Leandra Medine’s much-followed Instagram account @manrepeller is a regular stream of runway photos and #LOTDs (for the uninitiated, that’s “look of the day”). Last week, however, she opted to post a sketch, by artist/illustrator Joseph Amar, of her white button-up-and-jeans ensemble instead of her usual photo-driven shots. (The sketch was inspired by one of Medine’s Insta posts a few days prior with the same outfit.)
Amar has not yet collaborated with Medine (“for now she is just a supporter”), but he has been commissioned by fashion brands like Fivestory and Betsey Johnson. He tells Style.com, “A lot of my posts so far have been inspired by things I have seen on Instagram and from people seated in the front row of the shows.” He adds, “Instagram has been such a huge resource of inspiration for my work with having such immediate access to all the new fashion coming out. I try to paint things that are fresh and current, and a touch off-beat.”
Medine isn’t the only fashion influencer posting art like Amar’s. This season more than ever, illustrations and sketches of runway looks, front-row scenes, and street-style stars are dominating the Instagram feed. Elle commissioned Carly Kuhn to draw fashion month happenings in each city, and they have been widely popular on the app; editors like Laura Brown of Harper’s Bazaar, an avid Insta snapper, has been promoting one of her favorites, Brooklyn-based illustrator Katy Smail; and during NYFW, designer Adam Selman ’grammed a sketch featuring one of his Fall 2015 looks illustrated by @Hypermondaine.
“I just tagged him in the description, I never imagined he would share it,” says the Paris-based illustrator, who doubles as an embroidery expert for brands like Alexander McQueen, Givenchy, and Saint Laurent. Like Amar, he’s not sitting front-row at the shows and instead he references Instagram or the Style.com livestream for his work. “I always publish the sketches on Instagram a few hours after the show, the same day, when it is still on everyone’s mind.”
The hugely popular British fashion illustrator Clym Evernden says he still tries to attend shows whenever time permits. “The environment, casting, soundtrack, etc., can enhance my artwork,” says Evernden, who was commissioned by Net-a-Porter this season to create sketches for the runway shows in all four cities (the sketches have been getting plenty of play on the luxury e-comm site’s Instagram account).
Why the big boom in fashion illustrations on Instagram this season? Perhaps the style set, a fairly voracious group when it comes to the app, is suffering a little fatigue. After several weeks of “liking” runway shot after runway shot, things get stale quickly and the mood can lean toward “dislike.” “Sketches are a fresh way to capture a moment or emotion,” says Vincent Moustache, who’s been busy sketching the LVMH Prize events in Paris this week. “I was talking directly with the young designers and translating their designs into my personal world on-site. In the future, we will see more and more illustrations related to fashion in all disciplines.”
