Fashion Design Drawing Presentation

Fashion Illustration: Presentation FORMATS

WHAT’S IT ALL FOR?– That depends on the project.

Hopefully, all of your fashion design drawing presentations are guided by love, inspired and infused with beauty and care.

AND,  every project you do has a particular and unique angle, need, purpose, or requirement, right?

We always want to be clear what the goals are of the fashion design presentation, when there is one.

Is it:

MOOD?

TECHNICAL DETAIL?

PERSONAL EXPRESSION AND OPEN-ENDED DISCOVERY?

SALES?  OFFERS AND PRESENTATION?

JOB SEARCH/ A SPECIFIC CAREER GOAL?

INFORMAL? FINISHED?

PORTFOLIO? OR PROCESS?

 

SO, 

What is the purpose of the FASHION DESIGN project you are working on?

Clarify this purpose and intention of any fashion design drawing or presentation before starting in on it.

Is it to inspire? To communicate feeling and mood?

Is it to communicate specific technical information above all else?

Is it to tell a story? Present information? Is it about texture and fabrics, color, style?

Is it about YOU as the designer or is it about the woman and HER world and her lifestyle, or needs?

Is it formal or informal, personal and private or public presentation?

IMPORTANCE OF TEXTURE, VITALITY, SOUL, SOTRY AND HUMAN TOUCH IN FASHION DESIGN PRESENTATIONS

In the increasingly digitally stressed formats that fashion design is being crammed into at the industry level, as a 30 years fashion design professor at Parsons I feel a deep dip in the human connection I can feel with the many of the digital illustrations and presentations. 

There is a danger in creating such smooth, “perfect”, technical presentations, that the human connection is often lost among flat areas of digital color.

What if you crafted the sketches as you craft a garment?

and this isn’t for everyone- I’m speaking to a specific group of people .

The raw humanity, texture, individual style and emotional sense of intimacy that a gouache fashion illustration holds literally calms the nervous system and encourages verbal communications about the designs, the techniques, the story and the quality of the work.

WARMTH, RICHNESS,  VITALITY, HUMANITY AND QUALITY are the first words that come to mind about these kinds of presentations and they are some of my key values in creating fashion presentations, along with creativity, technical knowledge, style, joy, and legibility.

What would be your list of priorities and values if you had to make one? JOURNAL ON THIS IN YOUR SKETCHBOOK!

Whether you’re here on my site learning on to sketch a fashion collection, costume design, figure draw, technical draw, illustrate fashion, or learn about art supplies, or techniques….
There isn’t a single answer about how to present your work.

SWATCHES should always appear with your fashion sketches to emphasize color and fabrication clearly!

CLARIFY YOUR PRIORITIES AND VALUES

IT’S ALWAYS TAILORED TO THE WHERE YOU ARE SHARING IT AND WHY.

There isn’t a single answer to a question about how to approach a drawing or painting, just remember that you are COMMUNICATING. What, and to whom, and why?

PURPOSE

What makes the difference is the PURPOSE of your fashion illustration presentation
If it’s just for you, you can really do anything you want at all.

FOR FASHION design projects,  IT’S REALLY IMPORTANT to distinguish before you start a piece, what is the purpose of this particular technical drawing, sketch, illustration, croquis, presentation?

ABOVE, I was to research and create a color palette and print/pattern story for a major mass retailer for a job interview. I presented the fabric and color swatches, and then used them in  the illustrations which were more about putting the fabrics into use than about DESIGNED, DETAILED GARMENTS.

The project was also presented together with a whole research sketchbook where I developed the theme, colors, and created original print, strip and pattern concepts too. 

CREATIVE FASHION DESIGN PROMPT 

I think I’ll make a video from that sketchbook here for the blog, soon. In the meantime,

What if that was YOUR assignment?

What if you were to devote a whole sketchbook to developing prints, patterns, stripes, checks and colors for a particular brand (YOURS) for a particular season or event?

I think I will add this as a bonus assignment to my Swatches to Gouache course.

Remember that in my courses you get feedback on your work inside our private course area.

 

MOOD

Are you going for pure mood, feeling, inspiration, creation? 

Go for it! 

Color, texture, pure emotion, pushing the edges. 

Let the spirit guide you! That’s FASHION ILLUSTRATION. 

New ideas can be born in there… shapes, proportions, colors, explored and expanded. 

Use markers, gouache, colored pencils, expressive soft pencils and brush pens, watercolors and textures papers all contribute to a quality and mood that is compelling.

Notice how taking colors from the color palette of the fashion illustration’s fabrics and creating graphic elements makes an exciting impact presentation. Pleated striped balloon sleeves and matching micro-pleated ombre skirt by Layana Aguilar, illustration by Laura Volpintesta.

TECHNICAL detail

Or is it technical? Informational? Purely technical drawings at times may be a bit proportionally or aesthetically off, but the purpose is to show every detail. So every detail needs to be in there as first priority. And they have to fit into the garment.

So don’t draw it super skinny, narrowly or the garment’s design details won’t fit onto the sketch! : Closures. Collars, vents, plackets, buttons, zippers. Pleats, gathers, flares, ruffles, darts, tucks. Stitching. 

Embroidery, logo. Smocking, elastic. Be explicit and get it all in there.

 

FLATS

This can range from a black and white technical drawing from a factory to full colored digital or gouache/ watercolor illustrations that carry lots of mood, shadow, texture and proportion but also include clearly indicated details on the garments and express their proportions. Fashion DESIGN ILLUSTRATION shows the “story”, the look, the feel, while also showing the technical details of the garments, i.e.: the DESIGN of the garment.

PORTFOLIOS:

Ideally, your presentation will provide the illustrations, the flats (technical, black and white drawings) along with fabric swatches to give a well rounded story. It should highlight all of your strengths and sides of your personality and approach. (we build all of these skills in depth in Soulful Fashion Foundation Immersion)

SKETCHBOOKS:

Turn up your favorite music, remind yourself how you came to this medium in the first place. 

Throw down some strokes on the page.

We need lots of inspired work out here! 

Your sketchbook, to me, after working with hundres of fashion design students, — is your most valuable asset. Not only is it where you feel the most free, honest, playful, dreamy and adventurous, but it’s also where you show how you think, conceive, and develop ideas. 

Your fashion sketchbook/ croquis book says so much about you and how you approach and solve problems, and what your core values and aesthetic are. 

And this isn’t something you “go out of your way ” to do… it’s a natural result of your time spend immersed in creating and working out fashion design concepts.

Please meet and share your gifts, however “large ” or “small ” you may deem them, there are no levels of value when sharing your truth. Truth is the highest value. 

What do you know, how do you look at the world, design, life, aesthetics, culture, people, clothing? What matters to you?

thus,…

CONSCIOUSNESS

And you know I’m always going to take it another level deeper: OUR FUNDAMENTAL PURPOSE should always be in our consciousness.  

What is the purpose of your work on the highest level? Where is the love? DOES IT BRING YOU JOY?  Who does it serve? How does it help? How is it sustainable?  Is it a win-win-win situation? 

How can you take it one step closer to conscious production methods, distribution, chemical processing or disposal? 

Are they lasting garments? Is the imagery supportive of women as well as the production methods or business model? Can you take steps to make it more so?  Can you rethinkclosures that aren’t breakable, difficult to fit, or don’t decompose? 

Can you use minimally processed fibers that last or that break down easily into the ecosystem? Can you design with deadstock or upcycle?  Research  innovative technologies (or ANCIENT TECHNOLOGIES)  for printing, dying, constructing, pattern-cutting (like zero-waste) or recycled or repurposed components.  

Can you create stories that uplift, educate, unite, and bring joy to the world?

….and by the way,….

YES, YOU CAN!!!!!

For more info about my Online Fashion Courses, please check the COURSES and PRORAMS tab in the header menu! I’d love to meet and work with you to realize your dreams.

LOVE

Laura