Perception and Expression in the Universe of Fashion Illustrations

Percepção e Expressão no Universo das Ilustrações de Moda

When looking at an image or illustration, the observer soon realizes if it pleases him or her or if it does not. All the graphic-visual and formal-aesthetic analysis goes through a subjective cognitive process, where the understanding and valuation of what is seen is intimately connected to the capacity of expression and to the message the creator wants to transmit to the observer. Such language has the same basis of verbal communication, with a transmitter and a receiver, in a context that has a common code, where the image carries signals which generally value the being, portraying it as elegant, sophisticated, loose, according to how the illustration is represented.

In this article, we aim at performing a brief analysis, from the reading of a fashion illustration, created by Laura Laine, comparing it to the original piece by Botticelli, considering the most important aspects found at pre-figurative, expressive and symbolic levels. Such elements, which are dots, lines, blots and planes originate adjective elements such as colors, tones and textures. Through the perception of these elements, it is possible to make associations to previously-lived situations and, by doing so, generate other proper meanings to the image, through its composing elements, aiming at creating a contact with the observer in order to delight, seduce and reveal ideas and concepts.

In the fashion universe, the graphic representation is one of the most relevant points. Whether in fashion design, where sketches are elaborated with the purpose of execution, where a very precise representation, according to the material world, is fundamental since all the details and proportions will be used in the construction of the piece in the form of graphic prints added to the piece of clothing or even in fashion illustrations, where the pieces are hardly ever represented as they really are, but they establish a message through their composing elements. This aims at establishing contact with the observer in order to reveal, delight and seduce.

Fashion illustrations may be used for several purposes: composing the presentation of the fashion collection for the buyers; showing the media a preview of the coming collection; illustrating fashion shows or fashion trends or even showing a collection through prints (ARMSTRONG, 2007). Mostly, it aims at being the consumers' attention target, creating desire for the piece and making the consumer recognize the product and buy it. The challenge is to make the illustration stand out from the various photo editorials, exactly for being different and working with other forms of expression.

Sometimes fashion illustration translates the humor of the time period when it was created because, besides the artist's style, social and economic forces also determine the illustration's form and content.

Fashion illustration came to be from the technique of woodcut, which consists in carving a drawing into a piece of wood, followed by the application of ink onto it and then pressing it against paper. The result is the printing of the illustration. This method was widely used during the age of navigations and discoveries of new continents, in the 16th and 17th centuries, as a way of portraying a new reality and documenting the clothes of different peoples. With the coming of new mobile types of impression, in the middle of the 16th century, it became easier and cheaper to print and its commercialization became possible. That was when the first books, then called Costumes, came about. These books portrayed clothes in their locations, description of the pieces and how they should be worn. Later, in the 17th century, journalism and fashion almanacs came into the scene: Printing was still done in black and white and initially aimed at the male public. Also in the 17th century, magazines with colored illustrations appeared. These magazines were widely informative and had the purpose of clarifying, displaying male, female and children outfits, as well as accessories and even articles of decoration (DUARTE, 2009).

With the coming of photography into the magazines' editorials and advertisements, in the 19th century, fashion illustration went on a solo career for several decades, being removed from the exhibition area and style publications. But it was never completely gone and returned in the 20th century.

Following the advance of drawing techniques, illustrations and painting suffered direct results from the technology available in each period. Painting had a meaningful advance when oil-based inks were inserted into aluminum tubes, allowing artists to paint outdoors, when Impressionism was born. Hyper-realism was an artistic movement that aimed at being a reaction to photography, while techniques such as the airbrush came from the culture of acrylic and dyes used in fine arts (ARMSTRONG, 2007).

Fashion illustrations are not immune to the culture of their time, whether in the past, present or future perceptions. Experimentations on different surfaces open many visual possibilities. In each artistic movement, personal experiences influence not only the form of execution of the illustrations but also the form of reading them.

When looking at an image or an illustration, both the reader's conscious as the unconscious are moved. The illustration produces messages and meanings for the receiver, without depending on the author's real intention, within its context (JOLY, 2007). "An instrument of communication between people, the image can also work as an intersection instrument between men and the world itself" (JOLY, 2007 pg. 59).

With the increase of the means of expression which vary from the pencil, paper and inks to the most varied digital tools, fashion illustration is more diverse in style, expressivity and capacity of communication.

Laura Laine is an independent illustrator based in Helsinki, Finland and one of her illustrations was chosen to be analyzed for being a piece which travels between fashion and art. Besides that, she has done multiple works for big fashion companies such as Sephora, I.T. Store, Harvey Nichols, Pantene, H&M, Zara, Givenchy and influential media channels like Vogue Japan, Vogue Italy, Vogue Germany, Elle, The New York Times, Marie Claire and The Guardian.

Below, on figure 1, Laura Laine has used a well-known theme for her illustration: Botticelli's work: The Birth of Venus (figure 2).

Figure 1
Laura Laine's fashion illustration published on New York Times' T Magazine
Source: http://www.lauralaine.net (acessed in 06/12/2017).

In Botticelli's work (figure 2), according to Salzedas (2001), the figure of Venus, goddess of love, born from the foam of the sea, sails on a wind-propelled sea shell showing her magnificent nudity. On the right, the goddess of spring is waiting for Venus and hands her a flowered blanket. On the left, Zephyr and Clovis, suspended by wings, blow the winds to carry Venus aground and spread roses across the water. At the same time the image represents fertility, the senses and the pleasure, it also represents love and purity, expressed in Venus' prudish gestures of covering herself with her hands and her contemplative look.

Figure 2
1486's Sandro Botticelli's painting
Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0b/Sandro_Botticelli_-_La_nascita_di_Venere_-_Google_Art_Project_-_edited.jpg/1280px-Sandro_Botticelli (acessed on 06/12/2017). Importar tabla

From this quick contextualization, it is possible to analyze Laura Laine's illustration in its symbolical aspects, through the use of the same thematic as Botticelli's: Venus, Goddess Of Love. However, on Laura Laine's illustration, the arms are in the opposite position form Botticelli's and do not serve the function of hiding the body, despite its similar gesture: One holds the shoulder and the other the hair over her clothes.

The portrayed woman has the stylized form of fashion sketches: a longilineous and elongated body. She has her eyes closed and is slightly looking down. The act of holding herself indicates introspection, love and self-care. Despite being dressed, unlike Venus, her clothes carry few details and information of how they really are. Her hair is very full and fluttering, highlighting even more the symbolism of sensuality and femininity, also portrayed in Botticelli.

Concerning graphic-visual elements, we realize the line is very present in the illustration. Especially in the clothes which are basically constituted by curved lines, delineating fabric wrinkles and movement. The fine lines which contour and get into the dress are there to describe volume. From above the head down to under the hip there are many fine and winding lines configuring the hair which, by proximity, tends to be arranged in blocks. The organic shape of the line is cylindrical, sometimes more intense, sometimes less. These lines follow a very rhythmic and fluid order, reminding waves, leading the observer around the image and towards the central point which is the face. As for the texture, the fabric is plain and appears to be soft. On the other hand, the shell has a more scratched texture and differences in the color, showing a bright but rough texture. The color blue, imprinted on the dress in contrast with the white background and the grey of the shell and hair indicates passivity and softness. The body is also basically formed by lines, not having a color filling nor spots which characterize volumes. Her silhouette is contoured in a more freely than Botticelli's, suggesting more autonomy and freedom. According to Joly (2007), the use of such traces indicates finesse and elegance. However, the hair and the shell bring, with great richness of blots, the effect of volume and depth. The texture created in these areas works as a sensitive and enriching experience.

As for the more specific Gestalt aspects: the illustration has two main units: the feminine figure and the shell, arranged on the first and second plane respectively. The segregation happens basically from the color of the clothes, allowing it to stand out from the grey of the hair and the shell. Despite of this, there is a unification, because the hair is juxtaposed and around the body. In the shell, the repeating elements flow from a central point. The proximity and order configure not only the hair, through lines and rhythms but the structure of the shell in its lighter and darker parts, providing volume.

The visual balance is neutral, because the shell's central point is aligned with the center of the female figure and her support foot is in the center of this base, anchoring the first plane on the second one despite being unbalanced, the image is not static, because it does not have symmetry. the more prominent part of the dress on the right side of the figure, just lie her body which is not standing facing frontally, but slightly turned to the left with its counterbalancing face turned to the right. As for the visual pregnancy, it could be said it is average, because its interpretation demands a certain time, exactly on the organic shapes of the hair and the clothes.

In Botticelli's work there is a greater structure to the figure, suggesting volumes, masses and portraying the "weight" of the body. A more realistic representation through lights and brightness. There is more formality and materiality on Botticelli's painting than what we see on the fashion illustration.

We can also notice the gestural line that indicates the position of the body. This line is very winding, it creates rhythm and suggests motion, indicates flow, grace, something that tends to the ethereal and the divine. The gestural line also makes the observer's eye move. The process of vision suffers the action in response to the analysis of the observed image and the left-right and high-low preferences (figure 3). Still, it is a very well-balanced image in its visual elements.

Figure 3
Gestural line and direction of sight over Laura Laine's illustration.
Source: Image altered by the authors.

Illustration clearly has an emotional and expressive function, since i is about the fashion universe, but shows little of the clothing and a lot of the emotions and feelings the observer must take when contemplating the image. In this context, it is about a much more symbolic than representational illustration, imprinting its idealized and transcendent values. Picturing a current product in such a classical theme illustration makes the observer go through different emotions than usual; when facing this universe, he or she tries to elevate the fashion status to the divine, something intangible, object of desire and contemplation. It differs from Botticelli's composition, which displays its materialistic and humanistic dimension, because its more naturalistic representation is closer to the sensations experienced by the human beings facing the materiality of the world.

Considering that fashion illustration's role is to spread, communicate, persuade, encourage and reinforce the role of a brand or fashion itself in society, after its decadent past caused by the coming of photography, nowadays illustrations play the role of telling, expressing, explaining, inspiring or affecting as efficiently as the photographic image itself.

Differently of the written or spoken language, which usually separates and nationalizes, visual images unify and communicates massages instantaneously without obstacles of frontiers. With the proper use of visual-graphic, formal-aesthetic and symbolic elements, a chosen and oriented representation can be proposed. Therefore, for artists or designers, knowing very well how a visual message works is highly productive for its understanding and the improvement of its performance.

As a means of propagation, a good fashion illustration will reach its main goal: to better express itself in order to better communicate and ensure it is "felt" more intensely. Besides, having a greater knowledge of the visual language sharpens the sense of observation and allows capturing more information in the reception of the illustrations.