For decades, illustration was supplanted by photography, which perfectly met the needs of brands' marketing and communications departments, while art directors, models and expensively paid photographers devised beautiful editorials for consumers to show off in magazines. Where once Kenneth Paul Block sketched the clothes as they appeared on the catwalks of New York from his front row seat, a group of photographers captured every detail and the images could be put into the hands of social media administrators almost instantly.

But print media is becoming less and less important, and beautifully photographed content is within the reach of any smartphone owner who happens to be in the right place at the right time. Fashion illustration has become increasingly popular on social media during the lockdown, but you don't create a beautiful fashion illustration with the latest Apple technology or filters. Fashion illustrators no longer have to compete with photographers, and are convinced that both art forms can exist independently but side by side. Recent activity in the industry is causing more and more people to share this belief.

Connie Gray, co-founder of Gray M.C.A. gallery in London, which specializes in fashion illustration, told FashionUnited in January during the NYC launch of their Drawing on Style exhibition at the Masters of Drawing event, "Fashion illustration was almost second-rate until recently. It was kind of looked down upon because it was illustrative art, it was commissioned work." The tide certainly seems to be turning.