23rd September

The Golden Age of Fashion Illustration

by Connie Gray

As a recognised art form, it was not until the early 20th century that fashion illustration became a defined artistic medium with its own visual language. Pioneered by a group of artists largely forgotten today, the Golden Age of Fashion Illustration looks at this period when art and fashion merged for the first time to produce spellbinding artistic renditions that combined visual storytelling with sublime draftsmanship, elegance and style.

Artists such as Georges Lepape (1887-1971) who infused Paris fashions with Art Nouveau sensibilities in the early 1900's, Erté (1892-1990) also known as the 'Godfather of Deco', who became internationally recognised for his graphic images centered around opulence and symmetry in the 1920' and 30's and distinguished American artist Carl Erickson (1891 - 1958) who elevated fashion through social realism to a new level of sophistication that remains the hallmark of fashion drawing today. These artists transformed the communication of fashion into a powerful medium long before fashion photography became fashionable and one that has left an indelible mark on the history of fashion in the 20th century.