Live Sketching of Street Style Looks At London Fashion Week 2026

This week I did something far out of my comfort zone. I invited myself to London Fashion Week to do live sketching of street style looks at 180 The Strand.

I invited another illustrator friend along (Whimsy Illustrations) and together we waited on the street outside the catwalk venues to capture fashion show guests with fabulous looks.

We approached influencers, models, creative directors and more and the majority of them were really happy to have their portrait sketched in just a few minutes.

I didn’t work with watercolours as it was too fiddly to paint standing up, so I took a selection of coloured pencils (Caran D’Ache Supracolour') and brush pens (Tombow). My usual live illustration style at weddings and brand events is starting with a light pencil sketch, adding details with a Unipin fineliner and finishing with flourishes of watercolour. But capturing street style looks had to be super spontaneous, so my technique was to sketch with a coloured pencil, and then add some splashes of colour with Pentel ink pens, or Tombow brush pens.

I also took a spiral bound Seawhite sketchbook with a thick hardback cover and 160gsm pages which could withstand my super fast sketching and inks.

Below are a few examples of the looks I captured on the day.