Figure drawing is not necessarily drawing a figure for fashion. There is a niche in visual art where fashion figure drawing could manifest itself as a self-sustainable, viable art form. Art by Rene Gruau or Erte is fashion themed, inspired by fashion and costume but is hardly limited by fashion.
Fashion figure drawing as a form of art is more tolerant of experimentation than more traditional fashion figure drawing, where strict limits are imposed by the fashion concept, the idea of the fashion product. In fashion figure drawing for art the drawing becomes the goal in itself.
Individual style and interpretation of the fashion drawing by artist is the focus of drawing fashion figure for art.
Fashion drawing is certainly a growing area of commercial art that is especially valuable for advertisement, packaging and promotion. But fashion figure drawing is not limited by commercial art only and is sometimes transformed into a contemporary figurative art form if created with inspiration and mastery of art.
Artists of Belle Epoch found inspiration in fashionable dress and elegant stylish gesture. This collage of paintings by Giovanni Boldini, Auguste Toulmouche, James Tissot, Jean Beraud and Alfred Stevens, visual artists who reflected the best of the fashion style of Belle Epoch, is an example of what could be called fashion inspiration in fine arts. Figure depicted in these paintings is precise and realistic. However it would be fair to say that style itself is the subject matter instead of a particular woman.
