IMAGE AND CONCEPT IN FASHION ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC STRATEGIES AND PROJECT AESTHETICS OF THE 20TH–21ST CENTURIES

Abstract

The purpose of the study is a comprehensive analysis of the figurative- conceptual and graphic strategies in fashion illustration of the 20th–21st centuries that form new visual models for the representation of fashion. The article explores how fashion illustration transforms from a tool for recording style into an autonomous design practice that combines aesthetics, critical reflection, and visual construction of the cultural context. Methodology. The research applies an interdisciplinary methodology combining the principles of art analysis, visual studies, design theory, and narrative graphics. A system-comparative analysis of authors’ illustrative practices is used, as well as an interpretative approach to graphic language as a communicative code of fashion thinking. The influence of technological media and changes in the cultural paradigm on the transformation of artistic means has been studied. Results. The study analyzes key changes in the artistic nature of fashion illustration – from the realism and decorativeness of the early 20th century to the abstract- experimental and digital strategies of today. The research identifies current graphic approaches – linear dynamics, color as concept, compositional fragmentation, and textural hybridity – that shape the aesthetic language of the fashion image. Attention is focused on the transition from stylistic depiction to semantically loaded visual storytelling. Scientific novelty. The study offers a new vision of fashion illustration as an autonomous conceptual space, where graphic form not only serves as a representation of fashion but becomes a means of its design. The idea of the fashion illustrator as a visual interpreter of sociocultural codes – rather than merely a mediator between designer and viewer – is substantiated. Practical relevance. The results obtained can be applied in academic and educational activities in the fields of design, illustration, fashion studies, and visual arts. The article is also useful for developers of visual brand strategies, curators of exhibition projects, and visual culture analysts who study the communicative functions of graphic imagery in the context of fashion.