Drawing Fashion: The Art of Kenneth Paul Block

Kenneth Paul Block is one of the most influential fashion illustrators of the twentieth century. His childhood dream was “to draw glamorous ladies in beautiful clothes”. After graduating from Parsons School of Design, his first job was at the powerful “Women’s Wear Daily” in the 1950s, an association that lasted over thirty years and where Kenneth witnessed and recorded one of the most important periods in fashion history — the postwar shift as the exclusive world of couture transformed into pret-a-porter. Attending all the major fashion shows in Paris, London, and New York, Kenneth was the first one on the scene, drawing the latest style-setting clothes from such venerable houses as Balenciaga, Chanel, and Saint Laurent. He also documented the up and coming designers of the time, including Marc Jacobs, Perry Ellis, and Halston. He was well known in society, sketching Gloria Vanderbilt and the Duchess of Windsor. He reported on sensational parties in Palm Beach and New York attended by Babe Paley and Jackie Kennedy Onassis and created a unique archive of the era. “Drawing Fashion: The Art of Kenneth Paul Block” is the first monograph on the artist and brings together a lifetime of drawings, watercolours, and observations. Fashion illustration disappeared from publications as photography took over, giving added emphasis to this book as an important historical document. “Drawing Fashion”, designed by Shahid & Company, captures a critical moment in time when fashion, art, and commerce coincided.