Hello friends and fellow creators! In case you missed the million signs, I REALLY get inspired when I see the couture shows every season! With so much detail and artistry on display, there is always fresh inspiration for my designs and illustrations! As you know, trends that start on the runway often influence trends in design! I've already bookmarked a bunch of looks from the LATEST couture shows that I found inspiring. In this post I'll be visiting some of these looks for inspiration, and creating designs, illustrations, and surface pattern designs inspired by my favorite fashion muses! I'll also be sharing which tools I've used for each of the designs! You can read more coverage about the Autumn/Fall 2021 Couture collections here and here. 

1. Luxe Abstract Artwork inspired by Zuhair Murad Couture

For my first creative muse, I thought i'd use this amazing look by Zuhair Murad as inspiration. According to Vogue.com, "The collection, presented live in Paris to a small audience, was an endless stream of sumptuous gowns; Murad clearly revelled in guilt-free, bold glamour, revisiting his best-ofs with delight. Red-carpet-ready evening dresses were strewn with intricate embroideries and shimmered with crystal fringing in silver and gold."

I absolutely LOVE how I was able to EASILY get the feel of the detailed embroidery using only TWO of my Photoshop layer styles from the Creative Couture collection! This collection is AWESOME for creating rich, embroidered and encrusted effects with just the click of a button! Even though I created the Photoshop brushes with this collection YEARS ago, I'm actually realizing I need to use them more because they are REALLY handy for gem and glittery effects! 

Photoshop Tools I used in this design:

Brushwerk Watercolor Brush #5

3 Layer Styles from Creative Couture Layer Styles

Decorative jewel and glitter brushes from Creative Couture Layer Styles

UPDATE: I've made a quick tiktok video as overview -- trying something new out where I give a little 'summary' of how I made the design, which will fit in the tiktok / youtube short format! Let me know what you think!

Update #2: It seems people prefer the standard horizontal / youtube tutorial videos... thank you so much for your feedback! I'll stick to the classics!

Attached below is the PSD demo file, as well as the selection of brushes I used from the Instaglam and Creative Couture collections.