Sheena Malone

At the onset of the pandemic, all my freelance work slipped away from me over the course of one weekend in March, beginning on the aptly dated Friday 13th. For a moment, it seemed like the options were to either hibernate until all had passed or find a way of using this pause from normality in a productive manner. My online exploration for a creative lockdown distraction led me to Ana Stankovic-Fitzgerald’s Fashion Illustration course at the London College of Fashion. While I have always drawn as a hobby, my background has generally been focused on the administrative and curatorial side of exhibition-making, and without much formal artistic training, I have always been a little reticent about showing my drawings to others.

The closest I’d previously come to the genre of fashion illustration had been a street style blog called Drawing on Stockholm) which comprised 50 drawings of strangers met on the streets of Swedish capital. The world of fashion illustration is a new departure for me and for the last six months it has been immense fun delving into fashion history, the new collections, Coach Autumn Winter 2020 — Marker and colouring pencil — 2020

and discovering new illustrators and illustration techniques. I am taking my first tentative steps into this world without knowing where it will take me. In my drawings, which are mainly executed in watercolour and colouring pencils, I aim to take the models and clothes away from the catwalk and place them in different settings. I want to imbue the drawing with a sense of narrative that adds mystery for the viewer, while simultaneously complementing the original inspiration of the designer’s collection.

Your clothes are all made by Balmain and your horse is a stud in Kildare (Resort 2021) — Watercolour and colouring pencil — 2020

Your clothes are all made by Balmain and you dance in the bogs in Kildare (Resort 2021) — Watercolour and colouring pencil —2020

Batsheva Spring 2021 — Watercolour and colouring pencil — 2020