Illustrating the Role of Fashion in Today’s Society

By  //  October 14, 2021

Fashion trends these days are dictated by social media trends and celebrity preferences. Expressing one’s style and identity through clothing is essential but is also a privilege. Take advantage of the gift of fashion and apparel. Exploring the different concepts in the fashion industry is not limited to any gender.

Fashion is for anyone who wants to showcase their identity through their manner of dressing and projection. 

Illustrating fashion designs is for anyone. Discover your creative potential by exploring the possibilities of design through fashion illustration. Gather various art materials such as colored pencils, watercolor paint, and pens to bring life to your drawings. Silver foil sheets can also be used to add sparkle to your illustrations. The mixed-media technique is an excellent way to challenge your creativity as you think beyond the box.

Pursuing fashion should be a genderless path. Androgynous fashion has become a trend in recent times. Gender-fluid clothing provides any person an outlet to express their identity without having to conform to societal standards.

The Case of Fashion Illustration

The art of illustration has not always been widely appreciated by the public. Due to its commercial value, the field of illustration has been deemed an inferior creative genre to works that are traditionally considered as “fine art,” such as marble sculptures and oil paintings.

Back then, not many people considered illustration such as fashion illustration worthy of exhibitions apart from its inherent commercial value. Despite this perception, however, fashion illustration has always played a significant role in the development of the fashion industry. 

There is beauty in illustrated works, especially when it comes to fashion. When looking at fashion illustration, these pieces appear to be more organic in form as opposed to their photographic counterparts. Fashion illustration leaves out plenty of details for the viewers to fill on their own. This creates a heightened sense of intimacy between the illustration and the viewer. While fashion photography has its own charm, it’s difficult to recreate the sense of intimacy created by fashion illustration between the viewer and the piece.

Top fashion illustrators back in the day were not given enough due credit for their work. Due to the cultural landscape, many of these fashion illustration pieces have yet to be restored and preserved correctly for documentation and appreciation.

It’s important to value these artworks, especially today when viewers are accustomed to quickly scrolling through images on their phones. With fashion illustration, viewers are given a chance to take a moment to appreciate the time, effort, and creativity poured into an illustration piece. 

Fashion designers and artists should continue contributing to the discipline of fashion illustration. Doing so will pave the way for the growth and development of the genre as it adapts to modern times. 

Revolutionary Fashion Design

The trends in the fashion industry are ever-changing. Through the years, generations upon generations have gone through numerous fads, cases of fashion faux pas, as well as timeless designs. Fashion reacts to the various new cultures developed in modern times. Despite the outrageousness of many subcultures over the years, there have been iconic and classic fashions that will never go out of style. These timeless pieces have been gifted to the population by designers such as Coco Chanel and Christian Dior.

From timeless to timely and classic to bold, fashion designers have always aimed to push the boundaries of fashion and clothing. With the evolving cultures influenced by various media types, new designers continue to rise with ground-breaking concepts for the new age of fashion. Some of these designers include Kenneth Ize, Harris Reed, and Rok Hwang. These budding fashion revolutionaries have fresh styles and creativity that challenge the typical notions of fashion. 

Many people find the fashion industry intimidating; however, fashion should be approached with a fun and free spirit. Through fashion, people can show off their individual styles and personalities. Doing so will allow them to feel more like themselves as they embrace the freedom given by clothing.

Genderless Clothing

With the various fashion trends these days, wearing clothes has grown to become genderless in some fashion subcultures. There is power in the androgynous look that is prevalent in today’s fashion industry.

Wearing gender-fluid or gender-neutral clothing allows the individual to be more comfortable with their clothing choices. Different from the “unisex” label, the idea of gender-fluid clothing refers to wearing practically anything that makes you feel like yourself regardless of whether the respective clothing brand deems the item appropriate for your gender. 

The term is yet to be defined more clearly, but, in essence, it shouldn’t be strictly defined at all. Fashion should provide freedom to its wearer. Likewise, gender-fluid clothing allows people to be free. 

Fashion illustration showcases the various trends that have come and gone through the years. This documentation is valuable for learning about how clothing has affected our global culture and vice versa. Fashion is a powerful tool that serves as an avenue for people to express their individuality and strive to be better citizens of their communities.