Image: Courtesy of Cross Cashmere
Katie Braid is an award winning fashion educator and illustrator based in Edinburgh, emerging from the industrial echoes of Newcastle. She has spent the last decade working within woven textiles and fashion. Producing illustration and creative work for Scotland's oldest remaining artisan tartan mill, working with brands such as Ashley Williams, Charles Jeffrey, Arbikie Highland Distillery, Rolls Royce and Celine.
Braid’s work aims to explore the uneasy alliance between her working-class roots and the glamour of fashion. Armed with a palette of grime and grit, she conjures figures that are awkwardly cropped, their imperfections not mere blemishes but acts of questioning beauty ideals often associated with the industry. Through her immediate, mixed-media approach, Braid stages an uncomfortable conversation, forcing us to confront the cracks in the facade, the vulnerability beneath the couture, and the unspoken dialogues between tradition and trend.
In 2023 and 2022 Katie's illustrative work won commendation at the FIDA Worldwide- Fashion Illustration and Digital Awards. With her work exhibited at The National Arts Club New York and Institute Marangoni Paris.
Katie works part time as Fashion Illustration and Portfolio Teaching Fellow at Edinburgh College of Art. (Edinburgh University)
Clients including: V&A Dundee, National Museums of Scotland, Diptyque, Harrods Beauty, St. James Quarter Edinburgh, The Modern Calligraphy, Frontiers and RIXO. Openly supported by brands including Elena Velez, Charles Jeffrey Loverboy, Matty Bovan, Cambridge Satchel Company and Fashion Scout.
Illustrative work featured in publications such as The FIBLE v.03, The FIBLE 4, all/WITHIN Magazine, Sunday Girl Magazine, Suboart Magazine, Amelia’s Magazine, The Little Living Room and How Scotland Dressed the World - Lynne Coleman, Luath Press.
Awards
2024 People of CAHSS Recognition Award (Creative Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences), Edinburgh University, Rising Star Award Winner
2023 50th Anniversary of Le Grand Divertissement fashion show Versailles '73. In association with Nando & Elsa Perreti Foundation,Halston, Emanuel Ungaro, L'instituto Marangoni and Fida Worldwide, Paris, Award Winner
2023 FIDA Worldwide Fashion Illustration and Digital Awards (Culture Vulture Category), Commended Finalist
2022 FIDA Worldwide Fashion Illustration and Digital Awards (Still Life Category), Commended Finalist
2022 FIDA Worldwide Fashion Illustration and Digital Awards (Poetic), Shortlisted
2021 FIDA Worldwide Fashion Illustration and Digital Awards, Shortlisted
2009 Andrew Grant Scholarship Award
2003 Samling Foundation Visual Arts Residency, Keilder Forest, UK
Exhibitions
2023 "50th Anniversary of Le Grand Divertissement Fashion Show Versailles '73", Group exhibition in association with Emanuel Ungaro, Nando & Elsa Perreti Foundation, Halston, Ultrasuede and Fida Worldwide, L'instituto Marangoni, Paris, FR
2023 "Fida in Paris", Group Exhibition, Fida Arts Gallery, UK
2022 "With Love Halston", Group exhibition in collaboration with Halston, Tiffany & Co and Rigaud, The National Arts Club, New York, US (catalog)
CONTACT FOLLOW
E: katie_l_wood@yahoo.com IG: @katielaudraws