Worth the Follow: Fashion Artists on Instagram
The dark, highbrow humour that Chris Rellas brings to his work is appealing. In one, he substitutes the product of beauty campaigns with a churro; in another, a hotdog. He’s also depicted politician Bernie Sanders in an “Anti Social Socialist Club” hoodie and Marie Antoinette carrying a Net-A-Porter shopping bag. In this exclusive artwork for L'Officiel Singapore, Rella has portrayed Kendall Jenner knocking the hell out of Muhammad Ali.
Photo credit: Muhammad Ali by Neil Leifer
This artist’s handle is a combination of his name, Sidney Prawatyotin, and the word “situations”. It is this simple cleverness that has us laughing out loud. As illustrated, the Balenciaga vest is, after all, an extravagant life vest, so it’s only necessary to demonstrate its basic purpose with the addition of an audacious animal. We were all thinking it, sort of, but he’s the one who’s bothered providing the peculiar visual.
The work of Kelly Beeman has been featured extensively by Loewe, with some printed on the pages of its latest book, Past, Present, Future. Her contemporary, vivid illustrations of chicly dressed Amazonian women mix elements of nature to with urban settings, and her work is incredibly relatable to a digitally-savvy audience, as shown here in Girls in a Meeting by the Window.
Armando Punzetto stands out from this list by incorporating actual material for his fashion illustrations. Simple sketches complement a swatch, giving us a better understanding of fabric manipulation. His work is strongly rooted in reality, and shows both his and the designer’s prowess. Here, we see Punzetto’s demonstration of the detailed intricacy in this Spring/Summer 2017 look from Dior.
Helen Downie was spotted by Nick Knight in 2014 and then by Alessandro Michele in 2015 – both invited her to create a series of portraits. Pictured here is an artwork called The Arrival from The Gucci Chronicles which perfectly captures innocence and mystery. Check out Downie’s live drawing sessions on her Instagram Stories; she does them frequently.
Rob Phillips is a modern-day Egon Schiele, but he does fashion instead. The crooked strokes, lightness of colour and strength of character are what make his illustrations complete the crossover to fine art. Expect intense emotion, body language and brilliant details, created by the use of negative space and the sensitive application of paint – something that’s achieved perfectly in this sketch of a piece from Saint Laurent Spring/Summer 2017.
Fashion needs a little bit of mystique. With few colours and intricate detailing, Filikh Raja's illustrations provide that for us. Raja's work has been incorporated in various media, including large-scale mall installations, photographic collages and digital projections for fashion shows. Raja often sketches flora and foliage and it's evident that his fashion drawings are informed by botanical qualities.
Maybe you've thought of the same thing Erwin Huang has, but he's beat you to visualising it first. His feed is simply hilarious: his side-by-side comparisons double as his critique of designer collections and celebrity dressings. He's pointed out that Adele looked like a ketupat at the 2017 Grammys, the Victoria's Secret angels look like Pokemon in their runway outfits this year, and that the latest Comme des Garçons collection is an abstraction of various rooted vegetables. Huang makes his own clothes, by the way.
