James Thomas Inspired Saggy Sweater + The Mountains

©Christina Paone
Model - Christina Paone
Illustration by - Christina Paone

James Thomas creates most of his fashion illustrations by cutting out tiny pieces of paper and lying them over top of one another. This is why his illustrations are mostly solid colors, composed primarily of bold shapes. In the book Fashion Illustration By Fashion Designers, I came across his fashion model collages which I quickly obsessed over. The photo on the right is Thomas', one that he made specially for the book. The computer image on the left was my semi-sorry attempt to create the beauty that he can through simple shapes and colors.

I wanted to create something wintry, since it is still 30 degrees here in Philadelphia, which is where I came up with the idea to make a saggy sweater. The neckline of the sweater extends at the top, which allows it to be worn draped down in the front, buttoned under the neck, or folded backwards behind the head. The fabric is a semi lattice light gray soft material, that easily drapes over a slim figure.

Underneath the sweater, I am wearing the sleeveless pocketed t-shirt (that we have for sale) with Zara pants. The shoes are from Urban Outfitters.

Lacroix Inspired Funky Dress

©Christina Paone
Model - Christina Paone
Illustration by - Christina Paone

This dress, was put together in literally 15 minutes. A very fast dress, that was meant to turn out entirely different, ended up working out just fine. My original intentions included a stretchier fabric (this is sort of hard to move in), with black sheer fabric draping one shoulder and a thin strap of velvet on the opposite side.

Of course, not being able to get away from lattice, I tried that, which was messier than I had anticipated it to be. So much so, that I had to tie a black bow in the back in order to secure it in place.

Christian Lacroix, a fashion designer, and a fabulous illustrator, was the inspiration for my design. Some of his fashion designs can be seen here . More of his illustrations can be seen here .