Birds on my Balcony and UFOs in the Sky

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When I got my first illustrated portrait of me sent through via email, I have to say, it was a bit weird.  I kept getting convulsive visions of sick fan art on manga sites where the fans get a bit carried away and start distorting the thing they love so deeply.  Not that anybody reading the blog is a wacko fan who rocks themselves in a quiet corner whilst shoving Wotsits in their mouths.  The concept of people taking the time to draw a person they've never met in person is just a weird one to grasp but then again, bloggers are odd creatures who email/twitter countless numbers of people they haven't met so fair dos.

I'm of course grateful though that as yet, nobody has drawn me with say a double boar and snake head coming out of my body and all of the illustrations and artwork have been beautiful, with their own point of view and pretty much make me look heaps better than in reality. 

Przemek Sobocki, an illustrator based in Tokyo whose work caught my eye fairly early on, so much so that I painfully screen capped his animated work for Hintmag.com (he's just done another series for them based on the Japanese ghost stories…).  It came as a surprise to me that he wanted to embark on a series of images illustrating myself in clothes that I choose myself.  I of course relished the chance to raid Catwalking.com for images of pieces, most of which in a million years won't actually physically touch my skin, to carry out this fantasy repetoire of images. A bit like playing paperdolls with an illustrator involved.

Przemek emailed me the resulting work today, a series of six images illustrating my style schizophrenia at its peak.  I'm not sure if it was intentional but I love the way that the familiar surroundings of my balcony at home have been worked into a moody atmosphere that references Hitchcock's The Birds and UFOs looming in the skies… both a dream and a nightmare combined for me (hate birds flying around me but would love a UFO to approach my flat…)… thank you for this one-off collaboration even if my effort was rather minimal in comparison…

Chanel Couture S/S 09 Katsuya Kamo paper headpiece – Kamo's work has always struck me but this was the icing on the very tall hair wedding cake… and Moncler Gamme Rouge jacket…

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Susie 1

Felipe Oliveira Baptista hat and dress, Alexander McQueen leggings and Casadei ankle boots… definitely only a browse-online type outfit…not that I can find Casadei boots in reality anyway…

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Susie 3

Giles Deacon Pacman helmet, Mark Fast dress, Atalanta Weller shoes – Was going for a sci-fi and artisinal mix here… so glad Atalanta Weller made New Gen sponsorship for next season which probably means retailable shoes from her sole name!

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Givenchy jeans, Rodarte x Nicholas Kirkwood boots – These boots will never be in my possession and I'm just glad that there are two illustrated examples of me in them…good dreaming fodder…

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Susie 5

Marc Jacobs jacket, Basso & Brooke dress, Nicholas Kirkwood shoes – A reachable outfit of sorts but alas, no feathers wafting around me in reality…

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Susie 6

77 comments

  2. Amazing, I love blogger portraits! When I was at the art school we have to sit (not naked of course…) during the drawing classes. I always happened to have the weirdest poses (i.e. I once posed with an electric guitar…) but it was so nice to look the final results!

  4. these are gorgeous! so original, what great posing and details, the fabric of the basso and brooke dress is beautiful, your eyelashes look like feathers too!

  8. Just stunning, Susie. How wonderful to have these illustrations of beautiful you in some beautiful duds that you may never be lucky enough to don in real life.

  11. Wow, these illustrations are treasure. I would keep them AND love them. Just gorgeous. Although does it make you cry when you realise you’d look fan-bloody-tastic in certain outfits/accessories but could never afford them? Boo!
    🙂

  14. These are all flattering and beautiful illustrations of you. My favorite is the one with the Kirkwood boots.

  16. Wow, the illustrations are all really amazing. Maybe this would be a good idea for the designers to present their next collection.

  20. blimey! those are incredible… glad nothing freaky is emerging from this illustration trend.
    i really love The Birds reference too x

  21. these illustrations are amazing, i especially love the last two with the feather-rain…mmm

  24. huh, does sort of remind of The Birds, they’re good illustrations though, and I love the outfits you picked out!

  25. Fantastic illustration, you look wonderful! (and someone should hire you as a stylist pronto)

  26. ooohlala! As a fellow illustrator myself (even though still merely a student), I feel very inspired! Thanks for sharing!
    However, as much as I want to be a fashion illustrator, I am not sure if the market is big enough..

  28. Ah how lovely and I’ve only just caught up on Hogggate! Mainly because a fellow blogger had been more dilligent than me – had read all about it, having seen original post etc adn told me all about it.
    Best bit – she only saw Pam Hogg at a specialist art car boot and made her bloke shout out ‘where’s Style Bubble’
    I’m glad I wasn’t there I would have ahd a few more words to say!
    Glad you have beautiful drawings rather than moaning ‘people’

  30. Wow, these are gorgeous. So inspiring. Such a creative work of art. Check out this new fashion community online at http://senseofashion.com where you can share, shop and sell indie fashion. I think you’d love it and would love to see you there.

  34. With all your original and interesting outfits, it’s no wonder everybody wants to draw you. If I were an artist, I probably would at least once.

  47. these are really, really amazing. i love how they work together as a narrative. my jaw literally dropped when i got to the mark fast dress one.

  53. Awesome! We should all start drawing ourselves in clothes we can’t afford- it would make us all feel happier!

  56. Oh, this must have been such an enjoyable experience!
    What a lovely set of illos!
    Great design pieces and great artist doing your portraits with them… Isn’t it SO close to happiness… 😉

  58. Oh, how cool is that. What a dream to have something as wonderful as this with yourself as the subject.

  61. Amazing, such beautiful drawings and truly gorgeous clothes you chose.
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  72. this is amazing, he captures your style and the whole environment so so well, my fav is the one with mark fast dress, superb.

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