93. THERESA FUNG
What started as a one-time gig with Nylon turned into a series of commissions for illustrator Theresa Fung. Initially, Nylon designer Michael Pangilinan tried his hand at the images for the “Beauty Counter” product review section. “The objective was to showcase the products in unexpected ways. I was trying to collage pieces of photos of the beauty products, but I didn’t have the patience or time to do it well,” he admits.

So he turned the assignment over to a professional. Fung used existing photos of the products to create the beautiful images. “It’s all done by hand, so it’s pretty low-tech—scissors and glue. The hardest part was finding the right shades,” she notes. Using bits and pieces from several magazines helped her achieve the desired texture, vibrancy, and depth. Pangilinan says of the outcome, “I thought it would be pretty hard to follow Miyuki Sakai’s sewn illustrations that were used in 2003 by the previous art department, but Theresa’s insistent meticulousness paid off. What I also like in any image is to see that the illustrator cared, and made it a labor of love.”

Nylon’s creative staff was so impressed with Fung’s illustration, she was commissioned to create images for three subsequent issues. Emily Potts