Streetstyle and Snapshots From Art Basel 2015

 A cool attendee dressed down in pink sequins with cuffed jeans and spiky sneakers.

Ok! Art Basel is probably the funnest month here in Hong Kong, there are a gazillion events everywhere in the city and hot graffiti artists for you to swipe and meet on Tinder, not to mention the show itself. Here are the streetstyle illustrations and photos spotted from my day there.  

I drew a boy! Even though my Twitter bio says I don't know how to draw boys. The stylish visitor was wearing a Topman peacock tee-shirt against a giant swirling Sterling Ruby canvas at Gagosian - and you know I can't resist a good pattern or two.

Tracey Emin at Lehmann Maupin.

Click through for some [IMG HEAVY] coverage from the show this year.

Live Drawing / Marks & Spencer

Last month I got a super exciting chance to create an original illustration for Marks & Spencer! I love M&S, when I was in England this summer I stocked up on so many pairs black tights and comfy-cute bras. Plus they're so nice there, whenever I stop by the stores here in Hong Kong they always call me ma'am, I into that.

Located in Lanson Hotel in Causeway Bay, M&S hosted the press event to present their A/W 2014 collection and to celebrate their first time presenting at London Fashion Week. This was the first time I've ever been outfitted by a brand for their event, it was so much fun to pick out an outfit with the M&S team, after many maybe outfits I finally chose a body hugging mid-calf Per Una dress in a red and black geometric print paired with gold and silver accessories. I love how the dress is super comfy (girrrl, I gotta werk!) has a qi-pao vibe because of the length but it's still super modern because of the print and stretch knit fabric.

READ ON to see more photos of the event and my live illustrations.

Live Drawing / Guest Artist at Lane Crawford

I'm so excited to share that I was invited by Lane Crawford to be one of their live drawing artist for the Global Traveller in store event last month. They had three artist working at each of their Hong Kong locations, Cary Kwok at IFC, who's work I was really inspired by after seeing it at ARTHK11 and Telephone Fung at Times Square, Causeway Bay. It was surreal to see one of my illustrations blown up as a life-size backdrop for this job!

For three days I was set up at the Canton Rd. store doing quick 5 minute live portraits for guests of the event. How can you top a temporary studio inside Lane Crawford? Surrounded by a bucket of drawing utensils, glamorous people, the latest collections, amazing soundtrack and an endless stream of sparkling water (gelato and bubbly too!), I felt spoiled! 

The theme of the illustration was 'Front Row' the idea being that the guest would be sketched sitting next to some of the fashion greats, Grace Coddington, Anna Wintour, Karl Lagerfeld, his little kitty Choupette and Anna Della Russo. I also wanted to feature an Asian star so who better than Fan Bing Bing? Who is known for her otherworldly beauty and out of this world fashion choices.

Click through to see the rest of the image heavy post and photos from the three day event.

Recent Work / Into the Mild: Canadian Holiday Fashion Comic for National Post.

One of my resolutions in 2013 was to get one of my illustrations published in print and last week just before the year was over I reached that goal. My holiday fashion comics feature with the National Post's Weekend Style came out on Sunday and I was so nervous!

Head on to the National Post to read the full comic.

I had never been commissioned by a newspaper before but not only that, the feature was huge, 3 pages! It even got a little mention on the front page of the paper! I still haven't seen it in person yet, waiting with bated breath and I think I might just very blissfully pass out soon.

Thanks for the snap Markus!

The comic was to be a fun illustrated holiday special featuring all the biggest trends and pieces from Canadian fashion this past year, Hudson's Bay x Converse crossover sneakers, Jeremy Laing, that Mercy camo sweatshirt dress, Beaufille and Roots mukluks amongst others. The editor had seen my previous fashion comic for Dazed and loved the format. The idea we came up with was a group of Canadian fashion-philes go cabining in Banff for the weekend and get stranded.

Probably my favourite panel is of the girls moose hunting, the girl in the camo dress we just get each other. Head over to the National Post site to view the online version. Huge thanks to the editor and fashion director Nathalie Atkinson!

Click through to see a snippet of my drafts.

If Fashion Week was a Horror Film / My Halloween Fashion Comic for Dazed & Confused

It feels surreal but my very first illustration feature with Dazed Digital is out now, they're the online companion to Dazed & Confused magazine. I used to buy secondhand copies of i-D and Dazed magazines at the huge BMV bookstore in downtown Toronto during 1st year university and I used to leaf through them thinking how cooool are all these people? And then I'd carefully cut out my favourite pages and save them for collaging, but after 1st year university I ran out of money and stopped buying magazines and just bought food instead.

So needless to say I'm super excited to be working with Dazed for this Halloween feature, "If Fashion Week was a Horror Film". 

There are 5 storyboards, with each image being it’s own story about the designer and their dark S/S 2014 collection:

1. Rei Kawakubo and her Commes des Garcons girl gang.
2. Marc Jacobs's Louis Vuitton circus.
3. The Maison Martin Marigela laboratory.
4. Meadham Kirchhoff's heaven and hell.
5. Thom Browne's mental asylum.

You can read more about the story and the illustrations on DazedDigital.com.

Click through after the jump to see my drafts and process for the project.

Intro to Fashion History Comic / Alexander McQueen and Isabella Blow Highland Rape

 Issie Buys the Whole Thing.
Editor's Note: Isabella Blow actually buys his graduating collection "Jack the Ripper Stalks His Victims" and not Highland Rape (his second collection) the former of which she paid for in £100 installations and he delivered to her each week an outfit in trash bags.

Tsk, tsk, tsk to me for drawing these before fact-checking. I revised the drawings with a new Jack the Ripper Stalks his Victims addition. Here's the original Highland Rape one below, I love how it turned out, with her tiny little feet.

But isn't it funny to think that Alexander McQueen was also once a student? I guess we all start somewhere. The Highland Rape collection was about British designers appropriating Scottish culture for their fashion collections. I could draw McQueen things allllll day, there's so much history and extraordinary cut clothes, it really is a moveable feast.

RIP Lee and Issie.

More Intro to Fashion History comics here.

Fashion History / Fuck Your War Rations, This is the New Look.

I was on the mini-bus home with my mom from the Maron Bouillie Paris Rétro exhibition in Olympian City and I was showing my mom these little comics that I've been loving lately and she was like YOU should make comics but I brushed it off like like what would I even draw about?

And then at 3 AM last night (that's when I get all my ideas, I keep a notebook beside my bed just for that purpose) I had this idea that I should draw comics about fashion history! I've always wanted to do a project about fashion history and this is perfect for it. So here is the first one from the still Untitled Fashion History Comic Project.

This first one is about Christian Dior's extravagant New Look in Post WWII Paris. Enjoy! \And let me know if you have any favourite moments in fashion history you want to see. Tweet me! Or comment below! xx