It’s no small thing to be a lifelong fan of haute couture and then to suddenly be in the company of industry royalty. But that’s exactly where fashion illustrator Blair Breitenstein found herself, back in September 2014, during New York Fashion Week, when slightly star-struck and armed only with a sketchpad and her trusty black ballpoint pens, she was rubbing elbows with designers, editors, and style icons at the Oscar de la Renta runway show. A mere two years before, she had been living in Seattle, working a relatively staid gig at an online advertising agency, and drawing only in her spare time. Today, she is one of an elite cadre of exciting, new illustrators who’ve breathed life into some of fashion’s greatest institutions, like Prada, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Christian Louboutin. Her illustration aesthetic is singular in the industry—a highly stylized expressionist take on contemporary high fashion—and now thanks to her Instagram account, highly sought after, too. “When I moved to New York last March, everything changed: I went from drawing for fun to drawing as a fulltime career,” she says. “My mom encouraged me to take the leap, and it has changed my style and my life.” —Jennifer Henderson
Name: Blair Breitenstein
Occupation: Fashion illustrator. “I took some formal art classes in school, but I found my style by consistently experimenting. I would screen shot anything I was intrigued by. I would take bits I liked and combine them with other bits I liked: big eyes from one model paired with the quirky brows from another. I started to fuse all of my favorite features into one girl—I never copied what I saw exactly, because where is the creativity in that?—which sometimes created disproportional women, but I liked what I saw.”
To the manor born: “My grandma is very chic. She’s always had subscriptions to W and Town & Country, and I was only seven years old when I started flipping through them. I hoarded her old copies. And my grandpa was an amazing painter and a former animator at Disney. The combination of the two left me super affected.”
Her path to fashion: “My major in college was Communications and Advertising, however I used every spare minute of my time to draw and follow fashion. I never planned on working in fashion because I didn’t think I had enough formal experience. And although I can’t say that where I am today is a complete accident, it was something I had always dreamt of but seemed completely unrealistic.”
Her work ethic: “Passionate and persistent. Everything I do in work is driven by passion. I sometimes wish I was a little less passionate and a little more cautious.”
Her secret to success: “Confidence. You have to believe in yourself and what you do for others to believe in what you do. Persistence is also very important. You will get rejected sometimes; don’t let it stop you.”
Her personal style: “Preppy meets edgy. I love a classic cashmere sweater with platform sneakers, or a collared button-down with leather leggings. My everyday look is a white T, jeans, and a fun jacket: colored suede, leather, embroidered, bomber, moto, trench, you name it.”
Her must-haves: “The MoMA and the Strand Book store. Eyelash tinting at Benefit. American Apparel’s Disco Pant in black. Prada Saffiano leather camera bag (a teeny, tiny crossbody bag perfect for going out because it only fits the essentials). Instagram. Hot yoga and iced coffee. Reusable tote bags. Tombow Markers, Caran d’Ache Neocolor pastels, and black ballpoint pens.”
On beauty: “I feel most beautiful when I am physically comfortable.”
Going social: “Social media is responsible for my career. I started posting my drawings on Tumblr, in 2010. It was a great way to archive my sketches and I really enjoyed the process of building this library. My account wasn’t private, so I organically started gaining followers and fans, which slowly built my confidence as an artist. Then I started using while simultaneously realizing the power of tagging. Soon my social strategy started paying off and I was getting commissioned work from beauty brands and magazines.”
Medium of choice: “Nothing even comes close to my love for Instagram, and I have so many favorite feeds like , , , , , , and .”
Inspired by: “The 1960s and 1970s. I am very influenced by Brigitte Bardot. I love Helmut Newton and Guy Bourdin. I draw inspiration from Matisse and Egon Schiele. I adore the models Gemma Ward, Daphne Groeneveld, Sasha Pivovara, Anna Ewers, and Lara Stone, and I love to ‘steal’ their exaggerated features.”
Words to live by: “You never know until you try.”
Obsessed with: “Yoga. I love to watch documentaries. And I visit museums and galleries all the time; I’m lucky that I can go during the weekdays when they are less crowded. I also love to be outdoors; I go to the park almost daily; I ski and hike, and I learned how to surf this summer in Rockaway.”
Her magic moment: “I have always loved Oscar de la Renta and often posted drawings of his Oscar gowns. The former S.V.P. of Oscar de la Renta loved my work so much that she invited me to the Spring/Summer 2015 show, and suddenly I found myself in the same room as Oscar and Anna Wintour. I was beside myself, really on the verge of tears. Without Instagram, that never would have happened. The exposure that social media provides is priceless.”
What’s next: “I have a jewelry and clothing collaboration launching this summer. I am so excited to see all of the finished product.”