Browsing by Author "Sahi, Kirsi"

Fashion drawing was a main method of portraying fashion before the development of photography. From 1944 to 1951 appeared a Finnish fashion magazine titled Muotikuva. The magazine focused introducing domestic and foreign women's fashion and appeared during eight years time period, four times a year. It is an example of a time when clothes were prepared by hand and pictured by fashion drawing. Kyllikki Raustila (1905-1965) was a pioneer of Finnish fashion drawing. She made a productive career in the field of fashion illustration. For Muotikuva Raustila drew most of the cover images and also illustrated domestic ateliers new fashions such as Ika and La Robe. This study analyses Kyllikki Raustila's way of portraying fashion and its evolution by studying her fashion drawings which were published in Muotikuva. Secondly, the study will analyse how the fashion drawings illustrate the fashion of its time, and what kind of role they have had in Muotikuva-magazine. The research data were Kyllikki Raustila's fashion drawings that appeared in Muotikuva from 1944 to 1951. 19 cover illustrations were Raustila's work and the magazine published over 100 other drawings by her. The data analysis method combined semiotic image analysis and qualitative content analysis. Image analysis was carried out by applying Gillian Rose's (2001/2012) visual data analysis model. From semiotic point of view, images were examined at denotative (structure) and connotative level (content). Fashion was studied from a semiotic point of view, making use of Roland Barthes (1967/1983) theories. Analysis of the fashion drawings was based on the image elements found in fashion photography (clothing, a mannequin, posing and props) defined by Naomi Rosenblum (1984/2007) and Merja Salo (2005). Kyllikki Raustila's fashion drawings utilize the same elements as fashion photographs. The main focus of the fashion drawing is to represent clothes. Drawings are more efficient representations of fashion than photographs. Fashion illustrator presents the main idea of the cloth with abstracting and emphasizing. Muotikuva's mannequin and her posing style remains almost unchanged through the Muotikuva's volumes. The mannequin of the drawings is shown realistic and described poses are natural. Postures of the fashion images are typically asymmetric in relation to different parts of the body. Fashion drawings include asymmetry, in addition to contrasts that create tension and fascination to the image. Development of Kyllikki Raustila's visual expression can be seen in Muotikuva's cover images: Raustila's characteristic Parisian drawing style intensified and cleared. Drawings stabilized rhythmic lines and bold color surfaces, mannequin facial features became more detailed. Overall, Muotikuva-magazine cover mannequin reflected the fashionable ideal of a woman.