Artist Jessica Bartram first showed her watercolour portraits of Notable Victorians (all of whom happened to be animals) at Industrees Gallery (now defunct) last year. She is currently creating portraits of a fresh set of characters and searching for a new gallery, but she kindly contributed a few designs of ascot-wearing lions for WORN’s Pin Party. Whether they are members of high society or the Dickensian fishmongers, chimney sweeps or strumpets of the streets, her characters are always fabulously dressed.

Clothing and props play a significant role in the establishment of character in your work. Do you get as much inspiration from hats, ties and monocles as you do from animals?
Yes, I’m most definitely attracted to the ornate and slightly mad elements of Victorian fashion – the crazy hats adorned with whole taxidermied birds, the mammoth sleeves, bustles. It’s a rich field from which to harvest all kinds of inspiration! I’m always trolling Flickr, Google images, and Tumblr old photos to use as reference, and it’s inevitably the crazier outfits that catch my eye. There’s a printout on my bulletin board of a portrait of a lady wearing a striped silk dress (with a tightly cinched waist sash and enormous mutton-leg sleeves) and a heavily feathered hat – she’s probably my next dress reference.

Why the Victorian era?
I think that element of my work was born when I started drawing animals (mostly bears at first) in clothing - particularly suits. When I searched for reference images, all my favourite suits dated from the 1900’s, and from there I started to look at dresses, and the rest, well, it’s actually history. Once my creatures found themselves in the Victorian era, the stories I’d always made up for the things I drew began to take on an additional dimension. I applied some of the amusing formality of the literature of the time to my characters’ histories, as well as attempting to add in quasi-Wildean wit. Oh! And the project on which I’m currently working has the same atmosphere because I recently began reading about Barnum’s American Museum (historical fiction like Susan Swan’s The Biggest Modern Woman of the World was a rich source of inspiration) and the culture of circuses and freak shows and became completely obsessed with the idea of creating my own history of an imaginary Victorian freak show.

You’ve written life stories for your imaginary subjects. How much do they exist off the paper for you?
I started inventing stories as soon as I was able to form coherent thought – I had an impressive herd of My Little Ponies when I was little, and each one had a name, a profession, and its own family dramas, which progressed each time they emerged from their storage box to continue the pony saga. Some of the adventures they had were quite exciting and involved rescuing silly Barbie dolls, who inevitably got themselves captured by whichever stuffed animal was playing the villain. Though I eventually quit playing with plastic ponies, I continued to invent tales about characters, both written and drawn. With my current creatures, I write their life stories after they’re painted, and their ‘life’ off the page depends on what story gets stirred up when I look at the finished piece. Some animals exude a definite history, or remind me of a character from the era. On the flip side there are the poor critters whose faces fail to spark a story and it’s ever so difficult to get something written for them. My current batch of characters are shaping up to have the most extensive stories yet, and they follow me around everyday life, suggesting new facets of their lives even when I’m not trying to think of them.

What did you wear in high school?
Ugh. For my first two years I dressed in dull jeans-and-shirts combos, often with shirts that were just a little too short in this awkward way, which, judging from all the later episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer I’ve been re-watching, was the trend. But still, unfortunate. Grade 11 was the worst – I decided that wearing skater shorts, striped knee-socks and t-shirts from crappy bands was the best way to dress. Thankfully not all the time, but I wince at my brief pop-punk phase nevertheless. The only highlight of my sad high school fashion was my prom dress – I based it on medieval dress and created the pattern and sewed it by hand, which was pretty damn awesome.

With neither cost nor society’s approval a deterrent, describe your fantasy wardrobe.
Oh goodness. I think a lot of my personal style is influenced by pretty colours or shiny things that catch my eye. I recently purchased a ridiculous pair of lovely, shiny gold shoes, confirming that I’m basically a magpie. But the more I immerse myself in Victorian photos and illustration, the more I want to design a dress with a subtle bustle, wear it everywhere and see how people react. I mean, they’re awesome and they provide padding if you have to sit on uncomfortable plastic airport chairs or something. Beyond that, if I had all the money I wanted to spend on my wardrobe, I’d frequent Anthropologie far more regularly (such pretty things), purchase a few Alexander McQueen pieces (especially the yellow and black dress Drew Barrymore wore at the TIFF premiere of Whip It. That dress haunts my dreams, I love it so). I’d also have a collection of sexy corsets and dresses from various decades – 1900’s all the way to the early 60’s (think Mad Men and Joan Holloway and va-va-voominess). Yeah, vintage clothing would definitely be a focus, as most of the stuff I really love is out of my price range right now.

Jessica’s Top 5 Late Fashion Icons

*Victorian Ladies and their Fantabulous dresses

*Women on beaches in the 20’s and 30’s Alright, some of them could easily be alive, but I stick by my answer nevertheless. Swimsuits then were gorgeous and also sometimes quite jaunty.

*Alexander MacQueen He used antlers as an accessory in a runway show, which is definitely one of the many ways to gain my unending affection.

*Louise Brooks

*This one’s a deadly combination of attitude and style – the indomitable Katharine Hepburn

interview by Max Mosher
photography by Deua Medeiros

Jacqueline Bos’s illustrations are a mishmash of prints, doodles, colours, and inky patterns. The resulting images are eclectic, vibrant and totally one of a kind. A regular Worn contributor, Jacqueline illustrated the haikus in our most recent Shoe issue (which were mistakenly credited as being done by a different editor — our sincerest apologies, Jacqueline!). Interview by Anna Fitz.

Where did your interest in art begin?
I’ve been drawing and making things for as long as I can remember; I always liked having pens and sharp pencils around growing up.

What are your favourite things to draw?
Imaginary lands, myths or mini stories, patterns, and silly animals. I am really drawn to things that have a fairy tale quality to them, but I think you can bring a whimsical nature into many different situations.

Your fashion illustrations are quite unconventional — a collage of cut-out pictures and your own illustrations. Can you describe your creative process a bit? Do you tend to do the drawings first or work around the images you find?
Those were created extra special just for Worn — fun, huh? For those, since they are primarily collage, I started with all the textures, and pieced together a figure type form, and then went from there, though usually I let them build a bit more organically, switching back and forth between paper and ink. I love being able to pull textures and patterns to create the fashion illustrations, though when I work with a particular designer or line, I like to work primarily with drawing and just use collage to add a little drama to them.

If time and money weren’t a concern, what would be your ideal artistic project?
I think my dream project would be to collaborate with Erin Fetherston, the designer, to create textile patterns and crazy lookbooks. Her work is so reminiscent of fairy tales and has almost a dreamlike quality to it. I would just fly through the roof to get to merge my illustrations with her creations.

What’s your clothing style like? Do you feel this is reflected through your artwork?
I dress according to my mood. I love girly dresses when I dress up, but most of the time I’m a little more low key, simple. I always add either earrings or a necklace to spice it up. I think my clothing choices and illustrations kind of feed off of each other; I definitely go through phases with both.

Jacqueline’s favourite illustrators:

Martina Witte - She makes beautiful drawings that are so perfectly her. She is one of the first illustrators I ever saw work from, and she definitely had a role in why I became one.
Ralph Steadman - Because his work is just awesome, and he published a book as written by his cat.
Julia Pott - She is a young illustrator and animator from the UK. I had the great pleasure of meeting her this summer; she is such a nice person and her work is amazing, full of wit and beautifully drawn.
Carolyn Alexander - She makes the funniest snarky illustrations of people; they always make me giggle uncontrollably.
Daniel Egneus is just plain amazing. I love the dark quality of his illustrations, and their almost spooky character.

Audrey Malo is a Quebec-based artist who sells her work in her etsy store, Cendrille. The girls she depicts in her paintings are sometimes melancholic but always well dressed; they manage to be sweet without being saccharine.

How do you decide what the girls in your drawings will wear? Do they reflect your own style?
I don’t really plan anything when I draw, it is mostly intuitive. Once the face is traced, I just sketch something that looks cute and that feels right with the personality of my character. I’ve been told my girls look like me and I think this is a bit true, they wear what I’d like to wear every day. We share a common interest for dresses, bows, hearts and red lipstick!

How did you dress when you were a girl?
I had two distinct phases when I was young: from kindergarten to age 8, I was really into princess dresses and would always wear extravagant puffy-sleeved floral dresses in class pictures. Ponytails and bows in my hair too. Then, at 9, I started wearing glasses and got braces so I didn’t feel really cute. I was just wearing what was “in” at the time - jeans and brightly coloured t-shirts, and tennis shoes. Basically my mom would help me dress up until I was about 11. Then in high school I was a goth, but that’s another story.

What are your favourite artistic mediums? Are there any out there you have yet to try but you would like to?
I’ve been painting with opaque watercolours for a while now and this is most definitely my favourite, as the colour always comes out very bright and dries fast. I’d love to try inks — as well as be taught how to do it properly!

The “Mes Bons Amis” series is very cool, and a bit of a departure from the pretty girls you tend to draw — can you tell me a bit about how those came to be?
They just popped into my head all of the sudden and I drew them really fast, all one afternoon. As much as I love girly nice things, I have a dark sense of humour, and I wanted to make a series with characters that were funny and not typically pretty like my usual girls. I have a vivid imagination but sometimes I forget that I could use my work to depict a story, which I should do more often!

Tell me a little about your process. From where do you draw inspiration?
I don’t really have a process. Drawing is something I’ve done my whole life, so this comes naturally to me. Only now I’m trying to draw every day, mostly in the afternoon while watching TV. Clothes have always inspired me and always will, as well as people who are creative in every aspect of their lives. I want to be like them. I think a lot of people like me can say that flickr is a great provider of inspiration from all around the world !

Interview by Anna Fitz

Kate Wilson is a London-based illustrator who, on top of depicting the typical Prada bag will also add her own elements, like birds with mullets and the anatomy of a banana split. Her clients have included Marc Jacobs and The Guardian.

How do you decide what your girls will wear?
I think a little of my own style creeps into theirs! I suppose my own likes/dislikes influence my work, but I also get a lot of inspiration from street style and fashion blogs as well as walking around and people-watching myself (it’s a guilty pleasure for me!).

Many of your illustrations are based on actual fashion collections; what are some of your favourite collections?
I love anything by designers like Luella and Karen Walker, but also quirky labels like April77, Wren, and Charles Anastase. I’ve recently been trying to buy more vintage pieces and have indulged in a great brocade skirt from Liebemarlene Vintage, who I think you featured a while ago.

Have you ever incorporated your own designs into your drawings?
I haven’t as of yet but it’s something I would love to do, probably starting with t-shirt designs, but I think it’s time I learned how to sew properly so I can whip up my own designs!

Usually your fashion illustrations focus on the clothes, often leaving the faces of the models blank, but occasionally you will go into detail on their faces (like this example here). Why is that?
To be honest, at first it was because I found it really tricky to get their faces to look right! For some reason whenever I drew a face it made me dislike the drawing… but as I went on I grew to like the spacing that it gave the images. It offsets the intricate detail I normally use by having that blank space. I hope that covers up my inability to draw faces properly.

The pictures you did of the birds with the shoes are great; can you tell me a bit about how those came to be?
I think it was a mutual love of both things… for some reason it made sense to me for a bird to set up home in a pretty Marc Jacobs ballerina pump! I think that was the first bird/shoe pic I did, which was for my final university degree project.

Your outfit illustrations don’t usually include any shoes, although you do have quite a few detailed illustrations of individual shoes on your site. Do you tend to envision shoes as being part of an outfit, or have you always seen them to be more subjects within themselves?
Personally I think shoes make an outfit. I’m partial to a nice brogue due to my inability to walk without falling over in heels! In terms of drawing, like the faces, I like leaving those blank areas but I take great pleasure in drawing a really detailed close up of a shoe. I think it’s all of the little details on a shoe that people often don’t notice that I like to emphasize. I’m all about the little details!

interview by Anna Fitz