Chris Gambrell

The Bristol illustrator has brought a fresh perspective to fashion illustration thanks to his sculpture-indebted techniques and his love of wax crayons, as STEVE PILL discovers

- STEVE PILL

While fashions change faster than the seasons, our concept of fashion illustration has largely remained unchanged: look at any designs from the past century and you will often find the same full-length figures striding forward, all rendered with elegant black ink lines and sweeping washes of watercolour.

Even contemporary books, such as Holly Nichols’ Modern Fashion Illustration released this spring, might swap the watercolour brush for a Copic Sketch Marker but ultimately the principles remain the same. It is clear, however, that what we don’t expect to see is awkward, off-the-cuff poses, jarring colour schemes and roughly textured passages of pastel, acrylic and whatever other media can be thrown into the mix.

Yet that is precisely what Chris Gambrell has made his stock in trade as he has risen to the very top of his profession. The 43-year-old artist has caught the eye of the world’s leading tastemakers, leading him to illustrate vintage couture for Vogue, catalogues for Zara, and fashion spreads for magazines as far afield as Brazil, Australia and the US – all while working from home in Bristol, raising his young family. Thankfully, his modest attitude to the fashion industry remains every bit as refreshing as his colourful designs.

“I tend to wear quite comfortable clothes,” he says with a chuckle. “Understated would be the word. I do like to experiment and play on paper though so I can certainly identify with the designers – all the shapes, colours and movement just get me really excited.”