Traits tres mode - French fashion illustration now

By Indeewara Thilakarathne

The Colombo fashion arena would, certainly, not witness as diverse a fusion of arts and fashion as the travelling French fashion illustration which will be held exclusively in Colombo at Crescat Boulevard, shopping mall from December 6 to December 10, 2006 on its way to Manila via Cultures France. "Traits tres mode - French fashion illustration now" which has, so far, been successfully displayed at various destinations on its worldwide tour (recently in Indonesia and Singapore), will feature 60 works of art from 15 French illustrators and also showcases the latest trends in the French fashion scene.

According to Cedric Morisset and Helene Convert, the curators of the fashion show, the new style of illustration is no longer a mere visual expression of fashion objects but a transformation of perceptions and fantasies which are embodied by these objects, into images. These images, in turn, nourish the next transient cycle of fashion. As illustrators have become more and more conscious of the dictates of the fashion's time cycle, their creativity and diversity in expression has become richer than ever before.

The highly acclaimed show that had been successfully displayed at various venues across Europe has already proved that Art and Fashion are fused to form a highly complex form of image art that opens up new grounds for modern clothes designers and visual artists.

The last five years have seen unprecedented developments in French fashion illustration. Throughout the 1990s, the genre has been losing momentum in France, as it sought without much success to develop new codes, attempting to draw on illustrative arts that were only just beginning to find new forms of narrative and aesthetic expression. The eclipse of fashion illustration also has to do with the pre-eminence of photography throughout the 1990s. Fashion rushed into the pitch behind the contemporary arts - which was enjoying huge commercial success at the time - finding an ideal medium to express its multiple fantasies in every shade of black and white and colour.

But soon after 2000, fashion illustration finally came out of the wilderness. Tiring of the glossy provocativeness of the "chic porn", the French and international press turned to the new, daring approaches of the thirty-something generation. Magazine editors rediscovered a grittier, funkier world that sometimes harked by to the 1980s, but above all, they reacquired a taste for strong outline fashion drawings that quickly hit the spotlight on the international scene.

But, the movement wasn't only in the press. Although it was spearheaded by magazines as they responded to the continual demands for visual input, the trend hit much broader sections of the fashion scene. The big sportswear brand was quick to tap into the creative and commercial potential of a new pool of talent, while fashion illustration as a form of applied art has long been a recurrent code in the world of luxury fashion.

Gradually, a new landscape is taking shape in the graphic art of fashion illustration, a landscape peopled by images bordering on the contemporary arts, street art, ever-present photography and new technologies, yet never abandoning its demanding aesthetic heritage - a development that is shaping the unique artistic creation of contemporary fashion illustration.

The Fashion show features creations of many renowned fashion illustrators including Charles Anastase, Ludivine Billaud, Carlotta, Alexandra Compain-Tissier, Jean-Philippe, Delhomme, Florence Deygas, Iris De Mouy, Felix Lahrer, Emmanuelle Mafille, Stephane Manel, Monsieur Z, Cassandre Montoriol, Nawel, Marie Perron and Cedric Rivrain.

The principal sponsors for the mega event are Schneider Electric and the French Embassy in Sri Lanka.

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