Chanel on the off Chance: Spring 2011
Karl Lagerfeld always puts on a show. However good or bad the clothes are, you ALWAYS know Karl will lay on a feast for your eyes. The Spring 2011 show was no different. Stages in the Grand Palais in Paris, accompanied by a full 80 piece orchestra, what seemed like hundreds of models parader around a gigantic monochrome pebble garden, accented with huge water fountains. (If you haven’t seen the show, you must, so watch it here, the soundtrack is phenomenal).
I loved this show so much, that I decided to use a technique I have not used many times before to illustrate some of the monochromatic looks from the show.
Here are my Illustrations, and below are the original garments.
The first look was a black and white dress. large a-symetcric draped skirt and embroidered bodice, create a quite relaxed dress.
The model used the skirt as a pocket, however I decided just to draw the skirt as it would be normally. I used an outline of water then dropped the black ink onto the paper to get a really loose and fluid filling. I haven’t really used this technique often, but i really thought the beauty of these garments needed some simplistic style.
In this close up below, you can see the way the ink naturally spreads within the water and created tone and shade of its own.
The second look, a fantastic dress coat accented with feathers and tulle styled with a lace dress with matching feather hem, The dramatic collar and sleeves really ad drama and elegance to this coat.
Again, I used the water and ink technique to create the illusion of feathers and silk tulle.
Below and above show how again, the water spread the ink to create light and shade on the garments, without me adding any other shading with external materials. Black fine-liner and tippex just complete the sketch.
The final look created a pretty big storm with the shows crowd, modelled by formally retired supermodel Ines de la Fressange, the floor-length tulle gown is accented with grosgrain ribbon, multi layered material and lace, this dress was also featured in the seasons campaign.
This is a really great example of the fantastic technique. I really tried to use the ink to outline the stripe and not use any external materials to dictate the shape and style of the dress.
It is really beautiful to watch the ink spread throughout the water and see where it settles. The sleeves were a really nice to drop ink onto as it was like watching a ladder, each stripe slowly being filled from clear to opaque.
Again, I used pen and tippex for some of the finer detail, but tried to stay away fro the outlines of the dress. I also really like where some of the black ink seeps into the other parts, some would class this as a mistake but I think it just adds to the erratic and unpredictable nature of ink and water.
I feel im going to use this technique a few more times, maybe with different coloured inks, But it is really nice using it to represent chiffons, silks and tulles as it adds an extra fluidity to the sketches.
(All Illustrations Copyright, Runway Images from Style.com)
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