An Illustrated Fashion Blog by Angie Réhe

“We got you this because we know you love red”  said my gorge-arse RMIT students this week in our last class together.  Really?  Do I? I contemplated this as I buttered toast on my red chopping board, headed up to my red-curtained studio which glows like a brothel into the wee hours, and proceeded to sketch in my red moleskin diary.  Case closed.

Not that it stops there.  Take red shoes for instance, which I love to an unhealthy degree.  From this I can draw a line straight back to my favourite pair of shoes age 3.5.  I called them my clinker shoes because of the click clack tap sound they made as I walked, making me sound like some sort of vigilante mousekateer.  Transfixed by their wild red beauty, I walked constantly into people and walls, much to my mother’s chagrin.

But while this tap-dance connection could have inspired me to follow a path to the Australian Ballet, ensuring me life-long flat stomach and good posture, it instead planted the seed for a life-long obsession with red shoes.  Thanks for that.

So, what started out as an otherwise grey and completely sleep-deprived week…

…was transformed by a splash of colour right when I needed it.

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In the absence of children or pets, I’ve taken to bragging about my students, and much as I hate to boast (*lie), my god, the Patsyfox Drawing Salon students are brilliant!

A mixed bunch from high school students to professional fashion designers, graphic designers, and stylists,  they are united in their extreme pleasantness, and outright talent.   Are they drawn to the classes because they are innately talented, or do the classes extract this talent?  I’m of course going to take all the credit I can and say that I drag it out of them, natch!

The next round of classes (and last for 2010) start in a little over 2 weeks – Introduction to Fashion Illustration on 12th October, The Next Level Fashion Illustration on October 14th.

No need to wax lyrical, you can see for yourself… (More student art will be viewable on the about-to-be-created Student Gallery.)

Erik Yvon (Intro and Level 2 course)

Hiroko Kuwahara (Intro course)

Samira Keshtiar (Level 2 course)

Rene Furlong (Intro course)

Norah Sleiman (Level 2 course)

Erik Yvon (Intro and Level 2 course)

Rene Furlong (Intro course)

Hiroko Kuwahara (Intro course)

Renata Hori (Intro course)

Renata Hori (Intro course)

Norah Sleiman (Intro course)

Samira Keshtiar (Level 2 course)

Some of the artists at work…

(left – right: Rene, Renata, Michelle, Allesandra, Craig, Erik)

The sight that proves so distracting for passers-by.  A little oasis of creativity.

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Topic of the week:  Is more more, or less?

I’m on team more.  More chocolate, more sleep, more wine, more time with certain people.  Sure, less work is good, but if you had more time it wouldn’t matter.  More wins again!  More shoes – I rest my case.

Coco Chanel said “When accessorising, always take off the last thing you put on”, so I guess she’s team less.  I read David Downton re-draws or traces his drawings repeatedly, leaving a little more out each time until he’s gone as far as he can.  Less again.  But then I also heard he experiments by doing as many as 25 to 30 versions of the one drawing.  Really?! Because that’s a definite more.

I explored this theme with the fabulous Patsyfox fashion illustration students last week, and this is what I demo’d.  You be the judge.

More…

With a bit more…

Or perhaps less…

With a bit more…

So many choices, so little time.

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Because let’s face it, some days just deserve it.

Keeping in mind, less can be more…

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Given how much I love to chat, it’s unlikely that any of my stories are left untold.  Nevertheless, I managed to drag myself away from my rather pressing deadline over the last 2 weeks which has kept me far from blogland, and whip up my entry for Illustrators Australia‘s latest 9 x 5 Exhibition – Untold Stories.

You can check out all the entries online, and maybe even place a (silent) bid, or come and say hello next Friday night 17th September at the exhibition opening and auction (Space 39, Level 2, 39 Little Collins St Melbourne 6pm).  Exhibition continues just Saturday 18th September 10-4pm.  Get in quick.

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In my never-ending (read tedious) quest for self-improvement (chant: “I must keep my PMT to myself”, “I must think before I speak”, “I must not laugh so loudly when other people trip over”, “I must not fill every moment of silence with another stupid story”, etc), I am also seeking to “draw out of the box”, so to speak.

Forever I’m trying to snatch fineliner pens out of students’ hands claiming they “murder the line” and render all the lovely pencil work a backwash.  Sadly I’ve recently seen the work of some illustrators who seem to have tamed the murderous pen so I am forced to overcome yet another self-limiting rule.  Sigh. But like a complete deviant once said to me – It’s only strange the first time.

Offering #1 in fineliner:  Kate Moss in fur, from the current September British Vogue.  Notice the date in my supposedly daily drawing diary – seems I’m 2 months & 4 days behind.

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21 days out of hibernation and going strong.  It appears the combination of hanging out with friends and pushing to the side any thoughts that lead to Worrytown is a winning one.  Ignorance is indeed bliss!

Of course there’s been little pep pills along the way, like beginning the latest term of the Patsyfox Drawing Salon, which never fails to attract an exceedingly agreeable bunch of folk.  And then there’s golden moments like Alannah Hill letting the whole world see how truly delusional and, well…stupid she is.  Golden! What?  Mean?  You forgot/didn’t know the story of her asking me if I was a lesbian in a job interview??  I have a license to loathe.

But it’s not about any outside amusements anyway, it’s about the space inside my head.  And I like it here in the dark.  It makes the light even brighter.

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It’s been 11 days since I peeped out of my hibernation cave and decided to stick a toe out, and who would have thunk it – spending time with my friends and choosing not to think about the plethora of things that I could quite reasonably worry about actually makes me feel better!  Genius!

So perhaps it is true that we choose to worry?  In which case, I now choose to kick my heels up and give a *%@#! Take it away Doris…

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Start sharpening your pencils, because the 2nd round of The Patsyfox Drawing Salon kicks off in just 2 weeks!  Yes, just try to contain your excitement.  Will I still be putting Ikea stools together when the students arrive this time?  Will there be any life left in the projector globe now that I’ve discovered watching movies on my loungeroom wall?  Will Fantales still be the sweets of choice? Will there be a new custom soundtrack this round?

Classes will again be held in the fabulous surrounds of Nevada Duffy’s studio/retail space (see the gorgeous pics), and this time we have a level 2 course as well, for people who’ve already completed an introductory course, or who are more experienced illustrators, or even advanced.  Again, classes will be kept teeny tiny so everyone gets lots of lovin’.

Find out more at The Drawing Salon, or even more by asking me at salon@patsyfox.com.

Check out the beauty of the first round.  If I’m lucky some of the Patsyfoxers might have something to say…

Above (L-R): Lesa, Tia, Norah, Samira, Hiroko

Below (L-R): Samira, Hiroko, Jennifer, Lesa, Norah.  Bless!

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