Fashion has stepped through the mirror and into the
illustrated world. Lula, the illustrated
editrix of the sketched blog http://thesubjectiknowbest. com/, has turned her pencil to a newly-launched biannual
fashion magazine HERSELF- and it’s entirely made up of sketched
self-portraits and cartoonised celebrities, even down to the hand-illustrated
ads. The magazine is the first of its kind to turn contemporary fashion
completely on its pretty head, its pages overflowing with dreamlike drawings
and fantastical ideas. Beginning as a simple sketch, the editor Lula- a strange
sort of comic strip superprincess- has walked into the illustrated pages of
HERSELF magazine- acquiring expensive diamonds, beautiful dresses, and killer
heels along the way. The Portrait Issue, as the first edition is called, is
more than just a collection of self-portraits by stylish superwomen such as
Anna Della Russo and Margherita Missoni- at 248 pages long, it’s a sketchbook
tome. The illustrations are certainly magical- whimsical drawings of famous women
past, present and imaginary, including Michelle Obama, Kate Moss, Barbie,
Cinderella, Frida Kahlo- and even the Greek goddess Athena. There are make-believe
interviews with Grace Kelly and Jackie Kennedy; features with Audrey Hepburn
and Maria Callas. In this sense, it’s a celebration of fashion as a dynamic,
creative and visually striking industry- a reminder that behind today’s perceived
ideal of beauty lie real women sketched from legend. In short, the magazine
erases all boundaries to the imagination- and instead draws women as they want
to be seen. No wands, no magic lamps- just pen and paper.
Some might see HERSELF as completely pointless and
utterly pretentious, and in many ways it’s easy to understand why. What’s the
point in drawing comic strip conversations where Marilyn Monroe tells Lula that
it’s all make-believe? What’s the point if none of it is real? But I disagree.
Isn’t that the point of fashion- it doesn’t matter whether it’s real or drawn,
what matters is how you react, whether it makes you think and see the world in
a different light. Fashion is art, after all. It exists in the same way Vogue
exists, or the same way an art catalogue or comic book exists. It’s not right
or wrong, it’s just a new magazine trying to give free reign to our
imagination. In the words of that famously-drawn female Jessica Rabbit: “I’m not
bad. I’m just drawn that way”.
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