René Gruau at The Fashion Illustration Gallery

The time has come. November is the month when three great fashion illustration exhibitions open: DIOR ILLUSTRATED at Somerset House, RENÉ GRUAU’S INTERNATIONAL TEXTILES MAGAZINE COVERS at The Fashion Illustration Gallery and DRAWING FASHION at the Design Museum. Cornering illustrator David Downton at the Fashion Illustration Gallery private view last week, I posed the question, why is fashion illustration suddenly being celebrated again? Is it a backlash to all things computer-generated?

“Well,” he said, “I suppose these days everyone’s a photographer, everyone’s a writer, everyone’s a blogger. But drawing is still one of those things that not everyone can do. It’s something people wish for, ‘I wish I could draw, I wish I had great hair, I wish I could sing’…”

Inspecting the Gruau at such close quarters, it was heartening to notice that those unmistakable inky flourishes were not as effortless as they may seem. Faint pencil lines, scribblings out and even tippexy white-outs were visible on almost every picture. It’s a compact but beautiful exhibition. Do go…

RENÉ GRUAU COVER ART / INTERNATIONAL TEXTILES MAGAZINE
NOVEMBER 5TH – DECEMBER 4TH 2010
THE MAYOR GALLERY
22A CORK STREET
LONDON W1S 3NA
020 7112 1979
www.fashionillustrationgallery.com