Class spotlight: Fashion Illustration

Fashion Illustration Board

Photo: Board where students' art is shown off

Board where students' art is shown off Photo courtesy of Sydney Humpert.

From ceramics to play directing to art history, Blair’s arts program has an array of courses for anyone interested in a specific artistic discipline – with one minor exception. For any students passionate about fashion design, they might find their options lacking. At least, until they find the fashion illustration course buried in the list of arts electives. 

The class, however, is much more than just fashion illustration. Teacher Brenna Draper describes the topics the class covers, from fashion illustration and design to construction skills. “We do fashion illustration, we do fashion design… we're learning basics of sewing, we learn elements and principles of art and design, like color… there's a lot of avenues we can explore,” she explains. Even though the class is called ‘fashion illustration,’ it has more to offer than just illustration. The class allows students to plan, design, and assemble compelling – and most importantly, stylish – pieces with support from their teacher and classmates. 

To get more of an idea of the class itself SCO staff visited the class for a period. Draper started with a quick color-matching board game to help students describe colors more effectively. Although some of the students were more apprehensive to participate, and some opted out of playing at all, everyone was responsive whenever Draper asked her students questions or told them stories or jokes. 

After the game, Draper opened the class immediately to a discussion about color. Students shared their associations with colors in fashion, specifically how colors of clothes make viewers feel and how fashion designers deliberate about color choices to develop moods or emotions. Before she started the lesson, Draper gave the class a quick break to relax and get ready. Students either took out their phones, talked quietly, listened to music, or picked up embroidery projects. 

Draper explains her mentality on lesson planning around student objectives, and focuses lessons on what students want to learn about fashion. “I try to make it really student-centered. So before this lesson, I asked them what we'd like to go into next, and I suggested color. Then there was a consensus that everyone wanted to do color,” she says. Before the lesson, Draper clarified to the class that students would be expected to follow along for her introductory lesson on color, although they’d be able to guide their own objectives for the unit. Many of her lessons are structured this way since the class’s topic is so broad. Students are given a basic understanding of a topic and then develop more specialized knowledge based on what they’d like to learn. 

So how does Draper do this? She explains that at the start of the year, she had each student write down some of their goals for the class. “Some students wanted to really focus on illustration… some students wanted to learn about upcycling, and so we hop around all over the place, so students can achieve their own goal the way that they’re possible,” she says. 

If you’re interested in anything fashion, Blair’s fashion illustration class will have something to offer you. From color theory to sewing to drawing, the class broadly covers every major aspect of the fashion design process, and is an amazing opportunity to learn about a unique topic, so go check it out!