January 31, 2008

A forgotten art

Can you imagine buying a $1,000 dress based solely on an artist's sketch drawing? In the 1960s, this was common. Women would scour fashion magazines and look-books and order gowns drawn by artists like Gregory Weir-Quiton. In the 1960's, his sketches of Chanel, Armani, and Givenchy gowns appeared in ads for The May Company, Bullocks, Robinsons and I. Magnin. Longtime fans of Bullocks Wilshire will remember his ads from the back page of the Los Angeles Times Metro sections.
I spoke to Gregory on the phone and asked him about his career. Growing up in Detroit, he thought he was going to become a pharmacist like all his friends in high school. But something drew him to fashion illustration...namely, Hollywood. "I am a child of the movies," he said. "That’s when I first saw glamor. That was so incredible to me."
He never thought of studying fine art. Instead, he apprenticed at an ad agency and later started working for the art department at Bullocks Wilshire, an L.A. department store built in 1929. "They had the most fabulous merchandise to draw," says Weir-Quiton. "Chanel, Chloe, Byblos, Calvin Klein...and then Lacroix would come and it was fabulous."
The stores would sell from his detailed illustrations, based on sittings with models dressed in garments taken from the racks. At his busiest point, he would churn out 18 drawings in a night. And then stores started using photography.
"Everybody sells lifestyle now instead of actual merchandise," says Weir-Quiton, who is now a movie poster designer. "Often you can't tell what the clothes look like...but you can tell that the girl has been partying like mad."
Weir-Quiton will revisit his days as a fashion illustrator on Feb. 1, from 6 to 8 p.m. at Woodbury University, 7500 Glenoaks Blvd., Burbank.

January 31, 2008 in FASHION | Permalink