Live illustrating the Good Fashion Show…
“Drawing takeaways for each guest.” “How many guests?” “We’re almost at 70 today…” The Give your Best fashion show at the Trampery on the Gantry in London’s Olympic Park sold out, with over 100 tickets booked. That’s a lot, even for someone with a quick, gestural drawing style…
I was there because Give Your Best, an organisation tackling clothing poverty via circularity, had done a callout via the Trampery for partners in its event celebrating the refugee women in its community and fashion as a force for good. I’m part of the Trampery’s community, I loved the idea and I had long wanted to sketch at a runway show.
I had asked to cover hair and makeup as well as the show itself. People thought I was taking notes – and in many ways, I was. As I sketched, I noticed how the make-up artists held their brushes; how the hairdressers stood to work; the swish of steaming and assembling garments for each look; the perpetual motion of deft, skilled preparation. I noticed the pride as models stood up from chairs; listened to the confidence-building in rehearsals. As the doors were opened, I sketched the (stylish) arrivals. Then the runway show – and even for someone used to drawing at speed, that was challenging as pairs of models walked and looks crossed over.
But what I do starts before the event.
For this day’s sketching, even though I knew the Gantry well, walking it with the show’s organisers had given me useful information on its character and what would be happening where. As always for live sketching, I had brought my designer’s love of materials, sourcing relevant surfaces (who knew you could draw on interfacing), trimming loose paper, stitching tiny sketchbooks and stringing swing tags. So there was a story to tell when the compere asked me up to tell the guests what I’d been up to.
Did we have enough sketches? Yes, we did! And thanks to listening in rehearsals, I swear I walked home slightly taller than I had arrived.
