White Paper

P O R T R A I T _

"...nothing can compare with that first flash of black ink on white paper."

What triggered your move into fashion illustration - was there something specific?
Absolutely. In 1996 I was sent to draw at the Paris haute couture shows for a magazine. It blew me away! I was totally unprepared for it. Couture really is a parallel universe - I've heard it described as the kingdom of indulgence, which is true, but it is also extremely inspiring for an artist or illustrator; the worlds most beautiful women, designers working without constraint - the sheer theatricality of it all - there is a lot to draw!

What makes an interesting fashion subject?
I think the most important thing is the sense of the body in the clothes. After that, proportion, colour, a detail. Anything can catch the eye - but what is interesting in fashion terms isn't necessarily what makes a good drawing and vice versa.

Lets talk about your work methods. How do you arrive at the elimination of detail?
In order to leave something out, first you have to put it in, or at least understand how every thing works. I do dozens of drawings on to layout paper taking the best from each one as I go. When the drawing looks right I start to eliminate, to de-construct if you like. I keep working until it looks spontaneous.

What for you makes a successful fashion illustration?
Fluidity, mastery of the medium - capturing a sense of the moment, layout and use of space and most important of all, strong drawing.

So would you call yourself a portrait painter?
No! Absolutely not. Lucien Freud, Graham Sutherland and Jenny Saville are portrait painters.

DAVID DOWNTON INTERVIEWED BY TONY GLENVILLE .

TONY GLENVILLE IS A FASHION WRITER, LECTURER AND HISTORIAN

I K O N 02 _
Sonia Rykiel is in France considered a living fashion legend, a title that seems only fair when you consider she has been one of the country's foremost fashion designers for 38 years. This would be enough for most people but "fashion designer" is just one of Madame Rykiel's many hats. This woman, who sold 360,000 jumpers last year alone, is also an acclaimed author of books like Les Levres Rouges (The Red Lips) and Je La Voudrais Nus ( I Would Like Her To Be Naked). She has also illustrated children's fairytale books, moonlighted as an interior designer (reworking the decor of two Paris hotels), inspired Robert Altman's film Pret-a-Porter (her friend Anouk Aimee played her) and, three years ago, she herself played a character role in an arty French film called Riches, Belles et Jolies. Rykiel was also persuaded to turn her talents to music when Malcolm McClaren asked her to record a duet with him for his album Paris.

IS: Sonia? If I was to come to Paris tomorrow, and said I'd like you to take me to places so I could understand the essence of Paris over different decades, where would you take me? Let's start with the '60s. SR: Well...Crazy Horse Saloon, for the '60s. You will see that and die, because it's fantastic.

IS: I'm sure. And the '70s; would that also be the Crazy Horse Saloon? SR: Why not? Yes.

IS: For the '80s, where would we go? SR: A cemetery. Le Cimetiere Montparnasse or Le Pere Lachaise. You can see all the young people going around the tombs of Baudelaire, Maupassant, Man Ray, De Musset. It is absolutely fantastic.

IS: How about the '90s? SR: I don't know if you like Proust...You know, the more grown-up you are, the more you like Proust. And there is a place in Paris. It's on Boulevard Haussmann. It's open only on Thursdays. It's in the middle of a bank, on the second floor. In this bank, there is the bedroom of Marcel Proust, where he wrote most of A la Recherche du Temps Perdu.

Taken from Ingrid Sischys interview; Inside Paris Fashion. For full version clik here.

L O V E S O N G 02
Elvis Presley + unknown cover _ Fools Rush In

White Magic vol.2

P O L A R O I D S

For Dash Snow photography becomes a way of engaging with environment and memory. Each snapshot captures a place, time, and emotion, freeze-framing the individual components of everyday experience, mapping out the compilation of an identity. Using a Polaroid camera for its instantaneous results and association as keep-sakes, the familiar format of Snow’s photos replicates the sentiments of his images: cheap, disposable, and plebian mementos become humble evidence of discarded beauty. Documenting his life through a lens, Snow’s photographs explore personal existence as a periphery to globalised culture. Presenting an unabridged account of his marginalised lifestyle, Snow’s often uncomfortable images paint an intimate portrait where topical issues such as sex, drugs, poverty, and anti-social behaviour are confronted from a frank position of personal participation. Translated through the generic quality of his medium, Snow’s photos convey the disoriented fragments of memory as voyeuristic observation, conceiving the experience of ‘self’ as a bi-product of mass media dissociation. Offering a unique insight into an alternative lifestyle, Snow uncovers a p o e t i c beauty within the dissolute and discarded.

www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/

www.tinyvices.com/dash_snow.html

White Magic

The male peafowl,or peacock,has long been valued for its amazing tail feathers.The bright spots on it are common known as "eyes",and inspired the Greek myth that Hera placed the 100 eyes of her slain giant Argus on the tail of her favorite bird.

L O V E S O N G 01
Joan as a Policewoman _ To be Loved

I C O N 01 _
Daphne Guinness is a fashion stylist, film producer and member of the Guinness brewing family.
She grew up in an artists’ colony near Barcelona with Salvador DalÍ and the Surrealists;" My dress sense is very coloured by my youth. Everybody around me knew that DalÍ was the most crazy; you’d go to his house and he would have lobsters in his pool." There’s fancy dress and armor, clothes that say, “Come here” or “Stand back,” that whisper, “Trust me” or “Respect me,” that shout, “Fear me.” But there are very few people, just a handful, who have a relationship with their clothes like Daphne Guinness. She dresses out. She has never had a look, never once, never remotely, that was anyone’s but her very own. With a penchant for armor and feathers, the fashion muse Daphne Guinness has been to known to turn heads. But in her short film “The Phenomenology of Body,” the beer heiress cum director puts the politics of fashion on display. Taking the viewer through a revolving journey of how clothes have defined, constricted and liberated women throughout history, Guinness presents a stark catalog of vintage, new and costume pieces. The result — a spare voyage set to “Great Release” by LCD Soundsystem.

Daphne Guinness has worked on a shirt collection and fragrance for Comme des Garçons, and supported Sean Ellis in the making of the price winning shortfilm "Cashback" _ sometimes love lies within the seconds of you life.