Illustration Meets Fashion: Margot Bowman

Margot Bowman is the multifaceted creative type. A Central Saint Martins alum under the Graphic Design program, labels can't constrain the limits of her work. To give an idea, her eponymous website features a drop-down category entitled MEDIUM. There are 24 different options, ranging from animation to watercolors to DJing.

Unlike the modern names who are never satiated by one rigid occupation and seek a multitude of ventures to satisfy their artistic and entrepreneurial hungers, Bowman applies her distinct aesthetic across the board. Each of her chosen mediums are simply other means with which she can perpetuate her visions. They are siblings, rather than acquaintances - siblings who each speak in a unique tongue.

Blessed with a natural talent for illustration, Bowman is best known for her work as an artist. Her work is colorful and imaginative, evoking a sort of grown-up fairytale vibe, an alternate world populated by fantastical creatures where the subconscious meddles with reality.

Don't Let Me Down (2012)
Mixed media on paper

Not far behind is the point where illustration meets fashion.

Bowman is the creative director of The Estethetica Review, a biannual publication focused on ethical fashion that was founded by the British Fashion Council. She has created live fashion illustrations for Topshop, in-store artwork for Urban Outfitters, and currently creates fashion illustrations for AnOther Magazine.

Valentine's Day card for jewelry brand Mawi

An illustration created for AnOther Magazine

Naturally, these initial escapades paved the way for a foray into fashion design.
Her capsule collection, Albion 2080, consists of hand-painted vintage pieces meant to explore British national identity. The clothes were created incorporating the idea of future: the year 2080, where resources are limited and the world returns to a simpler, almost tribal existence.
The red, white and blue pieces are youthfully urban with infectious optimism. This is color used not solely for its own sake, but as a patriotic mechanism. And what better timing than during the 2012 London Olympics?

Albion 2080 is for the British women of the future, where individuality is expressed by painting on salvaged clothes.

The dark, quasi-dystopian emotion of Bowman's designs is a far departure from her more cheerful illustrations. But it is a progression rather than a change; Bowman describes the use of unique mediums as akin to learning different languages.

While she has demonstrated her fluency in a plethora of forms, with clothing she is still seeking to discover her accent. The resulting journey brings with it a stunning interpretation of her signature style that creates further multidimensionality for an artist who already has many talents. Albion 2080 is a rather new experiment, but it is one that will be exciting to watch. Hopefully Bowman will be eager to expand her involvement with fashion design; the citizens of 2080 will thank her.

The Albion 2080 collection is available for purchase at NOT JUST A LABEL.

For more information about the artist and her work, visit margotbowman.com.

All images from margotbowman.com and belong to Margot Bowman