Proportions of the Fashion Figure In fashion, the term croquis refers to a sketch of a figure on which clothing will later be placed. Unlike the human form, which is eight heads tall, the fashion figure (both male and female) is nine heads tall or taller. Female Croquis Proportions In the female croquis, the 9th head is added to the length of the legs, specifically the feet, which always appear as if they are in high-heels. The female croquis is high-waisted, with narrow hips, broad, square shoulders, and is often drawn in a contrapposto pose (one hip up and one shoulder down) as seen in the figure on the right.

Male Croquis Proportions The male croquis still takes on 9 heads, but unlike its female counterpart, there is less distortion. The body is elongated proportionally and the pelvis remains at the vertical center. The legs however, are thin and show no muscle tone unlike the upper body.

Fashion Illustration Examples If more than one croquis is used when presenting a collection, like in the Alexander McQueen collection, each croquis is drawn with the exact proportions (height, bust-line, waist-line, hip-line), so that the change in proportion of each garment is clear to the viewer. For consistency, the same croquis is often reused when drawing each garment like in the Jason Wu collection.

Fashion Illustrations by Alexander McQueen

Fashion Illustrations by Jason Wu

Homework: Photomontage Composite your fashion illustration back into your neighborhood of inspiration in order to envision how your garment will appear in your final editorial photo shoot. To begin, photograph your fashion illustration in bright natural light. Then select two photos from your neighborhood research that could act as potential environments in which you envision your editorial photo shoot taking place. Open your neighborhood photos in Photoshop and size them to roughly 16 inches x 10 inches (portrait or landscape). Open your fashion illustration image in Photoshop and copy and paste your illustrations (back and front view) onto a new layer in your neighborhood photo. Then remove the white background around your figures using the Magnetic Lasso, Magnetic Wand and/or Quick Selection Tools. Scale your figures so that they fit into the foreground of the environment. Save your document as a .PSD file.

Example photomontages