During London Fashion Week, Fida winner Jessica Bird sets up a residency at the London Edition hotel where she illustrates guests and the public for free. Illustrating as I interview, Jessica Bird discusses fashion illustration and the excitement of Fashion Week.
Please can you talk me through the process of beginning the residency at the London Edition Hotel during Fashion Week?
They got into contact with me, and I kept doing it but actually this was my first time doing life drawing, other than backstage, so it was quite nerve racking. I do like doing it, it’s so nice to meet loads of different people and to get out of my comfort zone, I guess.
How do you think the role of fashion illustrators is changing?
Recently, I think it’s become a ‘thing’ again- it did go away for a while but now I think brands are using it as another way to interact with the customer, because we’re all so used to digital imagery and our attention spans are so short from Instagram, so it’s quite nice to see something organic.
What were your thoughts on Vogue Italy’s January 2020 illustrated issue?
I didn’t know about it before it got released then I saw it and I loved it. It’s amazing and they said they did it to save money on production and I think it’s great! It definitely made a lot of press for doing something different too I guess. It looked great as well!
Do you think it will influence other brands or corporations to utilise the power of fashion illustration?
Yeah, I hope so, I think it got the attention and hopefully other magazines will use it more. You don’t really see it unless it’s a specific editorial for [illustration] or they’re trying to make a point. You don’t see it being mixed in as much. Perhaps, hopefully it will be nice for me.
What are some brands you look forward to illustrating or and what qualities do you enjoy illustrating from them?
Roxanda, love Roxanda, and bright colours- not necessarily block colours but stripes or spots, something decorative. I like characters and lots on the face as I tend to focus more on the face anyway. For me if anyone has amazing make up or accessories up top, I love that. So people like Charles Jeffery, I love his models they’re always amazing and super inspiring. Lucy Bridge, who does his makeup, does such cool stuff. I tend to look at backstage images as they’re a bit more exciting than catwalk straight on photos or tagged photos on Instagram is where I find a lot of inspiration. Roxanda definitely, she’s my favourite.
What have been some highlights from Fashion Week this year?
If I’m drawing I want to be backstage rather than being at the front of house because it’s just so fast, I’d rather enjoy the show- it’s too much for me. I’ve tried it before and you miss the whole show, I’d rather look at the looks I want to draw, get a picture of it, then work on it later. I went to a couple of shows and presentations. I went to the RIXO presentation which was good because that was a huge spectacle, I’d never seen anything else like it. Huge budget, I think, food, drinks, dogs- everything! Because it was a presentation, although it was really busy, the models stood still for ages and it was all bright and colourful so that was quite exciting. Then I did Roxanda backstage yesterday. I love it, I used to intern with them just when I was straight out of uni when the brand was way smaller so it’s nice to go back there now to do this.
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