Fashion Portfolio is a kind of epilogue to Anna Kiper’s previous book on fashion illustration. Here, she presents plenty of ideas for visual storytelling, by way of the portfolio. There is a stronger emphasis on art direction compared to Sharon Rothman’s Fashion Design Sketchbook, which dedicates a chapter to the portfolio. This is not a criticism: Rothman’s prerogative is the design development process, and being a companion to designers as they work through their ideas to realise them.
Book details: Batsford, 2014 | ISBN 978-1-84994-085-6. Available from the publisher here.
The difference between Anna Kiper’s Fashion Portfolio and Fashion Illustration
In Fashion Portfolio, Anna Kiper focuses on mood, atmosphere, and how to engage readers or viewers. You will need to have a solid grasp of your intentions and aesthetics of get the most from this book, or have finished the design development process. The portfolio is very much a formal presentation document.
Illustrations, on the other hand, give you a chance to be more playful and experimental. You need to have settled on an illustration style or styles for the portfolio.
At the beginning there is an overview of fashion history from the 1900s to the 2010s. Each decade has helpful references to popular culture, fashion influences, models, photographers, and illustrators. I love the fact that illustrators are credited; they are not always the easiest to research. This small section is invaluable if you need a digestible starting point for a particular decade, or want to find out more about a particular person’s work. More scene-setting like this in future fashion books, please!
Using your portfolio to connect with fashion industry professionals
There are several helpful cues for context as a means of connecting with prospective buyers (fashion buyers, but also people who walk into the shop), but this is useful if you’re not working in the fashion industry. These are subtle clues for styling and photography – or even last-minute tweaks or updates to design ideas. Contextualisation, along with mixing and remixing, helps to keep your catalogue refreshed and accessible. Imagination and enterprise keeps so-called ‘old’ designs from being buried.
This can be one of the challenges for designers, and one I personally relate to. It’s so important to keep an evergreen, long-lasting product top of mind. It might be new to you, but what about other people? Things you love to wear aren’t at the bottom of a closet – or in the back of your mind. Don’t forget about your so-called ‘older’ work if you feel you ‘should’ design something new. The section on trend forecasting and markets is also a fascinating six pages.
If you need support with drawing and illustration, there are a few notes, but nowhere near the depth of Fashion Illustration. Fashion Portfolio by Anna Kiper is a book to help you realise and understand the impact your designs have, or can have. Expect emphasis on mood boards, research, muses and cultural phenomena to help you orientate yourself and your designs. Although it focuses on the portfolio as a presentation document, taking an etymological step towards “portal” makes this book quietly useful and supportive for making old designs as exciting and accessible as new ones. Or – putting a new twist on old favourites.
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Batsford, 2014 | ISBN 978-1-84994-085-6. Available from the publisher here.
And if you’re interested in getting started with drawing, illustration, and design development, these courses were created for you:
Visual Communication: Pencil control and the greyscale | Knitwear Design Initiation taster course
Knitwear Design Initiation | Visual Communication taster course
A 1-hour introductory drawing course or refresher for those who haven’t used their art materials for a long time.
It’s accessible to anyone who wants to make a start on or improve their drawing skills, but the techniques covered prepare you for the nuance of illustrating soft textures of knits.
This class on pencil control and the greyscale was designed especially for drawing out your latent sensitivity and artistry. The marks you make on the paper will range from the wispiest grey to the earthiest charcoal. This vocabulary will also improve your observational skills because you’ll have the means to draw what you see.
The Visual Communication taster is the first step away from the frustration of not being able to draw from life, or the disappointment of your drawings not looking the way you want them to. In just over an hour, you’ll never look at pencil and paper the same way again!
Knitwear Design Initiation | Design Development taster course
An introduction to idea generation techniques for knitwear design, taken from the Design Development module of the Knitwear Design Initiation course. This focuses on garment silhouette and tessellations (designing repeating patterns).
The two techniques in this taster course will shed light on how you can create several ideas out of one, or none at all if your starting point is a stitch library. You’ll feel brighter, more inspired and confident about developing your existing design ideas.
They are adapted from exercises I learnt as a fashion student, and use two frameworks as starting points: the showstopper and the ensemble.
These idea generation techniques will help you to mine for gold in the depths of your imagination and avoid feeling like you’ve run out of ideas. Once you realise how much creative energy you have, you’ll feel brighter and more confident about being a successful knitwear designer.
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