Plus Size Fashion Model Drawing and Illustration Technique

How do we even define “plus size” fashion model vs another?

If, in the fashion design industry, sizing is unregulated and inconsistent across the board, and most sketches we see have distored body proportions….

In fact; in fashion schools, students are still learning —and teachers are teaching and illustrators often perpetuating the use of— proportions that don’t exist in human form, then where and when do we decide we are in the range of “plus size”?

When I design or sketch, or teach fashion design or fashion illustration, to some extent it is ALWAYS “plus size” just because in real life,the legs are not longer than the torso!

******Design principle: the shorter something is, the wider it looks. That’s just a visual, perceptual law.

plus size fashion model drawing by Laura Volpintesta

what defines Plus size clothing ?

Plus could refer to a specific set of size measurements. What interests me in Plus size or any size fashion sketching is that we are drawing true to the model / client/ customer’s body without distorting it.

Plus size fashion sketching RESOURCES

The foundation of your beautiful fashion illustrations and designs is rooted in you getting very familiar with the body you are sketching or designing for. That’s why I keep Pinterest boards of plus size and all size fashion figures (in standing poses) to sketch, learn, illustrate, and study from.

For this purpose, I particularly value leotard,swim and yoga wear images so I can study the plus size body itself, how it moves and how it looks from all angles.

I practice drawing it until I’ve “internalized” that figure.
Until I am “inhabiting” it.
Until i am LOVING it with all my heart and cells.
This is design integrity.

To me, that means that it lives and breathes in my imagination as well as my hands!!

We always design best for that which we have lived, felt, and needed or benefitted from.

The sketches you see on this page were all created from observation: I sketched while looking at photographs during timed drawing live zoom sessions.

If you repeatedly do this, you will find yourself at the point where you can sketch a figure at will from your imagination, because it has become a skill and a habit that lives inside you.

When I worked in plus size fashion design

I was really surprised to see the process when I worked in plus size. The company I worked at did private label for juniors and plus size. I was the fitter for the sampling process. They would create the styles in junior size, and then GRADE The patterns up to plus size!

You can just imagine how inefficient it is to design that way. Using formulas on a measurement chart instead of designing directly for the client!

I believe that “plus size” fashion OBVIOUSLY deserves its own style and designs on its own dress forms and clients so the design has a real integrity to it, not as an afterthought.

I also believe that plus size designers should be designing for their own bodies and aesthetics!

I believe in reasearching, finding images and examples (and draping, sketching and creating) garments that are already fabulous and letting THEM be the basis of the plus size fashion.

Not by trying to stretch or morph fashions that were designed for completely different body types.

Easy fit, volume, and large prints are some elements that I find incredibly beautiful in plus size fashion design.

RESEARCH AND EXPERIENCE

I remember that the African fashions that I saw in Paris when I lived there in the 90s was so beautifully tailored to the plus size fashion model aesthetic that I always wished I had the body for it… that’s how evolved and gorgeous the fashion was for a full figure body type.

Plus Size fashion sketching

Plus size model sketching croquis posed by Laura Volpintesta — Sketches by Laura Volpintesta *One way to get fluid with Plus Size Fashion Sketching is to use one of these figures as a croquis template and sketch right onto her figure!*

plus size leotard model fashion figure study, marker and pencil, with frame, from class session with Laura volpintesta — Sketches by Laura Volpintesta *One way to get fluid with Plus Size Fashion Sketching is to use one of these figures as a croquis template and sketch right onto her figure!*

DESIGN INTEGRITY

Fashion designs have integrity when you take that figure and design on it and for it.

I also believe that we design best for the body we inhabit ourselves!!!

We know what it needs, how it’s shaped, what flatters, feels, functions and looks good for all of our needs.

I love traditional clothing from around the world for its embracing of all ages, stages of life, sizes; respecting the integrity of the fabric, the figure, and lifestyle.

For example caftans and kimonos. Not only for the design visuals, but the philosophy and approach to cutting, fitting, and patternmaking.

digital fashion illustration on ipad with Tayasui sketches app, colored pencils, gouache and marker on tinted paper. Laura volpintesta

PRINTS AND PATTERNS

In plus size fashion, way we use prints and patterns, embellishments, and surface details should also be reconsidered when we are working with full figures. We have more space to work with and this opens up a whole new world of design!
Large motifs and patterns

https://youtu.be/AD1sgyYdtdw

Give yourself the luxury of feeling into the human figure in a way that is relevant and sincere for you.
Your design and integrity come from listening to your inner voice above all else- you are smart and you have the eye.
Be sincere in your creation!

Plus size fashion model sketching by Laura Volpintesta

FASHION DESIGN SKETCHING

Remember to think of your sketches as dress forms in action- the dress forms used in draping and patternmaking for plus size fashion should relate easily to your sketches, if that is the body your client has!