J. Hyde Crawford, Fashion Illustrator, Dies at 82

J. Hyde Crawford, a fashion illustrator who drew countless newspaper advertisements of women wearing high-end clothing, but who may have left his most memorable image on the mundane but must-have accessory known as the shopping bag, died on May 11 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. He was 82.

His death was confirmed by his husband, Charles W. Andrews.

In the 1960s, Mr. Crawford was a contract artist drawing fashion illustrations for newspaper ads (they often appeared in The New York Times) when his client, the department store Bonwit Teller, asked him to refresh the venerable bouquet of violets that had long been its symbol.

“They had a previous violets design that was very old-fashioned, and one day they asked me if I could sketch a new one,” Mr. Crawford told The Times in 2009. “I made the new one fresher and bolder, and it took me about 25 minutes. Next morning I sent it up to the store and they loved it.”

They really loved it. The store splashed the new image across not just its shopping bags but also its storefronts, its umbrellas and its charge cards. It sold fabric featuring the violets; Mr. Crawford once gave his mother a bathrobe featuring the floating bouquet. In 1986, Bonwit Teller held a party for him to celebrate the enduring image.

“Stores don’t often honor freelance artists,” he said at the time.

The violets were his signature, but most of Mr. Crawford’s days were spent churning out fashion illustrations. Before a model for Bonwit’s arrived at his town house on East 51st Street, Mr. Crawford had already decided what elements of a dress he wanted to emphasize, and he had sketched an imaginary head and face.

“As soon as the model arrived, she would be instructed to strike a pose that he already planned,” Mr. Andrews said.

A model might arrive around 10 a.m. on a Friday. Mr. Crawford would file his drawing to Bonwit’s by 1 p.m., and it would appear in the newspaper on Sunday.

In 1968, while continuing to draw for Bonwit’s, Mr. Crawford founded Quadrille, a fabric and wallpaper company that became known for bold designs. Quadrille continues to operate under different ownership.

John Hyde Crawford Jr., often called Jay, was born on Oct. 16, 1930, in Jacksonville, Fla. He graduated from high school in Orlando, then studied art and fashion illustration at the Parsons School of Design. He found the job with Bonwit’s soon after he graduated.

Mr. Andrews is his only immediate survivor.

In remarks several years ago, Mr. Crawford lamented the shift from illustrations to photographs for fashion ads — and the fact that Bonwit’s had gone out of business. The store filed for bankruptcy in 1989.

“But,” he said, “we certainly had our day.”