Fashioning herself an illustrative career

STYLE & SUBSTANCE Gladys Perint Palmer may have studied fashion accidentally, but she has several feathers in her cap proving that she was cut out for the career, writes Bindu Gopal Rao

I draw, I write, I teach. I learned to draw from my mother and later at Saint Martin’s School of Art in London and Parsons School of Design in New York. When asked, how long it takes to do a drawing, the answer is, a lifetime. Sometimes seven minutes. I taught myself to write by reading. I write slowly. I rewrite over and over. Then edit some more. I love research. It is like being a detective. I am still learning, and look forward to new challenges, such as drawing live on camera, more books and exhibitions. – This is how Gladys Perint Palmer (GPP as she is known) describes herself on her website. Executive vice president of artistic development at San Francisco’s Academy of Art University, former director of the School of Fashion, Gladys is also a working journalist and illustrator.

Looking back

Gladys was recently in Bengaluru as part of a six-city tour where she hosted receptions and presented highlights from the University’s 22 schools of art and design. “I was born in Hungary, educated in England, went to St Martin’s (as it was called then) to study dress design and Parsons in New York for fashion illustration for a year. At high school, I was always drawing in my exercise books and was always in trouble. ‘Gladys Perint stop scribbling’, was something my teachers always said,” she reminisces. However, she happened to get into fashion illustration accidentally.

“I was heading for illustration at St Martin’s. At the end of our foundation year, in July, we chose our disciplines. An instructor told us, ‘You are all professional illustrators, I expect you back in September with sketchbooks filled with work.’ It was an unusually beautiful summer, we all went to the beach and none of us did a stroke of work. We did not dare return to illustration and went into fashion. It was the best thing that could have happened to me. I met my mentor Muriel Pemberton (who invented fashion education) and Elizabeth Suter, who taught me how to draw,” Gladys says. 

It was a journey that really never had a looking back. In 1998, The Fashion Book (Phaidon Press) named her as one of 500 people of influence in fashion since 1860 (Yes, you read that right). In 2007, she was honoured as one of 150 creative forces invited to participate in the Victoria & Albert Museum’s 150th Anniversary Album, as well as the corresponding exhibition.

Career matters

She was at the helm of Academy of Art University’s School of Fashion for 19 years and under her direction, the student body grew tenfold. In fact, her illustrations were used on banners and in promotional materials for Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York City for both, the Fall 2011 and Spring 2012 seasons. 

Her editorial work has appeared in numerous publications including The New York Times, The Washington Post, UK Sunday Times, The New Yorker, and Vogue. Her advertising clients have included Chanel, Christian Dior, Fendi, Missoni, Versace, and Valentino. In 2004, Fashion People (Assouline), her book of drawings and irreverent captions, was published and has since sold out. Her third book, Adam & Yves (Firefall Media), was published in June 2014.

“During my year at Parsons, I went to see the art director at Harper’s Bazaar and I was assigned nine pages of drawings. One of my classmates reported me to IRS as I only had a student visa. Returning to London, my first job was a cover for Vogue.

In the US, I was fashion editor of the Hearst flagship, SF Examiner; I was hired as director of fashion at the Academy of Art University - and continued to freelance for numerous publications (which I still do). On August 1, 2014, I was appointed executive VP for artistic development at the Academy of Art University, to represent 23 departments,” she explains. And she admits that while she had to work very hard, it hardly mattered since she loves working. 

In 2006, Mayor Gavin Newsom declared May 24 to be Gladys Perint Palmer Day in San Francisco. Japanese fashion designer Issey Miyake has bought several of her drawings for his foundation in Tokyo. And these are just some of the milestones in her illustrative career. “I met Gianni Versace at Linate airport and he asked me, ‘Gladys! Would you like to draw my houses,’” she exclaims. Incidentally, the book, Do Not Disturb has 18 pages of drawings of his houses in Milano and Como. 

“I come from a family of artists, doctors and musicians. I like winter sports (skiing and skating) because there is no sweat. I have two sons, Tim Palmer who is a DoP (Director of Photography - shoots films) and Barnaby Palmer who is a conductor in China,” she says when quizzed on what she does in her free time. Her advice to young women who are about to start their career is simple, “Work, work and work. Follow your gut!” And as far as the future is concerned, she says, “Who knows? More books, more travel, more of art”.