nice texture.

I say: I LOVE the look of the sequins on the reversible tabard, both sides! The fringe at the edge… not so much.

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Tuck Scarf

Leah says:

Perfect! soft chiffon ruffles hand sewn down while beading.

I say: The tuck scarf is perfect!

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Leah says:

I don’t like it as it is colour/beading, too Indian or too referenced?.. but will continue with construction and maybe the final will be better.

I say: not really loving the embellishment. Would love to see something more similar to the tabard. I’m really curious to see pictures of the tabard and the multi-hole scarf on a person!

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Feathered Capelet

The panel with trim before sewing:

One possible fabric – wool acrylic lurex blend slubbed jersey

Placed to show the result.

Leah says:

No cutting sewing has happened yet, Tell me what you think. As for me, I was thrilled, couldn’t be more pleased I’m really looking forward to the finished piece.

Front of shrug

Back close up.

Leah says:

Ice, spikes, crystal beads: The piece is stunning a real show stopper. It’s heavy, let’s see how the fitting goes.. have not met the sample maker yet. I hope she doesn’t bail. I had given up on this style, because I didn’t expect to find materials. This is where a visit to India can be helpful. After a 4 hours of walking through the worlds busiest embroidery findings market, we found this and I okayed it.

I say: I’d really like to see more variety in this one as well, and with lighter materials – long sequins, feathers, ribbon trim.

Overall, its quite incredible to see my ideas progress into reality! Looking forward to seeing further iterations. Thanks Leah!

Sunday, February the 20th started off at Jayne Pierson (lower left), a welsh designer who showed lots of hard-edged, black leather stuff riffing on 18th century styling. Unfortunately for Pierson, at this stage in the week I felt like I was seeing the same shapes, fabrications and references over and over, piled on top of one another in different combinations. There was one piece that I truly liked – a simple asymmetrical black leather shift with a zipper over one arm, and that was the one I drew – everything else just seemed like too much stuff.

What is with this rush to the middle of the pack when it comes to references? The next presentation I attended, Designers Remix (above left), featured the same type of rococo beehive hairdo, though at least the clothes themselves were modern in flavour. This designer used another technique I kept seeing over and over in London – cartridge pleating. Its an extremely archaic effect, and difficult to update – its a lot of fabric, its heavy, and it adds weight wherever it is used. Although Designers Remix managed to use it more effectively than most – just a little cartridge pleating goes a long way – every time I see it, I wonder, why even try?

(Side note: I almost forgot to mention a fashion week highlight from day 2 – I got a haircut from the Toni&Guy salon in the tent! The stylist, David, cleaned up my ragged edges and made me feel cute. It was the only bit of “swag” I got all week, and without a doubt one of the best fashion week treats I’ve ever received.)

Jazz Katze was the next show (above left), and although the styling was interesting, when the most memorable part of a show is the hair, that’s a shame. I can see Katze’s designs having a market, its cute stuff, maybe that market isn’t a fashion show audience.

The last show I saw was Fashion Mode – an organization that selects and incubates up and coming designers. The triptych of designers couldn’t have been more different from eachother. Florian Jayat (above center) showed quilted cocktail dresses, and the peaked shoulder detail that was definitely a trend throughout the week. Then there was a menswear designer who mostly showed variations on pagoda shoulders, I didn’t get a decent sketch. Carlotta Actis Barone (above right) created a suitable climax with dramatic, feminine gowns and fantastic hair and makeup to match.

That was it for me – after so many lineups I was all queued out. I didn’t have any push left in me, and I had work to do, so I hopped off the London Fashion Week bandwagon. It was a lot of fun, but ultimately I had the luxury of calling it off when I had enough – and considering that fashion week in London is such a too-much-is-never-enough affair, enough came sooner rather than later.

My Saturday, February the 19th morning started off at Georgia Hardinge (below left), an award winning designer with the designs to back it up. It was the emptiest show I went to all week, which was too bad because it was also one of the highlights. Getting the fashion crowd up after Friday night is a no-go… though on the other hand, those in attendance were attentive. Hardinge showed Geiger-esque digital prints, crisply aerodynamic shapes in jackets, body-conscious dresses with amazing cut details, and jackets with undulating cut edges and dimension suggesting topography, or dunes, or the patterns that waves make on sandy beaches. Truly incredible execution, confirmed when seen up close at the exhibition upstairs later.

It was a very dull, rainy, cold day in London. My next two shows were both from the PR company that scatters “e-vites” like confetti. I walked past insanely long lineups of people waiting in the rain with damp computer printouts and thought to myself: I don’t love fashion shows as much as these kids. Instead, I whiled away the afternoon in bookstores.

The last show of the day was Bryce Aime (above right), and the first time (out of three attempts) that I actually got to see the inside of the On|Off venue. Aime showed a series of sharply cut leathers and leggings, and over the course of the show the models got encased in acrylic crystals printed with satellite photos of snow-covered landscapes. It was the most successful gimmick I’ve seen in a long time, and not in a small way because the beauty was so subtly done – simple eyeliner and a softer version of the mohawk/quiff  created a lighter shade of punk. So many designers try and fail to do anything new with black leather and hard edges, it was great to see it done with a defter hand.

Two out of two shows that exemplified what I had hoped to find in London – designers that manage to be interesting and sophisticated, at the same time – not an easy thing to do by any means.

Skipped the after parties again!