Issue link: https://www.balharbourdigital.com/i/384868
Horst, Irving Penn and Cecil Beaton, as well as those who followed them, would take the lead in telling fashion's story. Granted, illustrators such as René Gruau, René Bouché, Dagmar Freuchen-Gale and Antonio Lopez would leave indelible marks on fashion, but by the mid-'60s, the global youthquake caused an industry-wide desire for contemporary imagery that echoed the systemic changes being felt on the city streets. This shift led to a long fallow period for fashion illustrators. Only a handful of them like Downton, Lopez or their peer Gladys Perint Palmer, who had a highly unique and recognizable style, were able to prosper and make a name for themselves. "People always ask me, 'When did fashion illustration come back?' But as far as I was concerned, it never went away," says Perint Palmer with a laugh. Surprisingly, it was the advent of the digital age that helped the rebirth of the fashion illustrator. Perint Palmer heralds the usefulness of the iPad, on which she now sketches some of her designs. "Today, you can be on the iPad doing a drawing under somebody's nose and they don't even notice—because everyone is on an iPad. It's like the invisibility cloak." Blogs and websites have sprouted up, not only those that highlight the long-forgotten work of past illustrators, but those that have became "A FASHION ILLUSTRATION REVEALS SO MUCH MORE ABOUT THE ARTIST THAN A PHOTOGRAPH EVER CAN." —WILLIAM LING An illustration by Tanya Ling for Louis Vuitton's Spring/Summer 2010 collection 184 BAL HARBOUR