An Illustrated Fashion Blog by Angie Réhe

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!

Really everything in life is about contrast and comparison – a term I first learned while studying fashion design a million years ago: we perceive colours based on what’s around them.  Same same in life!  Think it’s the end of the world because you caught a cold in Paris? (I may or may not be speaking from personal experience) – How would you like a broken leg instead?  I thought so – the cold ain’t so bad now, right?

So now that Melbourne has the cold grey miseries, the golden glow of chilly autumn seems like the nicest thing in the world.  If only I’d been thinking that instead of lamenting the end of summer…

If you’re in Melbourne (or nearby) and you’ve been thinking that you’d like to try Fashion Illustration but don’t want to commit to a course, then maybe this workshop is for you.  I’m joining the good folk of Work-Shop Melbourne to bring you a tasty taster of my world.  This 3-hour Introduction to Fashion Illustration will show you what it’s all about, how wide this world is, and how you can quickly create a very awesome fashion illustration of your own.  4th June 6pm – 9pm.  You can find more info or book tickets on their website now.  Come on!

Nothing says I’m in my happy place like Paris, and nothing says I’m worth it like a purchase from the YSL store in Saint Germain.  Suffice to say I am both happy and worth it. The fact that I limited my purchase to two items is testament to my iron willpower (chokes) – not only was I mauling the shoes above, even when the lovely staff gave me pink champagne, I still managed to say “not this time”.  Then run like hell as far as I could before I changed my mind.

In fairness, I was in need of both therapy and celebration – after many visits to Paris, today was my first ever Paris hair salon visit, and my first Paris wax.  The salon felt chic and the wash basin chair massaged me blissfully, but the 172 euro bill for dying my regrowth put those spasms right back in my spine.  The wax however was a revolution – none of this all-off-in-one-rip like I’ve grown used to in Melbourne, this was pièce par pièce French-style – after all as the therapist responded: “This is not a good time.”  Understatement.

Wish you could draw like a pro but never held a pencil?  Actually pretty good at drawing but don’t know how to take it to the next level?  Then The Patsyfox Drawing Salon might be for you.  Last term was the 5th birthday of these very fun boutique-style fashion illustration classes, and the new term begins in just a few weeks – Monday May 25th for Introduction to Fashion Illustration, and Wednesday May 27th for Advanced Fashion Illustration.

Introduction to Fashion Illustration covers all the important fundamentals and leaves you with knowledge and techniques to keep working on your own.  Materials and a booklet of notes are included.  Advanced Fashion Illustration can be tackled by intrepid illustrators wanting to take a leap from limited skills, or by those who are at various levels of experience who need to broaden and deepen skills and develop their personal style.

Evening classes are held in the beautiful studio of Frankie and Swiss in South Yarra (Melbourne).  Contact me for more details!

By complete co-incidence this week, I chose to draw one of my many favourite Vivienne Westwood outfits while teaching my lovely RMIT students how to go about drawing checks and stripes.  The co-incidence was no less than the Dame’s 74th birthday.  As the birthdays click by, my most oft-used example of why and how I will continue to be fabulous and increasingly eccentric is the wonderful Vivienne.  Thank you and Happy Birthday!

I’ve been exploring marker pen technique in class recently, and I keep forgetting how super convenient they are – no water! no palette to wash! Not to mention all the different effects you can achieve with them.  For the soft and pretty effect I decided to choose one of my favourite looks from the new AW15 Gucci collection, the debut by new creative director Alessandro Michele.  Seems a massive departure from Frida Giannini’s sexy collections, but still plenty to like and will be interesting to see subsequent collections.

I love it when worlds collide: coffee + drawing = happy me.  So when I was asked by Westfield to create an illustration to be printed on limited edition coffee cups for their Fashion Saturday last weekend, I was a little happy.

On the day, I recreated the illustration at a larger scale, then settled in for a few hours of fashion illustration portraits.  A fine way to pass a Saturday afternoon…