……………………Kenneth Paul Block was one of America’s greatest fashion illustrators. He worked for 40 years as Women’s Wear Daily’s in house illustrator, but he also did illustrations for store advertisements, and magazines. For me he was the greatest among so many great illustrators of the time…It truly was the “Golden Age” of fashion illustration……..Antonio Lopez, Joe Eula, and Steven Stipleman were also incredible illustrators at the time….all having their own signature look……It was a period in fashion when wonderful illustrations were used for everything. Today illustrations aren’t used the way they were, and maybe that is the reason that great illustrators aren’t as well known…The illustration above is one KPB, as he was known, did of my Anne Klein outfit for the cover of WWD. He was an extremely quiet, and private man. Sometimes, I would come to work and find him alone in the showroom, with a model, busily sketching clothes from the collection to be used later for WWD. His sketching was so free and spontaneous. He was always dressed impeccably, and always held a cigarette in a cigarette holder in one hand. He was simply a genius. He traveled all over the world for WWD sketching the collections of every famous designer in every country……..There are many books avail. on these illustrators. They have all had exhibitions of their work around the world. KPB died at the age of 84. Unfortunately, Lopez and Eula are gone but, their work is a testament to their incredible talent! I highly recommend you google these great artists and take a look at their beautiful sketches.
Dear Louis, I am so glad to be in your master class 🙂 Thank you so much for showing us a world of fashion illustration; how wonderful these paintings are. They go so far beyond “sketches” and are truly master works of art for their conveyance of color, line and especially movement … wonderful! Thank You 🙂
Louis, thank you for taking the time to do these look backs every Thursday. It’s like taking a wonderful master class in fashion every Thursday. KPB is someone that I would have never known about if not for your blog post. I’m looking forward to going online and learning more about him and the other illustrators you mentioned. And as the Linea ladies keep saying, you really should write a book or teach a master class one of these days!
Michele, I’m giving a master class already.
True, Louis! For which we are all very grateful. Now about that book……! Lol.
OMG