Ever since joining Instagram, a whole new world of pretty things has been opened up before me – and one of my favourite discoveries has been the work of Miss Magpie Fashion Spy, aka UK fashion illustrator Niki Groom.
This type of drawing is everything that is totally up my street – my trademark favourite watercolour-esque sketchy style (see here… and here!), cute girls, gorgeous dresses and beautiful details peeking out of every corner.
These limited edition prints are available to buy from Miss Magpie Fashion Spy’s website and feature her signature heart-cheeked lovelies hanging out in British cities, which handily alliterate with the cool designer threads they’re clad in. As a Nottingham girl, my favourite has to be the one based around a dress by Nottingham designer Paul Smith – I just love the pastel palette, pretty floral print and quirky townhouses of Portobello Road in the background. Not far behind is that swoon-worthy Chanel jacket in a Clifton Village scene spilling over with bountiful blooms (and that outfit… soooo chic, dahling!).
I’m also slightly obsessed with the red dresses in the Baristas Of Bristol and Bristol Harbourside drawings – can these find their way into my wardrobe, please?! And that’s not forgetting the whimsical hot air balloons billowing their way across the Chloe at Clifton Suspension Bridge picture, the iconic London landscape in the Vivienne Westwood at Westminster drawing, the street-chic style of Sass & Bide and Stella McCartney… ugh, they’re all just too wonderful to choose! [Remember to click on the pics for enlarged versions, so you can check out all the stunning details.]
If you love this artwork as much as I do, then I highly recommend you check out Miss Magpie Fashion Spy on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram – she posts pictures of her work all the time, and they are all equally adorable! The pictures I’ve posted are slightly more finessed as they’re wall-worthy art print, but she shows plenty of drawings in a vivid rough-and-ready style, with doodles done on the fly. Groome does amazing illustrations of outfits from the catwalk or fashion press days that make me covet the goods far more than any boring product shots just slapped on a website!
As someone whose artistic pinnacle is a stick man (with a face if you’re lucky!), it’s simply amazing to see Groome’s drawings come together and burst with such life and vitality in just a few swishes of the pencil – she takes commissions where she just sits, draws and reacts to whatever is happening around her, or will spot, hear or tweet something that inspires her to draw!
My feelings for the work of Miss Magpie Fashion Spy can be aptly summed up by her drawing above… I think you’ll agree this is one artist well worth keeping your spyyyyy on! *groan*
All photos from Miss Magpie Fashion Spy’s website
Through The Looking Glass 
Thanks for sharing about fashion tips. I hope keep posting.