I love how illustrators take the everyday and make it fabulous, magical. What I like most about Nancy Zhang’s fashion illustration is how she takes an outfit that she wore and draws her feelings or mood, as she was wearing it. Or maybe her intention when she created the outfit.
Zhang’s outfits are stories, they are sometimes journeys into the past, other times frozen fragments of the present. Sometimes they are pretentious and constructed, other times practical and comfortable. Even though she wears a lot of designer fashion, she is not a slave of the latest trend. Instead she travels in time, she plays different roles, maybe historical characters, maybe different Nancys. They are like a diary of an ever-changing everyday.
Sometimes we are attached to clothes not because people tell us we look great in them, but because of how they make us feel. You can see how happy and free Nancy feels in her cream-coloured, low-waist gathered skirt, how shy and delicate in her vintage gathered skirt. Or how sexy she feels with her new haircut.
Looking at her outfits, you don’t feel like you’re just looking into somebody else’s wardrobe, you’re looking into who she is.
You can find more of Nancy’s illustrations on her blog.
These are beautiful! I totally agree that with clothes is all about how they make you feel!
Doesn’t it make you want to pick up a pad and just… draw?