She has been active for almost a decade now and her illustrations still are, sought out by big names of the fashion world. We are talking about Helsinki-based fashion illustrator Laura Laine.
Almost immediately after her graduation, she collaborated with major clothing brands and publications. GAP, Zara, H&M, Elle, Vogue Japan, The New York Times are only some examples. Laine doesn’t simply sketch clothes on mannequin-like figures. Hair, body, cloths and textures are tangled in fluid, quirky and yet undoubtedly feminine results. Her girls are often moody, lanky and she has managed to impress with the client-based work as well as her personal illustrations. When asked how she developed her signature style Laine said to us:
“My style kind of developed organically on its own, as a result of my interest in depicting fashion, movement and story in an image.
Fashion has always played a huge part in my work as a source of inspiration and imagery. I’m really into creating characters and illustrating different textures, and drawing hair is just something I find fun.
I’m not sure if I’m able to specify in which way my studies in fashion design have affected the way I work, I suppose I can say I have a better understanding of the structure of a piece of clothing and the behaviour of different fabrics than I would without it.”
Laine has stated in a previous interview, that she is reluctant to call herself an artist. It has been proven though, that her work can hold its own both inside and outside of the commercial world. It has caught the eye of world-renowned fashion photographer Nick Knight who is an advocate for the artistry of fashion illustrators. He recently commissioned Laine to create work for his Showstudio projects such as “Illustrating McQueen”, “Moving Kate” and the “Fashion Flora” exhibitions. We wanted to know if her perspective has changed since she was last asked.
“I guess it has, I think I’m taking the whole topic more casually nowadays. Seeing something as art is such a subjective experience, and in any case it’s just a word. What’s more important is the feeling someone can get from looking at my work.”
Social media has shifted the way people interact with art and they way creators showcase their work. Laine’s experience with social media is:
“I was quite late to use social media for my work. There were some fan pages that people had put up and I felt like I should do something myself as well. I really like Instagram, but I became properly active only a couple of years ago. It has really changed the way I share my work and I’m posting work-in-process images, details and some photos that I couldn’t really put on my website. I’ve always loved work-in-process images. Sometimes they’re much more interesting than the finished artwork, and I’m trying to stay aware of those good moments to stop and take a photo. Unfortunately I tend to get so caught up when I draw that I forget. Some nice projects also come via Instagram every now and then.”
Look out for Laura Laine’s illustrated postcard book for Fashionary that will be coming out very soon, and a few art projects she is currently working on.
Here you can see some of her mesmerising work!
