An Illustrated Fashion Blog by Angie Réhe

Enough has been said already about the loss of such a creative force as David Bowie.  It seems like 5 minutes ago that we were celebrating the David Bowie Is… exhibition in Melbourne, which is actually when I casually dropped this Aladdin Sane lightning bolt across this very old drawing.  The drawing was done when I was 15 and at the peak of my obsession with the Bowie.  I excitedly took it to the staff room at lunch time to show my teacher (possibly my first mistake), who dismissed it as nothing – “It looks like a photo” “Exactly!” “So why bother drawing it?  Art is about interpretation.”  I was crushed, clearly, since I’m still going on about it, but he was right – art is about invention and ideas, and these were things that Bowie had in bulk.  RIP.

It’s been 2 long years since the last Illustrators Australia 9 x 5 exhibition, a biannual show featuring members’ artworks on small pieces of wood – no prizes for guessing – 9 x 5 inches in size.  This year’s exhibition opens on Friday night 6pm at the Abbotsford Convent in Melbourne.  Artworks are sold by silent auction on the night but you can also bid online from now. Check out the array of artworks on show here.  Auctions start at $190 and are the perfect opportunity to bag an original artwork by artists who would normally cost a lot more.  Can you pick my subject?  “Double Fantasy”, a portrait of Yoko Ono – I love her and yes her music too – true!

Can it actually be possible that we’re starting to say things like “Last chance for 2015” “Next term begins 2016”??!  Where the hell did this year go?!  Next week will see the start of the last terms for this year in both Beginners and Advanced Fashion Illustration, so if you’re in Melbourne or the surrounds and you’ve always wanted to learn the wonderful art of Fashion Illustration, or polish and extend your skills in a gorgeous friendly environment, then now is the time!

The courses are fun and packed with information and techniques.  Class sizes are small, and there is cheese and chocolate!  More info?  Just ask…

Some of this term’s demo drawings:

Some of the great work from the Introduction to Fashion Illustration course this term..

And the wonderful and varied work of the Advanced Fashion Illustration students..

Apart from frying my chest to a third degree burn within 4hrs of Melbourne having (finally) its first sunny day in 75 years, I have still been living mushroom-like in my studio, blinking uncontrollably when having to leave the house to teach or buy milk.  However, there is just something about the scent of jasmine and the first taste of a warm breeze on my bare skin that makes me want to break out the colour and rework anything that doesn’t have it.  I bring you Rainbow Bunny..

I’m pretty sure that stores both local and online must be noticing a downturn in sales figures of late, as I go through an extended period of rest in my feast-or-famine approach to shopping.  In fairness I’m not your average shopper, having worked for a long time as a designer that got to travel the world four times per year and shop – I don’t shop so much as hunt, and I’m good at it.  Periods of hibernation with my visa card alternate with bouts of spending-bulimia, after which I lay out my kill like some caveman-style visual merchandiser.  There was a time where this would be followed by post-spending-panic-regret, but I no longer suffer this.  Should I be worried?

Bring on Spring and the warming of my blood that will get the registers ringing again.  This Melbourne winter will end, right??

I wonder sometimes if all those would-be rockstar boyfriends were really more about the possibility that if they ever cracked the big-time, I might get to frock up and walk the Grammy’s red-carpet.  Probably.  After all, outside of scoring an invite to the Oscars or the Met Ball, it’s highly unlikely I’ll ever have reason to wear dresses this fabulous.  Isn’t that why most people marry?  Honestly?

These are the delicious frocks I illustrated for the new website of Le Louvre boutique in Melbourne.  Not a very hard day at the office when you get to draw things like this…

And I think this one deserves a spot on its own sans background…

Not me, silly!  Now that would take a major rewire… As part of my line of Bridal Sketches, I’ve been collaborating with the wonderful Le Louvre boutique in Melbourne to create a series of illustrations for their brand new website.  The cherry on top of the collab was this illustration I created for a full page feature in Vogue Brides.  The beautiful ivory dress is Lanvin, and of course the setting is the gorgeous Le Louvre boutique in South Yarra.  The dress looks like the bride jumped up from the sheets and took off – except in the most stylish way imaginable. Nearly worth getting married for… Nearly.

Apart from a penchant for dirty men in bands, I never thought that Kate and I had too much in common – after all, I’ve spent many hours hovering over baggage carousels and never once been offered a modelling contract (coughs), I’ve never sought comfort on John Galliano’s shoulder after being busted doing coke, nor do I believe that “nothing tastes as good as thin feels” (cheese Kate – CHEESE).  However when I read her simple statement “I don’t do boredom” from her rare interview in Playboy magazine, I felt pure kinship.  Me either, Kate!

I am thrilled to announce the gorgeous new Australian version of the French L’Officiel magazine has featured my tribute to Kate from the Playboy spread on it’s back “Fin” page.  Merci L’Officiel!