The Importance of Fashion Illustration
For decades, fashion illustrations served as a primary reference point for women’s dress. In societies stratified by rigid social mores, “fashion” was not merely a silhouette en vogue but a set of standards that spoke to one’s morals and defined their societal role. Illustrators were a vital aspect of creating the image of these prototypical women, acting as both observers and architects of the social environment at large.
Before the widespread distribution of ideas about fashionable dress became common in magazines, fashion was a pastime of the wealthy. With roots in aristocratic France, hand-colored, copper engravings called fashion plates were how upper-class society remained in the know about fashion. They served as a guide for seamstresses and a proto “mood board” for wearers as they executed the sartorial will of the ruling class.
Through the 1800s, the creation and expansion of fashion magazines economized inspiration for women beyond the bourgeoisie, but fashion was far from liberated. Mass-distributed publications provided the perfect canvas to project ideas that dictated the values and mannerisms of the ideal woman. Beyond fit and style, fashion was tied to morality. Victorian ideals of womanhood were especially stringent and thrived exclusively in the “domestic sphere.” As historian Barbara Welter puts it, “woman,” as presented in the preeminent media of the time, “was a hostage in the home.”
The Gibson Girl: A Cultural Shift for Victorian Women Through Fashion Illustrations
A pivotal moment in the illustrated representation of women was the popularization of the Gibson Girl. Named for Charles Dana Gibson’s stylized magazine illustrations, the Gibson Girl is perhaps the most notable archetype in a long lineage of idealized illustrated women. She was recognizable for the mound of satiny hair perched effortlessly atop her head, her hourglass figure, and her frequent uniform of a pigeon-breasted top paired with a long, flowing skirt. Gibson’s style became so popular that it was frequently replicated in works by other artists, such as the above work by Samuel Ehrhart. The Gibson Girl, with her romanticized beauty, may not look subversive to the modern eye. However, her image played a large role in the way the public viewed women and redefined the expectations of modern womanhood for a new century.
In contrast to the visual identity of the earlier “Cult of Domesticity,” the Gibson Girl’s morality was not tied to her silence or the home. She was able to maintain her role as an honorable woman while she rode a bicycle, attended college, or contributed opinions on political matters. Historian Lynn Gordon writes, “By the turn of the century, women could have both higher education and social approval, symbolized by the connection of college life with the Gibson Girl, an American beauty. ”
Learn More About the Gibson, Patterson & Brinkley Girls
From Gibson Girl to Patterson Girl: Illustrating the Evolution of Fashion into the 1920s
The above Russell Patterson illustration visualizes not just the Gibson Girl beautifully, but also the cyclical nature of fashion references and the importance of the depicted garments. One woman, dressed in turn-of-the-century garb, is dressed in the exciting and liberatory shirtwaist. The increasingly popular garment was affordable for women of many classes and marked a shift towards clothing that was utilitarian to keep up with the “New Woman’s” ventures in the workplace and in public. The woman is also depicted in a boater hat, a popular style for outdoor sporting activities. The outfit, despite its overtly feminine silhouette, was far more masculine in function than had ever been socially accepted.
Notably, however, Patterson depicts the 1908 Gibson Girl with a quizzical look on her face, fortified by her raised eyebrow. Historian Raina-Joy Jenifer Palso notes that, in his drawings at the turn of the century, Gibson depicts men as “secondary, inferior subjects,” who are “at the mercy of the beautifully-wicked Gibson heroine.” Perhaps Patterson’s take on the Gibson Girl leans into this trope.
Patterson’s illustrations frequently centered on women, and he became known for his style depicting the sense of freedom, sensuality, and liberation that defined the 1920s. Described as “simultaneously brazen and innocent,” the Patterson Girl could reasonably be crowned the less demure descendant of the Gibson Girl. She had long, often exposed, legs, a confident gaze, and was often pictured dancing, smoking, or socializing.
Fashion Illustrations Throught the Mid-Twentieth Century
Through the mid-twentieth century, illustration became an increasingly powerful tool to advertise to women in the home. Revolutions in the depiction of women in mainstream fashion stalled compared to what felt like a whirlwind in the early twentieth century. Though not socially groundbreaking, Joe Eula’s illustrations were love letters to high fashion and the designers who designed for women. The above sketchbook page from 1962 depicts a woman lounging in a black fit-and-flare gown. The style mirrors the iconic fashions of the previous decade, before waistlines dropped and skirts shortened.
Eula’s illustration bears a stylistic resemblance to the below Charles Dana Gibson illustration, published in LIFE Magazine, December 20, 1900. Fashion in the 1950s was influenced by a number of social and cultural shifts: the silhouette mirrored the nipped waists of the 1900s, and the voluminous flared skirts looked quite like those of the 1850s.
1970s Fashion Illustrations
Patterson’s view of circularity in fashion is echoed in Robert Passantino’s fashion illustration for Women’s Wear Daily, where he was formerly a staff illustrator. Published circa 1970, the work calls back to the Art Deco style with streamlined forms and geometric shapes. Though Passantino’s minimalist renderings of women don’t seem to “say” much on the surface, they do. The subjects, whose handbags trail behind them, are in motion. The illustrations speak to the liberatory achievements of women’s movements in the 1970s, as women were increasingly on the go and in the workforce. Passantino’s illustration does not focus on the visual identity of the woman he is marketing these styles to, but appeals to her needs and lifestyle.
Fashion illustration was a practice of both creative expression and documentation. Illustrators visualized what they noticed in their surroundings, and at the same time, set the tone for what the world around them looked like. Illustrations of fashion did more than just sell goods—they sold ideas about the wearer and the society they inhabited, noting trends that crossed boundaries of art and into design, culture, and social politics.
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