Artist turned designer turned fashion illustrator, Richard Haines mesmerizes fans with his street fashion and front row sketches. Find out what he had to say when we caught up with him recently.
Tell us a bit about your Fashion background.
I’ve always loved fashion from when I was a kid. But back then, I didn’t really know how to access fashion, because there was no internet. It was a completely different world. So originally, I wanted to be an artist, and when I moved to New York to be a fashion illustrator, there really wasn’t much happening there. So I spent most of my career as a designer. 5 years ago, I started a blog drawing people on the street and then my career changed completely; so that led me to be an illustrator.
So now, it’s kind of a combination of drawing fashion. So, I use what I learned as a fashion designer and I can use what I love to do as an artist. So for me it’s the best of both worlds.
Who are your greatest influences?
My influences are everything from my father who when I was a kid was an officer in the navy, coming home every day with these amazing uniforms with gold braid, gold buttons, deep navy blue and they were very elegant and very kind of powerful and I think that really informed my learning about the power of clothing and power of menswear. So of course my father, my parents.. hm.. When I was a kid, the first time I saw the work of Toulouse-Lautrec, I was obsessed with his idea of making art and making them into posters.
Do you have a favourite type of face (characteristics) to sketch?
And even just walking down the street, up New York, I just find so many incredible people. Not necessarily, they don’t have to be fashionable but, just I see so many different kinds of faces and different shapes. And that really excites me every day. I mean it’s one reason why I live here and why I stay here, because there’s always that kind of inspirations on the streets.
