The team at gpstudio, a retail design agency in Southwark are passionate about encouraging and celebrating creative talent, so they curate work by a wide variety of new and established designers, artists, illustrators and photographers. gpstudio show the art work in their huge railway Arch Window, transforming the pavement outside into a free gallery, for the public to enjoy just a few hundred metres from the Tate Modern.
gpstudio approached Jacqueline Bissett, a fashion illustrator to paint some of her beautiful illustrations on the glass of their Arch Window during Fashion Month to tie in with London Fashion Week. Having attended some of the London Fashion Week shows, Jacqueline was able to paint interpretations of what she saw on the catwalk, including some pieces from huge names such as House of Holland and Armani, and some up and coming designers like Bottega Veneta and Havva, and the results are stunning.
Jacqueline Bissett has over 30 years of experience in the fashion illustration industry. Working across a broad spectrum in the fashion world you can find her illustrations on everything from book covers, web sites, billboard advertisements and luxury jewellery brochures.
“Each season for as long as I can remember, I’ve worked on a reportage of the catwalks to familiarise myself with new colours, trends and styling details to assist with commissions and keep relevance in my fashion work’ Jacqueline Bisset
‘Fashion illustrator and artist Jaqueline Bisset’s painting on our Arch Window has blown us away and attracted much attention. As an artist Jacqueline is a perfect match for us bridging fashion, art and retail. We were thrilled to have her paint live at gpstudio for Fashion Month.’ Gregor Jackson, Partner
Jacqueline said of her work:
‘When I was asked to do something for the Arch windows with the possibility of working on the actual glass, I jumped at the chance to transfer this idea on a large scale. It’s been years since I worked on this scale and never on a window so it was a pretty daunting task.’ ‘At LFW my favourite collections were an amazing collection from Henry Holland’s team which was vibrant and fun involving fun fur, Stetsons and thigh high ‘Woody Woodpecker’ boots- really ‘out there’ stuff! I deliberately chose garments that I’m not usually commissioned to draw so I could be totally self-indulgent whilst showing some of the newer designers with Global brands such as Armani, Miu Miu and Sportmax.’ ‘I sketched out in rough format on the outside of the windows so I could amend the overall look without committing myself. There was only 1 figure that I changed from my layout in the end. I then moved inside (away from the biting winds!) to warm up and start the colour work.’ ‘I had to work fast to finalise in one day so I kept it loose and sketchy and hopefully looking spontaneous. The hardest part was actually the writing which is harder than you think to write backwards! Drawing back to front is also a challenge but after the first few figures the style started to flow and strengthen. The whole thing took approx. 7 hours, just before the light started to fade!’
‘At LFW my favourite collections were an amazing collection from Henry Holland’s team which was vibrant and fun involving fun fur, Stetsons and thigh high ‘Woody Woodpecker’ boots- really ‘out there’ stuff! I deliberately chose garments that I’m not usually commissioned to draw so I could be totally self-indulgent whilst showing some of the newer designers with Global brands such as Armani, Miu Miu and Sportmax.’ ‘I sketched out in rough format on the outside of the windows so I could amend the overall look without committing myself. There was only 1 figure that I changed
‘I sketched out in rough format on the outside of the windows so I could amend the overall look without committing myself. There was only 1 figure that I changed from my layout in the end. I then moved inside (away from the biting winds!) to warm up and start the colour work.’
‘I had to work fast to finalise in one day so I kept it loose and sketchy and hopefully looking spontaneous. The hardest part was actually the writing which is harder than you think to write backwards! Drawing back to front is also a challenge but after the first few figures the style started to flow and strengthen. The whole thing took approx. 7 hours, just before the light started to fade!’
Jacqueline Bissett
http://www.jacquelinebissett.com
www.illustrationweb.com
For further details on gpstudio please contact:
Laura@gpstudio.uk.com
0207 620 1100