1960's Elegance

So a new commission has led me on an immersion tour of the glamor and grace of 1960's style. I am now thoroughly depressed that I missed this decade and that today I had no reason to wear fake eyelashes.

Before I started drawing, I decided to check in with the experts - my mother and her friends to tell me what it was really to be young and fashionable in the 1960s. Seventy five emails later, I was armed with so much new information about the '60s look that my head was spinning.

I had never really focused on how amazingly turned-out the glamor girls like Twiggy, Audrey Hepburn and Julie Christie were back then. I was so excited to have rediscovered these beautiful muses and to have found a new one I'd never heard of before - Jean Shrimpton.

Jean Shrimpton is by far my new favorite 1960's icon. Her face is almost too beautiful, her bone structure is almost so flawlessly symmetrical that I can barely look directly at her. But I found myself pouring over montages of black and white photographs taken of her painted with heavy black lashes and bigger hair than I thought humanly possible wishing there were more.

So I decided to do this quick portrait of my new historical model crush, if you'd like to buy a print, please click here!


I wanted to keep it soft because its such a reflective pose shes striking and because I worked from a black and white photograph. I loved discovering the feminine reserve found in Shrimpton that made the early part of the '60s such a beautiful time to be a woman.

But of course, as one of my mom's friend's emails pointed out "the 1960's were a decade in which hem lines went from below the knee to below the bottom!" So, while I'm here, I thought you all might enjoy a glimpse into how one woman transformed with the trends as she came of age in this radical decade. First, behold my mother at 17 as a dead ringer for Mary Tyler Moore...














And now please notice how indeed this decade was a revolution of hem lines for women everywhere, even my mom (now a college student, living life in the fast lane of Southern California)....

Lace

I just did this print for Fab'rik - a boutique in Raleigh, North Carolina. It was such a fun project for me because I got to come up with the idea for this all on my own. No offense to other more particular clients - I always appreciate specific detail when starting commissioned drawings - but I must say it was fun to let my imagination take the reins this time.

My inspiration for the drawing came from this lace pencil skirt I noticed in the Elle where I found the amazing Stella dress. I thought it was such a nice combination of femininity and structure. And I am also very into anything with a waist band right now.

So once I had decided to work from the skirt, the rest of the illustration just sort of blossomed upward without any other constraints. A sort of psychic automatism for fashion illustration if you will. (woohooo art history!!) This tactic always results in interesting and unexpected quirks for me, and now that I look more closely at this illustration, I am realizing that I may have accidentally done a portrait of Rachel Zoe. Look how angry she is!

to buy a print of this illustration, please click here!

Stop it Stella

Stella McCartney is trying to kill me. She created this confection of a dress (I usually hate it when people use dessert related terms to describe clothes, so cliche) but.... this is a confection and costs nearly 5,000.00. Stella is daring me to start robbing banks/unsuspecting women who leave their purses on the floor of coffee shops where I lurk while blogging in order to buy this dress for myself. But I will stay strong and just draw it instead. You'll notice I gave my version a waist line because if I were to put on the original dress I would get a lot of questions about when my baby was due and I'd have to answer possibly sometime in about ten to fifteen years.



To buy a print of this illustration please click here!

Legs

Hello bloggettes, how are you? I have missed you on this long stretch on non-blogging. The blizzard compounded with a trip to Colorado resulted in a casual 8 day weekend for me, so my apologies if you thought I'd abandoned you.

Here is an illustration that I just used for a bridal lingerie shower, what do you all think... would it be a fun new flat card?

Whats Hot, Whats Not

Lavender

Lavender 2.0

Above you have both Lavender and Lavender 2.0. The first was one of my most popular note cards for the past two years, the second is a fresh new take on the old favorite which arrived (just as the first snowflakes started terrorizing us yet again) this evening, ready to be boxed up and sold as flat and folded cards!

Although Lavender was so popular that we sold out again and again, I decided that instead of reordering it was time to reconsider her outfit. After all, I drew her in 2007 in preparation for the 2008 calendar and so many new subtle little accents to the way we dress have come in to play since then.

While I love the old illustration's flirtatiousness, the more I studied her the more I began to think she looked a little too much like a flasher... I mean, why does she have a lavender mini-trench on with shoes that would really only be appropriate with at least 14 more inches of hemline, or for black tie affair?

What is a mini-trench anyway?

Furthermore, Why does she have an antique hat box? Does not make any sense. Also... bare legs? not just bare legs... THIGH HIGH bare legs? What was I thinking? Slut!

After this assessment I had no choice but to bring Lavender into the new decade with a subtler shade of purple for her cape, driving gloves and some fancy tights. Also, no more barrel curls. And voila - Lavender 2.0.

I kept one touch that still worked - the cupcake box she's carrying (because I predicted the future of what would be hot in 2010). And I'd like to also point out that I predicted the Gossip Girl-fueled headband obsession of last year in my original sketch too.

Anyway, I hope you all won't miss the old option too much and that Lavender 2.0 will soon be flying off the shelf! To order a box of the new Lavender, click here!

SN-OMG!

This is a major glamorization of the actual situation in Washington tonight....

I doooooooo

(that title should be read in the voice of Meryl Streep as Julia Child)


Today I have been drawing wedding themed stuff non-stop. Some of my clients have requested bridal illustrations and I have been drawing bouquets and bustiers since day-break. I thought you all might like to see a glimpse of what I've been working on!



click here to buy prints of these illustrations

only 26 more days till march!

Happy February! I wanted to post the 2010 February Calendar page today as its the beginning of the month. And to remind you that you've only missed one month of my 2010 calendar and its still not too late to jump on the bandwagon if you haven't yet!

That being said, I have never been a fan of February, this miserable little footnote to January during which I am always lured into buying the first batch of tempting spring clothes which I will hate by the time its warm enough to wear them. Aside from a few people whom I am glad to know who could not help but be born in this month, I can't think of any redeeming qualities to having an extra winter month thrown in the mix. I really am so opposed to February that it was actually the last one I drew for the calendar. I couldn't think up anything I like to do enough in this month to glorify by illustration. I was stumped... and getting angry just thinking about the fact that February was looming on the distant horizon of the next year.

But luckily I have a wonderfully creative coterie of friends. And one particularly clever individual named "X"... no really... came up with this idea for my February illustration. She reminded me that even though I plan to spend most of the next 26 days growing steadily more frustrated by my winter wardrobe, Feb is a nice excuse to hibernate with hot chocolate and good reading material. (Ideally magazines filled with clothes I should not buy until it is over 60 degrees out) So thank you to X for making this month seem a little more bearable!