Unquiet Bloom

“Her girls are lush of lip and sharp of hip: always elegant, delicate and somewhat haughty. Like the high fashion models sashaying along the runways or posing in the fashion magazines that influence her work, Pippa McManus’ girls have that otherworldly beauty that makes you capable of staring at them for hours. Her signature illustrations combine bright pops of colour, soft charcoal lines, splashes of spray paint and artfully dripped acrylics.” -Journalist, Mel Hearse.

Pippa McManus is an illustrious Australian fashion illustrator whose distinctive work has been shown around the world.

At once mesmerising and whimsical, Pippa’s illustrations are steeped in otherworldly beauty. She spins charcoal, acrylic and spray paint into imagined, intense figures that are festooned with flowers, fabulous fashion and dazzling jewels.

Pippa has been working as an illustrator for over two decades. After studying fine arts before moving over to the fashion and textile design course in Perth, WA, she found her niche in fashion illustration – and she has never looked back. 
 
In 2012, Pippa won an international illustration competition held by London-based designer Mary Katrantzou (the prize was tickets to London Fashion Week – be still, Pip’s fashion-loving heart!). After this, she came home to Perth and settled into commercial work with Scoop Magazine. For two years, she illustrated for teen publication Girlfriend; more recently, her work has featured in art and illustration books, including the cover of Somer Flaherty Tejwani’s The Art of Fashion Illustration.

Pippa held her first national solo show, Gypset, at Friends of Leon gallery in Sydney in 2014. The exhibition celebrated inclusivity, with a nod to traditional Moroccan, Spanish and Indian garb. All thirty intricate paintings—produced over eight months as part of a prolific year in which she created 93 works—sold out.

Since then, her work has been exhibited in galleries and exhibitions around the world, reaching international audiences and collectors. Today, Pippa’s work is found in public and private collections and murals throughout Perth. Alongside her studio practice, she is a permanent lecturer of illustration at North Metropolitan TAFE and works at the Art Gallery of Western Australia and is a highly respected figure in both the fashion and art worlds.