Now, being a publishing title ourselves, we really shouldn’t be condoning an artist who has no regard for magazine covers. You see, British artist Hattie Stewart’s best known for ‘doodlebombing’ over the precious covers of titles such as Vogue, Interview and Dazed — RiRi or Taylor Swift, you’re never safe — but we’ll make the exception this time. Simply because they’re too darn hilarious.
Plus, it shows us a couple of things about her perspective on art; that it can be witty and daring, without taking itself too seriously.
Because who hasn’t done that at some point in their lives — deconstruct magazine pages to paste them in our scrapbooks and diaries, tore out pages, or put our liquid paper to good use creating things instead of erasing mistakes? Shoutout to those of us who used to actually collect print magazines (R.I.P).
For Hattie Stewart, what started out as a little passion eventually led to her becoming a full-time artist and illustrator, based in London, UK. Much of her current work involves brands engaging her to create her lighthearted personality-driven art as part of their creative campaigns — these big names include M.A.C, Apple Music, and now, Spanish clothing label BIMBA Y LOLA.
Think BIMBA Y LOLA and perhaps these next few words come to mind: fun, expressive, and tongue-in-cheek… which so happen to describe Hattie’s funky aesthetic style as well. So for this match made in heaven, we absolutely had to find out more.
You can tell by just her colour palette alone — her work’s energetic, youthful and contemporary, and often spans across different creative fields including music and fashion. She also loves using emoticons and psychedelic motifs in her illustrations; it’s as if the hippie era of the 70s met up with today’s text-obsessed millennial.
This time, the artist has designed five illustrations and produced a video to reflect the cheery nature of BIMBA Y LOLA’s #thisisSUMMEROFLOVE collection. It’s also based on the hottest bag drops we’ve seen from the brand: their Syrup Collection, in all their candy-coloured goodness.
This is a line that features light Italian leather in glossy finishes, across shades of bubblegum pink, bright red, and sunflower yellow. Instead of structured, stiff shapes though, the clutches, shopper bags and cross body styles come with just the right amount of wrinkles and folds that they look off-duty effortless.
On top of the campaign designs, Hattie has also come up with two sweatshirts, with her signature cartoon hearts and affectionally labelled ‘I LUV MOM’. Sweet or ironic (you know, for the mama’s boys), it’s totally up to you. Here’s what Hattie has to say about her visual feast of a collab:
How would you describe your artistic style? What do you usually get inspired by?
“I’m constantly changing up my ideas but the visual core is more or less always the same, which I think has helped to diversify the projects that come my way. I’m intrigued to see what my work will look like in 20, 30 years — I hope it’s completely different and that’s what makes it exciting for me.
Generally my style is tongue-in-cheek, playful and fun — it’s mostly me just messing around in my sketchbook, that’s where I’ll play around with different themes and concepts. If you look at my sketchbooks over the years, you can see the clear timeline of how my style has grown, changed and adapted from the the past to the present day. I’ll also at times go back to older ones for underdeveloped ideas that may work in the present, but generally my style comes from hard work, experimentation, practice and failure.”
What inspired this series of designs with Bimba Y Lola?
“It was mostly about bringing our worlds together in a super fun and playful way! Especially of course to make something cute for mama’s day — we knew right away how to make that work, considering my heart character is a key player in my style and well-loved! It came together seamlessly — the team was so much fun to work with and gave me a lot of freedom to be me, which can be rare when collaborating with brands, but is always very welcome.”
Which is your favourite item from the #thisisSUMMEROFLOVE collection?
“The “I love Mom” sweater because I love my mama.”
How do you feel about working together with Bimba Y Lola, and how do you think each aesthetic complements the other?
“Bimba Y Lola is one of my favourite brands so when they got in touch about working on their #summeroflove project I was thrilled — especially as they let me do my thing which is very rare! I felt the cheeky playfulness of my characters worked perfectly with the identity of the brand, so it was really of matter of consciously developing something that brought together 2 fun-loving styles. We totally understand each other and the team was an
absolute pleasure to work with.”
Do you have any Bimba item that you own and love?
“A few actually! I have a big blue fluffy clutch bag I actually use as a pencil case — it’s a personal favourite. I’ve been a fan for a number of years so I do have a few pieces. I love their printed scarves, the designs are beautiful.”
What’s your personal fashion style like?
“A bit of ‘whatever is to hand’ kinda vibe, I love XXXXXL t-shirts and dungarees. I’m all about comfort. If I’m too aware of an item, like uncomfortable shoes or jeans, it has to go… I like to feel like I’m naked.”
How do you feel about brands reaching out to artists for collaborations?
“I think it’s a great thing and there should be more of it — there is so much talent out there, why wouldn’t you?
Do share which other artists you’re obsessed with now!
“My studio buddies Sara Andreasson, Annu Kipelainen and Lynnie Z also Kay Davis, Jasmin Sehra, Artbaby Girl, Camille Walala, Manjit Thai, Polly Nor, Inji Seo, Lakwena, Stephanie Unger, Laura Callaghan, Egle Zvirblyte, Brie Moreno, Monica Kim Garza, Ram Han, Bijou Karman, Charlotte Mei, Rosanna Webster, Quentin Jones, Kate Moross and so, so, so many others…”
What are the 3 things you’d say to encourage young artists / future collaborators?
“Don’t get mad, get drawing / Live your truth / Allow yourself time to develop, learn and grow, who you are today won’t necessarily be who you are tomorrow.”
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