Choose Your Print Size
The set of four Fashion Illustrations were each created to a specific brief.
This one is Icon: An icon of the fashion industry, could be a designer, model, or other main player…
I chose Rei Kawakubo. The founder of long standing fashion house Comme des Garçons (and Dover Street Market). Rei Kawakubo brought a whole new colour range within the spectrum of black. I have adored her mould breaking a lot of times oversized and androgynous designs since I first discovered them as a teenager. At the time and to this day her creations were almost anti-fashion in very stark contrast to a lot of the fitted garments of the time.
The illustration is kept very simple in reference to her design principals and in nuanced shades of black and white, featuring organic shapes hinting at her love of creating body modifications through dress, adding the rarely used accent of scarlet used in her collections. The designer almost merges and blends into the background in reference to her almost media shy persona.
Charcoal black and deep espresso dominate this portrait, offset by a warm terracotta-red circle that bleeds into bursts of hot magenta, all grounded against a soft sandy blush. That warmth runs through every element of the palette, making it naturally at home on walls painted in a deep burnt ochre or a rich tobacco brown – analogous neighbours of the terracotta that deepen the print’s drama – while a pale clay or warm greige picks up the sandy blush tones for a softer, more tonal result. For those who want contrast, a very deep charcoal or near-black wall throws the magenta and red into vivid relief, a pairing an interior designer would reach for without hesitation given the print’s already graphic confidence. The mood is sharp, cerebral, and quietly avant-garde, which places it squarely within contemporary, maximalist, Japanese-influenced wabi-inspired interiors, and fashion-forward eclectic spaces where strong portraiture earns its place. A dressing room or walk-in wardrobe is an obvious home – fitting for a print honouring Rei Kawakubo, the visionary designer behind Comme des Garçons – though it holds its own equally well in a living room or a bold bedroom above the bed head. This print belongs to Diedododa’s Fashion Illustration collection, a tribute to iconic and inspirational women of the fashion industry, and pairs naturally with the Vivienne Westwood, Nyaueth Niko Riam, and Stella Tennant prints for a gallery wall that reads as a cohesive, powerful statement. It makes a considered gift for anyone who follows fashion as art.
Printed with archival pigment inks on Hahnemühle Photo Rag® – a museum-grade cotton paper with a subtle felt texture – the matte, glare-free surface absorbs light rather than reflecting it, which suits both slim contemporary frames and more ornate vintage ones without competition. At A4 (21 × 29.7 cm) or A3 (29.7 × 42 cm), the print works beautifully on a shelf or as part of a curated gallery arrangement; at A2 (42 × 59.4 cm) or A1 (59.4 × 84.1 cm) it becomes a genuine focal point, the graphic contrast of black and hot magenta commanding a wall with real authority; and at A0 (84.1 × 118.9 cm) it anchors a room entirely, the scale matching the outsized influence of its subject. This print is also available as a 28 × 40 inch (70 × 100 cm) canvas, ready to hang with no frame needed.
