Antonio Lopez, the Illustrative Pioneer of the Fashion World

"In the world of illustration, his contribution is superior to the efforts of all other fashion artists of his era." —Karl Lagerfeld

Antonio Lopez is one of the greatest fashion illustrators that has ever lived. He is responsible for the freely flowing creativity that flows though illustration today. In the 60s, Lopez free-lanced for fashion magazines such as Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Elle, and Andy Warhol’s Interview, where his portraits of models Jerry Hall, Jessica Lange, and Grace Jones enhanced their careers. In 1964, Lopez introduced himself to couturier Charles James in a New York restaurant. That collaboration between the young artist and older master that would last more than ten years and produce an illustrated record of all the clothes James had ever designed.

In 1969, Lopez moved to Paris. With the help of Karl Lagerfeld, and their group of models and fashion personalities, they helped introduce American Pop Art to Paris. By the early 1970s, ANTONIO’S wor His constantly changing, flamboyant style came to dominate fashion illustration by injecting energy into a discipline that had been stagnant since the 1950s. Lopez’s career took him to Paris, Tokyo, Kyoto, Milan, and so on. Lopez pursued various art forms and endeavors. He worked in a variety of materials, including pencil, pen and ink, charcoal, watercolor, and Polaroid film, and also pursued jewelry design, conceptual designs (such as window displays for Fiorucci and Studio 54), graphic collaboration on Interview. "Antonio" was in demand around the world. Unfornately, he had pasted on in March of '87, due to complications with AIDS.