A new wave of fashion illustrators is making fashion laugh at itself through comedic visual puns and tongue-in-cheek commentary.
Fashion has always suffered from a degree of self-seriousness. It is, at its core, an industry about shaping others’ opinions to one’s own advantage. At the heart of fashion, and increasingly at the heart of our own social media pages, is the need to be seen, recognized and appreciated. Amongst the over edited, unnaturally-posed street style shots, however, is a new wave of fashion illustrators making fashion laugh at itself through comedic visual puns and tongue-in-cheek commentary.
There is something refreshingly quaint, in this age of tech-everything, about illustrators taking it back to the old-school. Perhaps the time of well-lit, perfectly-filtered images has left us crying out for something more personal, something handmade and altogether more authentic. There is a sense of irony in all of this, of course, as it is social media, and specifically Instagram, that has made it possible for illustrators such as Angelica Hicks, Julie Houts, David Park and Sara Rabin to make a space for themselves in the industry.
Instagram has, increasingly over the last few years, provided a platform for people to self-publish their work. It has become one of the most popular mediums through which people tell their stories and put their work out there, perhaps because, unlike vast publishing houses, Instagram can’t ‘reject’ you, and the publishing process is immediate. The social media platform has also become somewhat of a collaboration-maker. This is precisely how Gucci’s new partnership with British illustrator Angelica Hicks came about.
Angelica Hicks
Hicks has become well-known over the past year for her pun-ny fashion illustrations and comic commentary that draws on popular culture. From Leo Decaf-rio (Leonardo DiCaprio on a coffee cup) to Poochy for Pucci (a poodle with a Pucci-style print), Hicks is injecting a good dose of much-needed cheeky humour into the fashion industry. In April, the artist’s drawings made the jump from Instagram to print, as Laurence King released a book of Hick’s selected drawings entitled ‘Tongue in Chic.’
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Speaking to Nylon Magazine, Hicks said of her ironic images:
“I wanted to highlight that fashion can be funny and not unattainable. I find it funny to provide a fashion commentary that draws from popular culture as a point of reference, often combining high fashion with low-brow humor. We intellectualize too much, so I rather enjoy deconstructing this intellectualization through illustration.”
Having gained momentum on Instagram, Hicks’ watercolour and ink visual puns caught the eye of Gucci’s creative director Alessandro Michele, who tapped Hicks for a partnership with the fashion house. From the partnership came a line of eleven t-shirts decorated with Hicks’ work, as well as two giant murals in New York and Milan. Hick’s graffiti Gucci geeks went on display May 8 and are accompanied by a geolocation Snapchat filter, also designed by the Brit illustrator.
Julie Houts
Julie Houts, a former women’s wear designer at J.Crew, joins the surge of illustrators having their renaissance thanks to Instagram. Houts creates wry, at times absurd, and totally relatable sketches that lightly skewer the fashion industry and perfectly lampoon the types who take themselves too seriously. The laugh-out-loud drawings also explore modern-day social interactions from passive-aggressive text stand-offs to tinder dates that ‘suck your soul dry.’
Houts’ witty musings on the fashion industry and beyond have clearly struck a chord with her audience and found the artist a full-time fan base. Unlike the hordes of online visual humblebrags, Houts’ honest depictions explore the modern woman’s insecurities, and so deliciously spot-on are they that you’re sure to recognize yourself in at least one of her illustrations. Like Hicks, Houts is looking to poke fun at the unsmiling fashion industry. She does just that in a collaboration with StyleBop, through which the artist created a host of stereotypical figures that attend fashion week. As a former fashion designer, Houts has a world of inspiration at her hands, telling WFU Style that she draws everything ‘from my own experience or from observation.
David Park
Graphic designer, David Park, also has his place in the throng of illustrators poking fun at the fashion industry, this time – men’s fashion and streetwear culture. Park’s illustrations showcase his uniquely playful and cartoony style, inspired by Japanese anime and American comics. His trademark sketches go hand in hand with the illustrator’s oft-hilarious commentary on men’s fashion, sneaker heads, and his own, self-professed shopping addiction. The combination offers a lighthearted and comedic perspective on high-end streetwear brands, hypebeasts and highly-sought after products like Kanye’s Adidas Yeezy 350 sneakers.
Speaking to WSGN, Park said of his illustrations:
“I’ve always been a fan of pop culture, hip hop, fashion, and art. My taste is in creativity and playfulness. That’s what I’m attracted to and where I draw inspiration from. I think there are ways to paint every event in a humorous tone and that’s how I want my illustrations to be perceived—a visual LOL.”
Park’s sketches bring together well-known figures from popular culture such as The Simpsons and Super Mario, pairing them with the fashion world. ‘What makes this work is the fact that we all grew up around these characters and can relate to them.’ Park says. ‘It’s almost like imagining your friend who’s been broke for 10 years finally getting paid and copping some dope gear!’ In other words, the artist’s work is all about sharing a laugh and making men’s fashion attainable for everyone.
Park’s IG, @lookrichasfuuu, has led to several interesting partnerships, including a Versace-inspired brooch with Pintrill and the campaign for New Jersey sneaker shop Packer Shoes’ exclusive Diadora N. 9000 collaboration.
Sara Rabin
Sardonic illustrator Sara Rabin is another illustrator-face of the moment. A waitress at New York restaurant Dimes, Rabin takes inspiration from the customers and pedestrians she comes across in her daily adventures, scribbling drawings in pen and pencil on restaurant-receipt paper.
Like Houts, Rabin’s IG feed displays a series of raw, shameless depictions which poke a (mostly light-hearted) cynic’s finger at the everyday life of New Yorkers. Of course, many of these depictions collide with the fashion industry: there’s this drawing, which compares the sparse voting lines with hordes of people at Supreme and a whole series of sketches that depict the Fashion Week demons. Rabin’s cartoon-inspired drawings embrace imperfections, exaggerating the physical flaws of New York’s women as something to both laugh about and also celebrate.
Rabin’s first solo exhibition, ‘Crazy? Did you say Crazy? I was crazy once?’ opened last month in New York, at the Larrie gallery. The show features a selection of Rabin’s drawings, accompanied with her tongue-in-cheek text that all too often hit a little close to home. But, of course, that’s the fun of it all – holding the mirror up and having a laugh at the self-seriousness we often partake in and, most importantly, at ourselves!
So the next time you’re having a melt-down that smartphones are killing us and Instagram is turning humanity into filter-obsessed sociopaths, turn your stalks to one of these illustrators. Also, drawing can’t make you feel inferior about your lack of food photography skills and trying to pull off that one-armed, asymmetric-hemmed, deconstructed shirt stopped being funny weeks ago. Hit us up with your favourite fashion illustrations!