by Mandi Pimental
One could venture to say that sketchbook pages filled with vibrant colors, whimsical images and colored pencils are the tools of the trade for a child with a vivid imagination. Or they could be the medium that launches a fashion career and social media phenom.
The latter is such the case with fashion illustrator and deputy creative director at TSUM, Alena Lavdovskaya. Having accepted her position at TSUM in 2005, Lavdovskaya, started with markers and pencils in her youth and grew up backstage in a Georgia theatre.
She spent hours watching the art director draw costumes and sets before relocating to Moscow where she attended art school. Her works for TSUM can now be seen through her role as the in-house fashion illustrator for the department store, her focus being artistic prints and creative concepts. Changing the fashion scene in Russia, one drawing at a time.
Inspired by beauty that is simple and timeless by nature,
Lavdovskaya says she walks her daily life with “eyes wide open.” Observing “faces, emotions, the ocean, the clouds, movement and shadows”. She also spends time in her studio studying master works and most enjoys working there in the early hours before the sun awakens.
Thriving not only in the quiet, she also enjoys “bizarre and serious settings” counting the bustling backstage of a fashion show and on set with live models as other places where you can see Lavdovskaya furiously sketching away.
Her primarily black and white sketches of fashion models, and their favorite designer accessories, are accented with bold reds (namely her signature red lip), and other bold jewel tones. While additional works have been used in luxury campaigns for Montblanc and Lancome, as well as editorials for glossy magazines.
With closing in on nearly 126K Instagram followers, Lavdovskaya features portraits that inspire her pieces as well as the social sites ever popular food snaps and vacation captures.
Follow Alena Lavdovskaya on Instagram – @alenalavdovskaya
GET A PRINT ISSUE WITH Alena’s Work HERE
