This Illustrator Finds Inspiration In Runway Shows

Los Angeles based illustrator and designer Bijou Karman is known for her fashion illustrations, featuring a variety of fashionable women. Having graduated from Art Center College of Design with a BFA in Illustration, her work includes editorial illustrations, on top of creating her own products and zines.

“I’ve been into drawing since I was a little kid,” she relayed in an interview with Matter of Hand. “I think that fashion was important to me growing up; I was more interested in clothes than in drawing.” But though she studied illustration in college she admits she actually wanted to be a fashion editor, while drawing was more of a hobby. “Eventually, something clicked and illustration became a major passion of mine,” she says. “I realized that I could combine the two things that I am passionate about.”  

View this post on Instagram

obsessed with @ashleywilliamslondon FW 2019 😻

A post shared by Bijou Karman (@bijoukarman) on

Inspired by nostalgia, strong women, plants, and a love of print and bright colors, her work has an uplifting quality to it making for a fun and playful effect. “I would say that my love of vintage and retro inspiration is a very marked characteristic,” says Karman. “In my personal life, I draw inspiration from my love of the past — in how I like to dress, in the music that I listen to, in basically everything aesthetic that I like.”

A fashion enthusiast, she also finds inspiration in runway shows. “I’ll take a runway image and create a whole story of who the girl is and where she would be,” she explains. “I then place her in that situation within my illustration. That’s where a lot of my pieces start. But my work is not about trends at all – that doesn’t interest me. If anything I like clothes that are more retro.”

Take a look at some of her work in the gallery below:

https://www.instagram.com/p/B2mjPmyA7rO/
View this post on Instagram

👠👡👢🥿

A post shared by Bijou Karman (@bijoukarman) on

View this post on Instagram

wish list 👡👢👠🥿

A post shared by Bijou Karman (@bijoukarman) on