Fabulous Doodles Fashion Illustration blog by Brooke Hagel: branding

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Live Sketching Custom Portraits for Bridgerton x Netflix

Dearest readers, allow me to regale you with the delightfully splendid event that transpired a week or so ago. I had the pleasure of journeying downtown to partake in a most enchanting endeavor: live sketching custom portraits for the esteemed Netflix sensation, Bridgerton in collaboration with InDelight. What a spectacle it was! The ambiance was positively enchanting, adorned with exquisite floral arrangements, whilst melodies of Bridgerton's beloved tunes filled the air, courtesy of talented musicians in full Bridgerton regalia. The attendees were a sight to behold in their Regency attire, truly embracing the spirit of the occasion.

In the company of luminaries such as the illustrious Adjoa Andoh, known affectionately as "Lady Danbury," and the esteemed authoress behind the Bridgerton tales, Julia Quinn herself, I found myself sketching in a world of elegance and refinement. I reveled in the art of capturing the essence of the Regency era through my portraits, whilst engaging in delightful discourse with the charming guests who graced us with their presence. It was an evening of unparalleled joy and camaraderie, one that I shall have fond memories of.

To see similar live sketching events check out these posts you may have missed:

Brooke Hagel x Woops! Macaron Collaboration

Today I am launching my first collaboration of illustrated macarons with Woops! and I couldn't be more excited about it. This limited edition collection was created especially for Mother's Day with nurturing, spirited moms in mind. We toyed with the idea of using my traditional fashion illustrations, accessories and even florals, but in the end my iconic bunhead silhouettes won out and I'm so pleased we went with them! I think they're the perfect personality-filled people to send to moms, aunts, grandmas or a friend to just say "I'm thinking of you." I'm so excited to take my bunheads on this sweet collaborative journey with Woops! by transforming my fashion figures into mothering figures. I was thinking about the women in our lives who are nurturing, loving and spirited, celebrating the women who have raised, supported, encouraged and loved us through it all. This collection is for each person to thank the special woman in their life. If you look closely at the figures you will you find a pregnant figure, a figure holding a baby, a figure with a child, and of course the free spirited strong women that we all admire.

I created three different macaron designs with my bunheads as well as three different box sleeves for you to choose from so theres something to fit everyone. One box is an all over pattern solely of bunheads dancing, prancing and stretching about (see below), another box is solid faint pink and has the bunheads gathered in a frame around my handwritten note saying “Mom, good job. I turned out perfect.” and the third box is also a petal pink with wider open pattern of the bunheads and a quote in the center typed “Aways together, never apart, Maybe in distance but, never in heart.” Which I thought was a beautiful sentiment for all those who can't be with their loved ones, especially at this time, and after this difficult year. All the boxes have my artist statement on the bottom as well as mine and Woops! logos.

In addition to designing the macarons and the boxes, I also curated the boxes with my favorite flavors. You know I have quite the sweet tooth so I took this job very seriously taste testing all the flavors to find the very best for my favorites box! You can order my assorted curated favorites in a box of 9 or 18. To have them arrive by Mother's Day order's need to be placed no later than May 4th, and all orders ship free! I can't wait for you and your loved ones to try them!

2020's Work Wins

I don't typically do a year in review post but 2020 was not a typical year now it. I've been feeling pretty bad about myself for weeks/months leading up to the end of the year thinking about the lack of brand work, well any work if I'm being honest, that I had this year. Being that I primarily live sketch at events and there has been none for nearly 10 months, its been a tough year. Then I read something that said to think about your small wins and accomplishments because this was a tough year, one certainly like none other and you did it, you had those wins. It was like a mini Oprah-light bulb moment for me because I did have some wins! So without further ado I want to share my wins of 2020:

At the start of pandemic I felt helpless. I wanted to do something to giveback to the frontline healthcare heroes aside from donate where I could and 7pm clapping out the window. (Which honestly was nothing short of magical the first few weeks or so! It truly felt like the entire city erupted in applause.) So I started Our Frontline Figures and for weeks had my social media followers submit photos of frontline health heroes they knew. Each week I would choose one and live sketch them on Instagram live then send that person their custom illustration as thank for you all that they've done. It was without a doubt the most fulfilling thing I did all year, giving back to those doctors and nurses who have been risking their lives every day. I received the most heartfelt thank you notes, cards and emails from them that continually brought tears to my eyes.

I got BrookeHagel.com up and running! This was and still is a huge one for me. I have owned this domain name for probably over ten years without putting anything into it. Last year I finally started the site but was too scared/intimidated to figure out how to design it. But this year I finally took action! Its still by no means perfect, and theres SO much more I need to polish and add but its up and running with multiple pages like a bio, press page, books I've illustrated page, an FAQ page, a page with different ways to shop my work, which hopefully next year you'll be able to do directly on the site! Its getting there. And I'm proud of myself for finally making it happen because boy did I procrastinate this one!

Shortly after starting my website I also finally started my newsletter! Similar to the site, this is something I've wanted to do yearsss. As long as I've been blogging really. (which is almost 12 years!) And this year I made it happen and I'm SO proud of it! The overall look and feel reflects my brand vibe and aesthetic beautifully and I'm finally able to share directly with you guys straight to your inboxes! Which feels more intimate and special. You can subscribe here if you'd like to join in!

I had my first ever collection launch this year! In the past I've always just created individual products or prints, put them the shop and announced it. But this year I assembled a proper collection, marketed it and launched it all at one time, the Bunhead Ornament Collection. I'm so proud of how my little bunheads turned out. They're meticulously hand painted on handmade ceramic pieces, hung from raw silk ribbon and simply beautiful. A couple sold immediately upon the launch which was wonderful! Not all have sold out, but thats okay, as I can just hold onto them for next year as I plan to do a second collection in 2021.

This last one is not exactly (not at all) a work win, but its a life win, and one I think is worth the share because who knows who will read it and perhaps benefit from it. In August I rescued a cat and she's completely changed my life. At the risk of sounding like a witch here I was just never a animal lover. Never one of those people who ran to pet peoples dogs or ogled over a cat but this kitty has completely transformed me. I named her Pearl, because she's white (well she was, now she's turning a bit gray) and because I'm a pearl lover and love that its a granny name. I can't put into words how nice it is to have this cutie to play with, cuddle with and laugh at--because sometimes she's hilarious! She's completely taken me out of my what seems like years long funk. (without going to deep here.) Yes I have to feed her and change her litter, which I was hesitant about beforehand, but I love her so much that its just not so bad. I go out and I miss her! I even got a "Pearl cam" to spy on her! I've become one of those people!! And of course, if you know me, I've made her an Instagram, which you should all follow! The entire time I've been writing this post she's been curled up in my lap and I couldn't imagine my apartment or life without her in it anymore. My little Pearl girl has truly been a game changer and made 2020 and quarentine not so bad.

I hope you enjoyed reading about my small wins and maybe they inspired you in some way. I'd love to hear about your wins in the comments! Any pandemic pet adoptions? Product launches? Sign up for any classes or make it through a big book you didnt think you could tackle? I'm all about the small wins! Cheers everyone. I hope you have a happy and healthy new year and hopefully we'll all be celebrating small and big wins in 2021!

Burberry | Semi-Custom Fashion Illustrations

If you follow any of my social media you may have noticed over the past few months I've been working quite a bit with Burberry. I wanted to share one particular event we collaborated together on here on Fabulous Doodles. A few weeks ago I live-sketched semi-custom fashion illustrations at a private party for Burberry down in Washington DC. The party was the culmination of their annual general managers conference, where Burberry employees from across both North and South America gathered. Since Burberry has such a rich history and brand identity I suggested doing something a little different for this live-sketching event. Instead of full custom illustrations of each Burberry employee in the party outfits they were wearing as I normally do, I pre-draw fashion illustration bodies of Burberry beauties and beau's in the classic Burberry trench coat. They loved the idea and its exactly what I did!

I pre-drew a man and woman, both headless, and we pre-printed the illustration bodies on paper ready for their customized heads. Since all the party guests were proud Burberry employees and it was the culmination party of their conference, they were all ecstatic to have themselves drawn in a traditional Burberry trench! I have to say it was some of the warmest responses I've had at a private party in a while. Hugs, kisses, and tons of insta-love followed each semi-custom illustration!

I've only done this pre-printed body concept once before, for Viktor & Rolf where I illustrated four different couture looks from their collection and customized party guests heads atop them. Since I can spend time perfecting the illustration before hand, and not under the time crunch of party sketching it has such a nice outcome. And as I said, the guests and clients love it!

Similar posts to check out:

Dove Love Your Hair Sketching Event

Dove is a brand I've proudly used for as long as I can remember so I was excited when they asked me to live-sketch their Love Your Hair event this week. This event was kicking off their campaign to empower women to love their hair so I decided for very first time at a live-sketching event to wear my natural curls! This may not seam like a big deal but I was genuinely nervous about it and its turns out I'm not the only one who has been conditioned to feel this way about their hair. At the event there was a discussion panel of influencers and every single woman spoke about the pressure to straighten, smooth, cut or tame her hair to be "professional" or socially acceptable. After listening to the discussion, which immediately put me at ease with my choice to go naturally curly, the panels lone male influencer celebrity hairstylist Mark Townsend came right up to me to say he was eyeing my gorgeous curls throughout the whole talk and had to know how I achieved them! I know Dove is all about making a woman feel good in their own skin but this was crazy, I was on cloud nine.

Since the event was about loving your hair the team at Dove asked me for sketch concepts that truly focused on hair. I presented a few ideas and the one we agreed upon was to color and finish the hair in the illustration only. I still drew full fashion illustrations of each guests look for the day but only in pencil, then rendered the hair and only the hair in color. Another unique element to this event and these custom illustrations was that I also included the New York skyline as a background to reflect the event which was in the penthouse suite atop Nomo Soho with sweeping views of the city. To make the illustrations consistent, and in the interest of saving time, as I have to move very quickly when live-sketching parties, I printed and cut-out the skyline and made myself a stencil (shown above with the actual city skyline behind it.) Once I finished each fashion illustration I placed the stencil over it and added a contour of the skyline. The sketches came out great and both the guests and the Dove team were thrilled with them. Everyone loved not only their hair, but their hair sketches as well!

Shiseido Beauty Illustrations

I teamed up with Shiseido to create custom illustrations for "Light My Story," Shiseido's social media campaign. The concept was over a few months to share the Shiseido story through illustrations, photos and art by various luminaries and in return have people share moments from their lives, and they're stories. Shiseido is 140 year old company, with quite a rich history and scope. The theme of the illustrations I was asked to create were: behind the scenes of New York Fashion Week (show above,) a woman accessorizing with her pearls and pearl infused face cream, a chemist mixing new products, and a woman being pampered with a Shiseido facial.

The intention behind the woman depicted within this set of illustrations was to have her ethnicity appear to be half Caucasian and half Japanese as Shisedio is a Japanese brand rich in Japanese traditions. She's to reflect a strong, healthy, traditional and beautiful woman, not overly trendy or made up. I even had to remove some accessories and makeup from the sketches throughout the sketch phase of the custom illustration process.

Over the past few weeks these illustrations have been shared by Shiseido and today was the final one, the chemist (shown below.) It was a unique project to work on and I really enjoyed learning about their brand and trying some of their incredible products. I now use one daily actually, the Power Infusing Concentrate Serum. Its one step in the many steps of the Shiseido facial process (shown above,) which layers products and steps similar to a Japanese tea ceremony.

Hope you enjoyed these beauty illustrations as much as I enjoyed illustrating them. For similar posts you may have missed check out:

Illustrated Phone Cases Benefitting Breast Cancer Awareness Month

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and I'm thrilled that three of my illustrated phone cases have been selected for Casetify's Pretty in Pink collection in which 30% of the cost of each phone cover will go to the Susan G. Komen Foundation. The first pretty in pink design chosen from my phone shop is Reiley (shown above.) She's pretty and polished in oversized sunnies, a pale pink top, and a bold dalmatian printed skirt. I love the way this illustration looks with its clear backing against the new rose gold iPhones!

Charlotte (shown above) looking up in her tortoiseshell sunnies and loose pink maxi dress is the other fashion illustration case chosen for Breast Cancer Awareness month. And my Kiss Kiss design of lip prints (shown below.) This pattern was originally designed for a Vogue promotion I worked on last year. Since the design was so popular when that project ended I added it to the shop since everyone could use a few kisses in their day!

All three designs can be purchased for any phone model, not only iPhones and are available in any phone case design (with bumpers, without, simple snap-on, etc.) With all three of these designs 30% of the purchase will benefit the Susan G. Komen Foundation throughout this Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Hope you like my "pretty in pink" designs and hope to see plenty of photos of you sharing your purchase on social! My instagram is @brooklit and I can't tell you how much I LOVE seeing my #FabulousDoodles phone cases tagged within your pretty pix! I even on occasion regram them!

Live-Sketching Custom Fashion Illustrations for Figleaves

I recently spent a day at the Bryant Park Hotel sketching editors during the Figleaves.com spring 2014 press preview. The amazing team from Ann Magnin, Inc. presented the Figleaves spring collection of swimwear and lingerie to editors from top magazines and blogs throughout the day by appointment only. As a gift/favor, I was there to live-sketch them so each editor could take home a custom fashion illustration of themselves.

All the ladies were so chic and sketchable in their layered winter looks of leather, chunky knits, and cute short skirts with tights. It was great to chat with them as I sketched them, everyone was so excited about their custom illustrations which I suppose was a nice little surprise in the middle of their work day. Many of the editors even whipped out their phones (as shown above) and promptly shared their custom sketch with their social media followers!

All in all sketching at the NYC press preview for Figleaves.com, spending the day in a penthouse at the Bryant Park Hotel overlooking the Empire State Building and Bryant Park and its ice skaters, and meeting these fabulous women certainly made for a wonderful day of work for this illustrator.

For information about my live-sketching or to have me live-sketch at your corporate event or party you can email me at FabulousDoodles@gmail.com.

Custom Fashion Illustration Gifts: Neutrogena Beauty Bloggers

(©BrookeHagel Illustrations, top-to-bottom: Dovey Kim Cute and Mundane, Alexis Johnson Beauty Bender, Liesa Goins The Daily Glow)

Recently Neutrogena commissioned me to illustrate about twenty top beauty bloggers sketched with their favorite Neutrogena products. These custom fashion illustrations were a surprise gift sent to each of the beauty bloggers. Although I couldn't resist snapping a instagram when I finished I wasn't able to reveal the sketches and full details of the project until now, making sure all the women received their custom illustrations first.

(©BrookeHagel Illustration: Bridgette Duplantis The Not So Blog)

It was really fun to work on these beauty blogger illustrations. I wanted to capture their over look or style in a "quickie" illustration, similar to the ones I do when event-sketching although here I didn't have people watching me and I wasn't on such a time crunch. The sketches weren't meant to be fully rendered and polished, the goal was simply to capture each girl and have her holding her favorite Neutrogena product. (Which the Neutrogena team researched and provided me with beforehand.) I'm really happy with how the sketches came out and hope the beauty bloggers liked them as well. Many of the ladies have already tweeted and instagramed me thank yous and photos with their sketches, which is always a treat to see!

(©BrookeHagel Illustrations: Kathryn Romeyn Beauty Bender, Karen Monterichard Makeup and Beauty Blog)

Each original fashion illustration was rendered on 7"x9" white card stock, making them ideal for displaying on their own (as shown below,) on inspiration board, or framed.

(@BrookeHagel Illustration of Meredith Edwards-Cornwall Retrodivas Beauty)

If you'd like to commission a group of custom fashion illustrations to give to your clients, friends, bloggers or colleagues you can email me at FabulousDoodles@gmail.com for rates and information on group orders.

Beauty Illustrations {Vogue & Bobbi Brown}

The lovelies at Vogue Magazine reached out to me again about two weeks ago to create beauty fashion illustrations featuring Bobbi Brown Cosmetics new summer collection for a makeup event at Saks Fifth Avenue. They were open to creative input so I suggested something different, using tan craft paper as the background of the illustrations, putting the focus on the makeup and its bronzy colors. I sent this recent doodle I instagramed and this post as examples of what the artwork for this project could look like and they were on board and let me run with it.

I illustrated three different looks, the first and my personal favorite is "Beach Bronze Night" shown above. This look is all about a golden bronze eye and peachy pout. Since it's the evening look I gave her a sparkling drop earring and dark silky hair for dramatic contrast.

"Summer Bright" is next. This look called for a bold and bright passion fruit glossy lip, coral shimmer blush and sharp black ink eyeliner. As the bright day look I gave her a casual and fun side braid with a lavender hair tie and huge pout for that bold lip color.

The third look, "Beach Bronze Day" is the most natural of the group. It consists of a nude cheek tint, bronzed pink lip tint, and sandy gold eye shadows. I complimented this look with a white striped headscarf and bright green eyes. I tried to give each girl her own style and personality since Bobbi Brown is all about celebrating individuality.

(Top: Brooke Hagel, Saks 5th Avenue. Bottom: Bobbi Brown makeup artists with Vogue's Cara Crowley, Bobbi Brown display in Saks)

Walking into the Saks Fifth Avenue flagship store and seeing my sketches on display for Bobbi Brown and Vogue was quite the pinch-me moment. My illustrations were incorporated on displays in multiple areas of the first floor beauty department and seemed to be a huge hit both with the Bobbi Brown makeup artists, Vogue staffers, and event guests, who repeatedly posed for pictures with and alongside the illustration displays.

(Top: Beach Bronze Night Illustration by Brooke Hagel on display in Saks, Bobbi Brown Cosmetics. Bottom: Cara Crowley Instagram, Brooke and Cara.)

I'm so happy with how these illustrations came out and that Vogue and Bobbi Brown took a bit of chance and let me use the tan craft paper instead of standard white. This was a wonderful project to work on and certainly a proud moment having my illustrations on display in such an iconic institution as Saks Fifth Avenue.

Sociologie Wines {Fashion Illustration Wine Bottles}

This time last year I was contacted by the lovely creator of Sociologie Wine about illustrating some fashionable girls to compliment the flavors of her new wine collection. Lots of ideas were discussed and many emails, phone calls and pins exchanged. Well, I'm thrilled to say that it has been nearly one year and Sociologie Wines with Brooke Hagel illustrations on each bottle has launched and are now on store shelves nation wide!

These wine sipping fashion illustrations were such an enjoyable project and wonderful collaborative process. We discussed at length the flavor profiles of each wine and came up with personalities and social settings for each. We also decided to stylize the sketches by having the clothing and accessories fully rendered in color, which put more of the focus on the fashion while leaving the girl as a line drawn sketch, without any skin tone or hair color, to appeal to a wider variety of women regardless of ethnicity.

We collaborated on the outfits, colors, and overall look of each girl to enhance her unique flavor profile. Blushing Rose (personally my favorite Sociologie girl) is a light pink floral sangria, ideal for sipping throughout a party, perhaps a summer birthday soiree or afternoon shower. We put her in a party-ready flirty short pink dress, with delicate roses in her hair and gold accessories.

The Berry Red Sangria girl is little more risqué, she's a classic all-American girl but has edge. The kind of girl who see's a stunning gold sequined skirt and pairs it with a chambray shirt, chunky leather belt and her grandma Sally's pearls. And last but not least there's the wild White Citrus girl with her bright lemon yellow peplum dress, bold green bow heels and voluminous layers of textured curls.

These are the first three wines to launch the Sociologie brand but more are currently in the works and I can't wait to start sketching new girls for them. Its always a thrill to see my sketches on products but these have been particularly cool and exciting. It was such a pleasure to work with Amy of Sociologie, I'm so proud of the results and so excited for her and her growing business.

Branding Sketches for The Stylish One

Here are some fun new back-view head shots I illustrated for Boston based writer and wardrobe and bridal stylist Julie Digiovine of The Stylish One. Julie's previous branding included the back high bun, but although Julie is also a brunette, she told me she rarely ever wears her hair up. I wanted the artwork to resonate with her so I whipped up two rough sketches, one of her recognizable bun logo and another resembling her hair down, as she wears it. Well Julie liked them so much she decided to incorporate and trademark both fashion illustrations into her branding and site remodel!

Julie was absolute pleasure to work with, I wish all my custom client commissions were as easy breezy as working with The Stylish One.

Eva Mendes Sketches for Vogue Eyewear Party

A little over a week ago I flew to LA to live sketch at Vogue Eyewear's party celebrating Eva Mendes as the new face of their campaign. Before heading out west I sketched a bunch of fashion illustrations of Eva in various frames based off campaign shots that the lovely group at Luxottica, Vogue Eyewear's parent company, had sent me. I drew Eva in about six different eyewear looks, scanned the art and emailed them off to Luxottica in Milan and their PR company in New York. Then I crossed my fingers that all parties involved would like them.

Well, like them they did, because when I arrived at the event in Beverly Hills the space was filled with large framed prints of my illustrations. I even overheard some of the Luxottica ladies talking about shipping them back to Milan for their offices! Since Eva was hosting the soiree I decided to bring signed mini prints of the sketches for her, and was told she loved them too.

I'm still editing photo's of the event which I'll share later in the week, including some live-sketches I drew of the party guests and photo's of the sexy venue but in the mean time I wanted to post a few of my favorites of the beautiful Eva Mendes.

Dry Bar Hair Menu Sketches

Next week I'm heading out to LA to live sketch at a party in Beverly Hills. Since press will be there I was thinking I'd treat myself to nice blowout before the event so I called the hotel concierge to find out if they knew of a blow dry bar nearby. I know this sounds ridiculous but it reminded me that I have yet to share here the new hair menu sketches I was commissioned to illustrate for the Blo menu and site.

This new hair menu is quite different from the previous sketches I've worked on for them (both their first hair menu and the Barbie NYFW menu.) These are more stylized and sketchy and all have a similar stoic face, which was requested by the client. We went back and forth a bit on coloring effects and in the end they asked if their graphic designer could add in the splashes of color, which is something I've never had done before, as normally all my sketches are my hands only. I like how they came out though and its great to see them all finished and up on the Blo site. Their Beverly Hills locations not open yet, its coming soon, otherwise I'd be heading there this week to see the menu and get my hair blown.

Mommy Illustrations {A Baby Affair}

Moms, babys and kids don't come across my sketchbook too often (unlike my staple brides) so working on these sketches of mommies and their tiny tots for A Baby Affair was fun change. This illustration of a chic mom on-the-go with her bugaboo stroller is the main one chosen for web and branding, but for this luxury expo focused toward the modern mom and moms-to-be I sketched a whole bunch of moms and thier little ones. All the illustrations will be used on signage throughout the event but here's a peek at a few of my faves.

The best element of these illustrations, in my humble opinion, is the adorable little girl peeking out from behind her moms leg. I mean, a big pink skirt, wild curls, and patterned tights?! Cutie-pie perfection. For more information about this Washington D.C. luxury expos, you can click here: A Baby Affair or A Chic Affair for its bridal expo "sister" I feaured yesterday.

(Illustrations by Brooke Hagel)

Bridal Illustrations {A Chic Affair}

Recently I was commissioned by producers of luxry expos and events to sketch a handful of illustrations for two events coming soon to the Washington, D.C. area. The first one is A Chic Affair, a luxury bridal expo with the modern and savvy bride in mind. They chose this romantic and pouty bride as the face of the event, to use on thier site and all event branding.

I also drew an assortment of brides in varying gown silhouettes to be used on large banner artwork throughout the event space. Tomorrow I'll share some more illustrations for their sister expo focused on modern moms and their tiny tots.

(Illustrations by Brooke Hagel)

Custom Fashion Illustrations

Last year I had some wonderful fashion industry clients who commissioned custom illustrations for their business' branding and I thought I would share a few of my favorites from different categories; makeup, styling and fashion blogging.

First up is makeup artist Alexis Frank. She wanted a sketch representing herself at work doing makeup, in her favorite look of leather pants, a tank top, and stilettos, with layers of gold accessories and her tool belt of brushes. Alexis also asked me to create a business card design. I gave her a few options but in the end we went with this playful yet modern and clean font. I send her a referral link to moo, who I can't rave about enough for their fantastic card quality, and her new fashion illustrated cards were on their way.

This next fashion illustration is of Rebecca, an adorable magazine editor with a side business in personal styling. Her business is called LBD Stylist, so of corse her illustration is decked out in a chic little black dress, pointy toe heels, and a sparkling statement necklace, all inspired by Rebecca's favorite designers.

Last but certainly not least is sweet southern fashion blogger of Just Dandy and new e-boutique owner Danielle Downing of ShopDandy. Danielle was lovely to work with and knew exactly what she wanted with detailed pictures of hair, jewels, a pose and an exact shade of hot pink for the flouncy frock.

It was great working with each of these girls to create a fashion illustration that truly represented them, their style, and their businesses.

Anna Karenina Inspired Banana Republic

This week the Anna Karenina Collection debuts at Banana Republic and with it comes the release of these sketches of select looks from the line. You know I can't resist chic sketches and ones with costume design tie ins, well those practically guarantee a Fabulous Doodles feature. I've been looking forward to Anna Karenina ever since first seeing the trailer months ago. Being a epic period piece, the costumes and overall film design look spectacular and worth the movie ticket alone. This BR collection is actually curated by the film's costume designer Jacqueline Durran.

The sketches are extremely stylized and seem to be done in heavy-handed, quick and sketchy technique. They remind me of the prints that are occasionally displayed in stores like BR, Club Monaco and Ann Taylor. To check out the whole Anna Karenina collection click on over to Banana Republic. (Of corse the one piece I really wanted, the BR Monogram Wool Cape, seems to be sold out already!) At least I can enjoy the sketches for now and anticipate Banana's next collaboration another with Janie Bryant and Mad Men.

(Sketches by Simon Kneen, Creative Director of Banana Republic)

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