Michelle Fashion Illustration: looks

Using traditional techniques, Kerstin starts with a pencil sketch that is worked up with coloured crayons, markers, and indian ink.

The computer is only employed when considering backgrounds. She confesses that she is not a "one-shot" worker and takes considerable time developing the initial sketch and paying attention to details, before arriving at the final illustration.

Kerstin's figures stride across the page with the confidence of people that know their own mind. There is real drive in these stretched silhouettes. Her fragile females are birdlike in appearance, with stalk-like legs that contradict human anatomy. This graphic stylization has affinities with Alberto Giacometti's emaciated sculpting of the human body. The constant pull toward consumerism in today's culture is characterized by the addition of overstated,

gaily coloured bags. These inflated artifacts have become an essential trapping of the profile of contemporary dress. They are no longer just practical accessories, but represent the spoils of retail warfare and are touted like banners proclaiming these women as the victors of the fight.