There is a desire in high fashion for stylistic exaggeration, often fantastic in effect, and abstract in scope. A style illustrator using very realistic representations will not last long - that is, unless they work for a very commercial company like, say, one that makes uniforms or commercial patterns for home sewers. I find commercial illustration like this to be boring and stifling for my creativity, and I could never see a career in it for me.
Here's an example of it.
Check out some of these 'high' fashion illustrators:
Mats Gustafson portrait of model Linda Evangelista.
Left - Illustration by David Downton. Right - trousers by Helmut Lang.
A very free, very 'editorial' style of illustration is supposed to capture more the mood and atmosphere of the clothes in order to feed the fantasies of the viewer. I much preferred working in this style because it was far closer to being pure art than technical, commercial illustration ever could.
Here's another one I did, several years ago (which I featured in
this thread):
Click for large.
