Joana Avillez - Contemporary Fashion Hall Of Fame Illustrations
Attempting to wash the January melancholy off with a large dose of bubble bath and books. I've been digging out lots of old books recently and unearthed one of the fashion books I haven't used in a long till for due to essays, but it's probably by favourite leisurely read.
So a little bit of scanning the always visually pleasing Life Dressing by The Idiosyncratic Fashionistas is always the best remedy for the blues
Apart from the witty fashion commentary, flamboyant apparel and pictures of the most refined headgear on the advanced NY fashion radar, the front cover illustration is incredibly special. It was when I first purchased the book in 2012, not only did I take detailed stock of the contents and get giddy over the promise of an Advanced Style film, but began following the career of the book covers illustrator.
Joana Avillez (@joana_avillez) has a BFA in Painting from The Rhode Island School of Design and an MFA in The Illustration as Visual Essay Program from The School of Visual Arts. Since graduating, she's developed an impressive portfolio, apart from my very adored Life Dressing cover. Her illustrations have been used in Vogue, The Washington Post, Lucky Peach - The Gender Issue, New York magazine and Paper magazine. She even designed motif's for Rachel Antonoff's FW14 silk trousers and scarf designs for Agnes B. The silk trousers are super similar to Shrimp Shrigley-esqe silk trouser prints for SS15 and are also synonymous with my mild obsession with pin-up girl prints.
See an upcoming post for a review of The Shrimps SS15 collection
But it was her fashionista icons illustrations that first showed of Refinery 29 that did the rounds for a substantial amount of time. Sketching's my personal favourite fashion queens Anna Piaggi, Iris Apfel, Grace Coddington and Susie Bubble are super.
Eloise Moves to Brooklyn written and illustrated for New York Magazine
Something even more ruddy fantastic for Joana is her relationship with all-around sensational lady Lena Dunham!! After knowing her since she was young, she got the joy of illustrating of Lena Dunham's anticipated and a slice of literary therapy for me, Not That Kind Of Girl!
