African Parisian Style. Above and below, Fashions by Natacha Baco, Illustrated by Laura Volpintesta
African Prints Fashion Illustration
(video below)
There’s not complicated story to this: I’m simply obsessed with African fashion.
In 1992 I moved to Paris as a Parsons fashion student and though I was fascinated by the couture and Japanese Avant Garde presence and jeunes creatures de la mode of Paris…
Nothing could hold a candle to the way I felt about the Africans and African fashion, music, food and culture I found there.
That fashion, those beautiful sculptural hairstyles, headwraps, turbans, and custom-made dresses, those fabric stores piled to the ceiling with folded piles of patterns, (that I couldn’t afford as a student)…prints and colors that literally dazzled my eyes.
I was blown away.
the baby-carrying, so beautiful and natural, and something I had never seen before.
The spices and markets. The pounding sun and elegance and peaceful joy that I could HEAR in the music.
Groups of women walking together, each in a brilliant jumble of mixed patterns, they were even more beautiful when they walked TOGETHER.
African fashion was literally so exotic and fascinating and beautiful, (and I was literally such a fashionista..) that I would follow a woman for a few extra blocks just so that I could observe and analyze how her dress was made or what the print motif was ….we did not have cameras then in our pockets!
I was so afraid I would go back to the states (1992) and never be able to see these things again….
I would go home and sketch and sketch.
Now it’s easy to find African and African inspired styles and designs online everywhere.
Maybe one part of what made it so incredibly magical then was that the only way I could see it was to be walking down the street!
It was rare, precious. And when I’d go to certain neighborhoods, it was like going to another country where I was just a total foreigner (oh wait, it WAS another country and i WAS a foreigner.)
African Prints fashion illustration
And I”m adding a youtube here so you can get a peek at the processes!
Fashion Illustration is so ultimate– I just love to capture souls of people on paper,
I love craft, cultures, creativity. I love adornment and I love stories about PEOPLE.
About women, About moms and families, About traditions and celebrations.
I love roots, I love the future, and I love now.
Adobe Fresco illustration above,- a digital vector fashion illustration. Tayasui Sketches app, below, has more organic feel and uses pixels.
Why do you love fashion illustration?
This example below is a super-fast, 22 second video where you can see the blank paper evolve into a finished illustration using Procreate app on my iPad pro.
In the second video, here:
This video above is 5 minutes long, and I’ll talk to you more about what apps I’m using and explain how I’m using them so that you can get deeper into your own experience of making.
Let me know what insights from this video you can apply to your own drawing, whether you are a beginner or advanced in fashion drawing!
African Prints
MOTIF
enchant me because the motifs are often humongous, the scale is different from in traditional North American cultures. Which is so flattering and dynamic.
COLOR THEORY
I love them because the color combinations “clash”… that’s not a judgment, it means that they vibrate strongly. That’s a good thing! It’s a new kind of color theory– new harmonies to the murky washed out colors of my culture. Every color in them, I feel like i’m seeing for the very first time. And this is 25 years later after seeing my first African Prints!
ARTISAN AFRICAN FABRICS
I love that they have a hand-blocked, crackled and uneven feel that gives infinite variation. I love that they don’t look totally perfect and controlled. They combine batik , wax-resist technique with block-printed opacity.
FABRICS WITHHOUT a WRONG SIDE!!!
I love that African Prints and Wax Prints are as bright on the “right side” as they are on the “wrong side”, and that they are cotton.
Crisp, light, quality fabric is delightful. The heavier ones too, and gorgeous JACQUARDS are popular too, (BAZIN) as solid colored as well as patterned options.
FLATTERING AFRICAN SKINTONES
African prints shine brightly off of dark skin.
MIX AND “MATCH” ABILITY
African prints and patterns are so busy that it is easy to mix them with each other and IT’S HARD NOT TO. It delights my eyes to see them combined, layered and juxtaposed. It’s addictive!
NEW FASHION DESIGN CAPABILITIES
When you sew such bright and eye-catching, busy prints, the super fine details are less visible, so you can sew in a relaxed way and focus more on the major details of the shape of the garment.
Large motifs have great effects when you pleat, gather, or smock them. They shrink and get squished up, creating textural and rhythmic visual interest.
Afro Brazilian culture, dance, and music
history, world view, culture, and food, etc…. all enchant me as well.
Today’s illustration really reminds me of a Bahia-Brazilian style of beauty.
Now, you…..go sketch!!!!!
love,
Laura
