Atelier Lauren Jane

Tag: literature

  • Medieval Revival: Featuring Interview With Designer Samantha Pleet 

    Medieval Revival: Featuring Interview With Designer Samantha Pleet 

    The air is thick with the scent of damp stone and burning tallow, the flickering light of candelabras casting long shadows across the marble halls. Somewhere beyond the towering arches, a lute strums a melancholic tune, each note carrying the melody of a forgotten age. And in the hush of nightfall, a figure emerges, draped in velvet so dark it seems to drink in the moonlight. The swish of fabric against the cold floor, the glint of metal filigree catching the firelight—this is not the past, but the present, resurrected in silk and steel.

    The medieval revival sweeping through fashion is no fleeting fancy, no mere dalliance with nostalgia. It is a grand reclamation of magic and romance, a yearning for the beauty of an era when garments bore weight, both in fabric and in meaning. The modern world, weary of its own transience, turns its gaze to an age where craftsmanship reigned, where every embroidery thread spun a tale and every jewel held the weight of centuries.

    Designers, like alchemists of old, have transmuted history into haute couture, conjuring forth gowns that hint at courtly love and adventure. Billowing sleeves catch the wind like the sails of a ship bound for unknown lands. “Stays” (the precursor to corsets), recall the sculpted grace of statues in dimly lit chapels. Chainmail gleams in the candlelight, evoking the silent ardency of knights sworn to their cause. Each piece is an incantation infused in wool and linen. 

    The artistry of the Middle Ages unfurls anew, its gilded details and celestial motifs finding their way onto rich brocades and flowing cloaks. Like the sacred relics enshrined in gothic cathedrals, these garments demand reverence. Pearls drip like dewdrops from delicate veils, while precious stones nestle in as if plucked from the crown of a long-beloved queen. Even the architecture of the time—a symphony of pointed arches and soaring spires—finds its place in the structured silhouettes and dramatic drapery of this revived aesthetic.

    Medieval art, painted in gold leaf and deepest azurite, offers another wellspring of inspiration. The intricate illuminations of manuscripts, their swirling vines and delicate figures, appear once more. Triptychs depicting saints with sorrowful eyes and robes of scarlet and sapphire relay their mystery through the intricate folds of modern pattern design. The glow of stained glass windows lend their color palettes to jewel-toned velvets and rich fabrics. Each piece of this revival mirrors the past, not merely in style, but in spirit—honoring an age where every prayer to beauty was hand-spun.

    And what of the stories? The great tales of honor and heartbreak, of knights who ride into the night never to return, of love letters penned on parchment and doused in ink from quill feathers? They, too, live again. The very essence of medieval literature—its devotion to enchantment, its obsession with fate—seeps into the folds of these garments, turning them into wearable poetry. To don them is to step into folklore, to hear the distant clamor of a joust, to feel the hush of a moonlit garden where lovers meet in secret. 

    Why now? When the fashion industry has long replaced its looms for factories? Perhaps it is because we seek the permanence that the Middle Ages promised. In an age of haste, we long for the patience of hand-stitched garments, for the weight of a gown heavy with history. Fashion, ever the mirror of desire, has answered with an invitation: step through the cordiform book, into a time when every piece was a story. 

    In a moment of yearning to keep the Medieval aesthetic from becoming “too online” I posted to my instagram “Medieval revival trending in 2025! This era literally courses through my veins but yea..” coupled with imagery of a chainmail pouch, a middle ages costume design sketch, and the unicorn rests in a garden tapestry. Though with all intentions of being a gatekeeper. Here is where I met Samantha Pleet. 

    Samantha Pleet has created a world where fashion feels like a fairy tale, where traces of magic are interlaced into the seams of everyday wear. Her designs are a portal between past and present—melding medieval romance, mythological grandeur, and historical silhouettes with a modern sensibility. Whether drawing inspiration from Joan of Arc’s fearless spirit or reimagining the unicorn tapestries in her textiles, Pleet’s work is a witness to the power of clothing as both armor and narrative. In this conversation, she shares the inspirations behind her collections, the role of storytelling in her creative process, and the enduring enchantment of fashion. 

    Interview With Samantha Pleet 

    Lauren Jane: With medieval-inspired fashion trending in the fast-paced world of micro-trends, how do you feel about this medieval resurgence aligning with your long-standing aesthetic, particularly as a designer committed to slow, intentional production? Does the trend’s fleeting nature challenge or complement your vision?

    Samantha Pleet: I love seeing people embrace medieval-inspired looks because dressing up should always be fun.  As a designer, I’m happy to see people experiment with fashion and don’t take trends too seriously. I also hope that some of this inspiration lingers beyond the trend cycle, even if it just becomes a small part of someone’s personal style. Fairy tales and magic should always have a place in the wardrobe.

    For me, this aesthetic isn’t a passing phase, it’s intrinsic to who I am. My love for fairy tales, films, and legends has shaped my work from the very beginning. When I was little, I had a magical old Victorian trunk filled with family heirlooms that I completely tore apart to create my own costumes and stories. I was obsessed with Shelley Duvall’s Faerie Tale Theatre and would weave my own narratives from those inspirations. Later, at Pratt, I studied the history of costume and spent hours in the archives at The Met. Traveling to places like Venice and Paris deepened my passion for historical fashion, and those influences became the foundation of my first collection in 2007, where we dressed models in coats and hardies, tricorn hats, and harlequin tights.  That inspiration has never left me, and it continues to inform everything I do.  

    Lauren Jane: Your designs feel like a bridge between the past and present, with medieval, mythological, and art historical references merged into contemporary silhouettes. What draws you most to historical narratives, and how do you reimagine them for modern wearers?

    Samantha Pleet: You can see my love of history in the way I name my pieces, they are inspired by legends, myths, and historical figures. For my Fall 14 collection, I drew inspiration from Joan of Arc, even creating a short film to bring the story to life. The silhouettes in that collection echoed armor, and we incorporated Joan of Arc embroidery as a nod to her legacy. But beyond the historical references, I want people to feel like they’re stepping into a story when they wear my designs. Fashion should make you feel like the heroine, or hero of your own adventure. That was also the season I first introduced our beloved Illuminated Print.

    Lauren Jane: Fashion often serves as armor for self-expression. What is one piece in your collection that feels most like armor to you?

    Samantha Pleet: The Shield Corset, not only does it have the silhouette of armor, but it also feels powerful when worn, it accentuates and protects the form. I love pairing it with matching pants as my interpretation of a suit, or sometimes with long gloves for an even more dramatic effect. There’s something magical about the way it all comes together. It makes you feel ready to step into the world even if your fairy tale for the night is a gallery opening instead of a duel.

    Lauren Jane: There’s an undeniable sense of storytelling in your collections—from Persephone’s journey through the underworld to Arcadian dreamscapes. How do literature, folklore, and mythology shape your creative process?

    Samantha Pleet: Storytelling is at the heart of everything I create. I need a reason and a passion behind each piece. My Persephone collection felt particularly epic, it embodied the balance of light and darkness that I think makes any design compelling. Right now, I’m preparing to re-release my Elizabeth collection, inspired by Queen Elizabeth ! who is such a fascinating, complex character. The embroidery in that collection is something I imagine she might have worn herself! I love thinking about what these historical figures would wear in a parallel, modern day universe.

    Lauren Jane: If you could step into any painting or literary world and design garments for its characters, where would you find yourself, and what would you create?

    Samantha Pleet: An obvious one for me is Midsummer’s Night’s Dream. I can just imagine all the magical clothing I could design for the characters to run around an enchanted forest and fall in love in,  I have always wanted to do a short film inspired by this.

    Lauren Jane: From rosettes to ribbons, texture plays such a role in your designs. Are there any historical garment techniques, silhouettes, or forgotten crafts you dream of reviving that you haven’t already?

    Samantha Pleet: There are so many techniques I’d love to explore further! I’d like to try beading and the idea of creating custom jacquards has intrigued me.  

    One of my favorite explorations of historical craft is my Unicorn Tapestry print, that’s what I’d like to do in a jacquard.  I designed the print based on the famous medieval tapestries but removed the people so the unicorns could be truly free. I loved the idea of taking something so iconic and slightly altering the narrative letting the unicorns exist in their own world. It’s this kind of storytelling through fabric that excites me.

    Lauren Jane: Magic is at the heart of your brand. What does magic mean to you in the context of fashion, and how do you spin it into every collection?

    Samantha Pleet: I get a visual image that appears in my mind, and it takes me on a magical journey, becoming something you never imagined. What you have in the end, that is magic. what takes shape after playing around with color, silhouette, technique, and fabric and how it all comes together on the form.  It’s an emergent quality where the process leads to the magical result.

    After all, we all wish to feel like the free unicorn from the tapestry—untethered, ethereal, and part of a story larger than ourselves. Samantha Pleet’s designs offer just that: a way to step into a world where history, myth, and fashion intertwine. Her work proves that clothing is more than fabric; it’s a form of magic, a means of storytelling, and a way to embody the spirit of the past while moving boldly into the future.

    Shop Samantha Pleet Here!

  • The Lonely Hearts of Literature: Why So Many of the Greatest Female Romance Writers Never Married.

    The Lonely Hearts of Literature: Why So Many of the Greatest Female Romance Writers Never Married.

    There is a peculiar irony that lingers in the pages of history: some of the greatest love stories ever written were crafted by women who never lived them. Jane Austen, who gave us the sharp-witted and swoon-worthy Mr. Darcy, never married. The Brontë sisters, whose novels are infused with lust and longing, lived quiet, uneventful lives, largely untouched by romance. Emily Dickinson, whose poetry reads like the breath of a love-stricken heart, spent much of her life in solitude, sending letters to an unnamed beloved who may never have truly existed.

    And yet, these women captured love better than those who lived and lost it. Their words are corroded into our collective consciousness, their stories devoured by generations who turn to fiction in search of the love they cannot find in reality. Why is it that the women who understood love so deeply, who could write it into existence so convincingly, never found it for themselves?

    To be a woman writer in the 18th and 19th centuries was to make a choice. The quiet comfort of marriage or the wild freedom of the mind. Few could have both. Marriage, for most women of that time, was a legal and financial transaction, one that rarely allowed room for creative ambition. 

    Jane Austen, whose novels overflow with canniness and romance, knew this reality all too well. She had her chances, there was Tom Lefroy, a youthful flirtation that was cut short by his family, and Harris Bigg-Wither, whom she briefly accepted before recoiling at the thought of a life bound in uninspired matrimony. In the end, Jane chose her pen over a ring, writing to her niece that “anything is to be preferred or endured rather than marrying without affection.”

    The Brontës, too, lived in a world where marriage was often a compromise rather than a grand love affair. They were raised in near isolation on the Yorkshire moors, their imaginations fed by the rolling hills and the books they devoured. Emily Brontë, the most reclusive of the three, never married, never seemed to have a lover, and yet she wrote Wuthering Heights—a novel so feverish, so consumed by passion, that it seems impossible that it came from the mind of a woman who had never known love herself. Perhaps, for Emily, love existed more beautifully in her imagination than in reality. 

    It is natural to assume that a writer must experience these moments to write it well, but history proves otherwise. In fact, distance may have given these women an even greater ability to understand love. Free from the distractions of real-world relationships which are often messy, mundane, and often disappointing. They were able to construct love in its purest, most idealized form. 

    This may be why their love stories endure. Their understanding of romance was not clouded by the small, inevitable disenchantments of everyday life. They wrote of soulmates, of passion that defied reason, of love that burned so intensely it could only end in tragedy or eternity.

    Emily Dickinson, for example, wrote poetry that oozed with longing. Her words were intimate, secretive, as though written in the dead of night for a lover she could never touch. “Wild nights—wild nights! / Were I with thee,” she wrote, though history gives us little proof that she was ever truly with anyone at all. Perhaps she didn’t need to be. The craving itself was enough.

    Another aspect, a tale the modern woman now knows too well, is that maybe the reason why so many of these women never found love, is that they were simply too extraordinary for the time in which they lived. The men around them could not match their minds, could not keep up with their wit, could not understand the depths of their ambition. 

    Imagine being a woman in Austen’s time, capable of crafting dialogue so sharp it could draw blood, so perceptive it could dismantle an entire social structure in a single sentence. What man could keep up? Imagine being Emily Brontë, so enraptured by the profundity of her imagination that no earthly love could compare. Who could be her Heathcliff?

    It is tempting to mourn for these women, to wish they had known the great, sweeping loves they so beautifully captured on the page. But perhaps, in some way, they did. Perhaps their love was not meant for one man, for one fleeting romance, but for something far greater. Their love was for the world, for the women who would read their words centuries later and find themselves within them.

    Love, after all, is not just something to be lived—it is something to be imagined, to be felt, to be created. And in that, these women were never without it.

    Would love have made their work greater, or would it have dulled the longing that made it so extraordinary?  

  • Romanticise Your Life: Find Beauty in Everyday Moments

    Romanticise Your Life: Find Beauty in Everyday Moments

    My Motto for Life: “Romanticise the World”

    If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my lust for life is that it’s all about making it feel more like an indie film and a little less like a laundry list of tasks. Life is infinitely better when you romanticise the world. To me, it’s not about ignoring reality but dressing it up a little—finding beauty in the mundane. I’ve always been drawn to the experience of everyday moments—those fleeting, seemingly insignificant instances that hold a quiet magic. A cup of tea steaming on a windowsill, the sunlight on cobblestones, the sound of your favourite song or a sweet scent that somehow makes you think of an old love. Call me sentimental, but I’d rather live as if I’m starring in my own heartfelt montage.

    Sometimes, even sadness has a strange kind of beauty. Melancholy is poetic—it’s the deep breath before you write a tear-stained journal entry or the rain against your window as you watch the world blur. Romanticising these moments doesn’t mean glorifying pain; it’s about finding the thread of beauty in them. It’s turning the gray clouds of your mood into a mood board for something meaningful. Think about the songs you listen to when you’re sad—aren’t they somehow the most beautiful? There’s a reason heartbreak inspires art. Melancholy teaches us to sit with our emotions, to feel deeply, and to reflect. There’s a quiet intimacy in sadness, a rawness that makes us human. It’s in these moments that we often understand ourselves better, that we tap into creativity, and that we can connect with others on a deeply empathetic level. If happiness is the sunlight, then melancholy is the moonlight—subtle, softer, but no less enchanting.

    Whether it’s a perfectly curated Pinterest board or the way you drape a scarf over your shoulder just so, aesthetics matter. They’re not frivolous; they’re how we make the ordinary extraordinary. You’d be amazed at how putting fresh flowers on your desk or lighting a candle can transform the day. Dress up—even if it’s just for yourself. Buy the fancy notebook. Life’s too short to wait for special occasions to make things lovely. The secret? When everything feels like an occasion, the world begins to sparkle.

    What’s a leading lady without her ensemble cast? Friends and love bring color to the grayscale moments of life, and they deserve their own cinematic close-ups. Romanticising your relationships means treasuring the traditions you share—like going to your favourite places together every week or sending secrets at midnight. Love, whether it’s a partner or platonic, is a story worth cherishing. It’s finding poetry in the way someone knows your coffee order or sends you photos of something that made them think of you. 

    Advice: How to Find Beauty in the Mundane

    1. Slow Down: Sometimes beauty hides in plain sight, but you have to stop rushing to notice it. Look up at the trees, watch the clouds, or just admire the way your tea steams in the morning light.
    2. Set the Scene:Create a little theater of beauty in your everyday life. Decorate your bedroom with soft lighting and cozy textures, and surround yourself with curated trinkets that tell your story—a seashell from a past trip, a framed photo, or a little statue that makes you smile. Turn even the most mundane routines into rituals that feel intentional and special.
    3. Look for Small Joys:Notice the quiet wonders around you—a stranger’s unexpected kindness, the satisfying crunch of leaves beneath your feet, chirping of birds in the morning, savoring how soft fabric feels warm and comforting against your skin. Seek out moments that make you pause, breathe, and feel grateful.
    4. Document It: Take photos, keep a journal, or make playlists that capture how a moment feels. Memory fades, but art keeps the beauty alive.

    Life won’t always hand you grand, sweeping gestures, but it will give you endless small moments of wonder if you know how to look for them. Immerse yourself in a story that changes the way you see the world. Devour a book that opens your eyes to new truths and shakes the foundations of everything you thought you knew. Watch a film that lights a fire in your soul, reminding you of the beauty, power, and fragility of the human experience. Here’s to romanticising the world—may your days feel like poetry and your nights like dreams. Now go light that candle.

  • The Coquette And The Cathedral: A Love Letter To My Personal Style.

    The Coquette And The Cathedral: A Love Letter To My Personal Style.

    There’s something deliciously compelling about the combination of lace and limestone, the curve of a coquette’s skirt twirling past the soaring arches of a gothic cathedral. Architecture and fashion, though seemingly worlds apart, share a magnetic pull: both seek to define space, to tell a story, and to captivate anyone who dares to look. This dance between the delicate and the dramatic has never been more relevant as coquette fashion finds itself in an unexpected romance with the shadowy architecture. What’s funny is that, on paper, these two styles couldn’t be more different—the whimsy and blush of coquette versus the ominous majesty of the gothic—but opposites, as they say, attract.

    Picture it: the image of a high-collared blouse with puff sleeves against the backdrop of a towering cathedral. The ruffles catch a gentle breeze, the soft fabrics swirling around pillars carved with ancient figures. The coquette look might seem delicate, but much like the gothic facade behind it, it holds an edge beneath its softness. This isn’t a damsel but rather a modern spirit with a vintage soul, strolling through the cathedral’s nave like it’s just another Tuesday. Coquette fashion, with its heart-shaped buttons, dainty bows, and feminine details, whispers sweetness, but when paired with something as grand as my favored architecture, the style transforms, gaining a sense of gravity.

    The contrast is part of the magic. Gothic architecture was, after all, designed to make you feel small, to inspire reverence and a certain awe. But coquette fashion—a delightful mix of flirtation and femininity—softens this grandiosity, coaxing out a sense of intimacy. The cathedral becomes less foreboding and more like an enchanting scene from a period drama, with our coquette stepping in as the heroine. It’s as if she’s waltzing through history, adding her own gentle defiance to a space traditionally associated with solemnity. Who said you couldn’t bring a little blush-pink into the hallowed halls?

    The coquette-gothic romance isn’t just about aesthetics; it’s a story of character. Gothic cathedrals are celebrated for their grotesques and gargoyles, little carved creatures that peer out from hidden corners. In fashion terms, these are the delightful quirks of the ensemble: the tiny unexpected elements—a bow, a velvet ribbon, a cheeky brooch. In both realms, there’s an appeal to detail, to the intricacies that make each element memorable. And while a cathedral’s gargoyle might look slightly intimidating, the coquette’s dainty pearl necklace or delicate lace.

    Historically, coquette fashion and gothic architecture both emerged from periods of transformation and upheaval. Gothic architecture blossomed in the Middle Ages, when Europe was reimagining itself through culture, spirituality, and art. Similarly, the coquette style, with roots in 18th-century courtly flirtations and revived in various forms since, has always symbolized a sense of playful rebellion against societal expectations. While the cathedral stands as a reminder of enduring tradition, the coquette brings in the winds of change, a little charm, and perhaps a hint of defiance to shake things up.

    For those willing to blend these styles in everyday fashion, a touch of gothic coquette can be surprisingly wearable. Imagine a fitted blazer with lace trim, paired with a ruffled blouse or velvet skirt—a combination that nods to gothic grandeur but is still light enough for the modern coquette. Accessories can do much of the work here: think ornate earrings reminiscent of stained-glass windows or delicate gloves that bring to mind the finery of a past era.

    In the end, the romance between the coquette and the cathedral reminds us that style is a playful exploration of contrast and character. By blending these two seemingly opposed aesthetics, we’re invited into a world that’s both soft and strong, whimsical and powerful. It’s the kind of love story that doesn’t take itself too seriously, winking at tradition while giving it a gentle nudge into the present. After all, who says you can’t wear your heart on your sleeve—or, in this case, a ruffled blouse and a gothic brooch—while standing beneath the arches of history?

  • Embracing Literary Luxe: The Convergence of Style and Knowledge

    Embracing Literary Luxe: The Convergence of Style and Knowledge

    Summoning a sense of romantic nostalgia, Libraries will always encapsulate a tranquil reverence for knowledge and storytelling that withstands lifetimes. I picture myself as a child wide-eyed and soaking up the rows of worn hardcover books, the smell of aged pages, the hushed whispers and the soft echo of footsteps emanating from those browsing. In contrast, the particular energy flowing from the books, which countless souls have found solace and escape from the adventures between the bindings. 

    For what was believed to be a timeless space, the library lost its footing to the rise of technology; however, due to a blend  of sentimentality and vintage charm, stepping into a library has never been more fashionable. For many, dressing up and going to the library is a way to channel the intellectual elegance of another era, like stepping into a scene from The Secret History.

    Think tailored tweed jackets with oversized wool sweaters underneath, a mini skirt and tights, a tortoiseshell headband and a leather-bound journal set against a backdrop of bookshelves and wooden tables, a celebration of classic academic style illuminated by natural light streaming through old windows. I consider this to be the “literary lux” aesthetic unique in its commitment to creating a visual narrative where intellect and opulence coexist. 

    But would it be unproductive to cement this practice into a two-word aesthetic? A hashtag online? This trend speaks to a louder cultural shift towards slowing down, disconnecting, putting down the blue light, and picking up the pages. After all, the idea of escaping modernity is what conjures up a trending aesthetic anyway. But this is special; it comes from the deliberate choice to opt for a place of knowledge over distraction to pick up a book instead of scrolling on social media. It’s about reading, learning, and the pursuit of knowledge being aspirational again. 

    That is not to say we cannot romanticise; there is already a plethora of perfectly curated snapshots of people reading in beautifully designed spaces—plush armchairs, stacks of novels, showing off a book collection; it’s about capturing the atmosphere of being immersed in literature and learning, making the library a trendy place to be. The content creation does not stop there. Here, high fashion meets literary culture with a curated aesthetic that’s as much about personal expression as it is about the love of books.

    Books are the ultimate accessory that adds a layer of personalisation to the Literary Luxe look. Just as a particular designer bag says something about the wearer’s taste, so does a carefully chosen novel. A tattered copy of Wuthering Heights suggests a brooding romanticism, while a sleek, modern edition of The Metamorphosis hints at a more intellectual, dystopian vibe. In this way, books allow individuals to communicate their personality and style preferences without saying a word. In the realm of Literary Luxe, the book you carry is as important as the bag on your arm or the shoes on your feet. 


    One of the most notable examples of this trend is Olympia Le-Tan’s iconic book clutch bags, which have become a favourite of style icons like Natalie Portman and Emma Watson. These embroidered clutches are designed to resemble the covers of classic novels, such as when Natalie Portman carried the Lolita clutch on the red carpet at the 2010 premiere of Black Swan. This aesthetic also manifests through influencers on Instagram who often style outfits to match the books they read. These posts feature beautifully composed shots of clothes paired with hardcover books, frequently set in picturesque locations such as vintage libraries or luxurious cafes. The books become an extension of their style, creating an intersection between fashion and reading culture. 

  • Unveiling Creative Influences: From Gothic Fashion to Ethereal Films and Haunting Paintings

    Unveiling Creative Influences: From Gothic Fashion to Ethereal Films and Haunting Paintings

    I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a writer, and another fig was a filmmaker, and another fig was a fashion designer, and another fig was England and America and France, and another fig was Austin and Plath and Wharton and a pack of other lovers with queer names and offbeat professions, and another fig was an art director, and beyond and above these figs were many more figs I couldn’t quite make out. I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn’t make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet. 

    The fig tree analogy in The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath immobilises me at the mere thought of the word “fig.” My tree has been a burden to me since I gained consciousness of the fact I have to be someone. Considering myself an artist in the most pretentious sense of the word, most of my influence stems from England. The music, culture, and gothic architecture constantly having grey clouds overhead, but most notably, the fashion. From travelling exceedingly as a child, my favourite game to play with myself was comparing what the cool girls would wear in each country, constantly analysing styles between the US and UK, and trying to find myself right in the middle, taking pieces from each. My style icon is Alexa Chung, the quintessential British “It Girl.” Her signature style seamlessly fuses British heritage pieces and vintage finds with a modern edge, effortlessly pairing feminine dresses with tomboyish staples like loafers, oversized sweaters, or blazers. She is the type of girl to wear a peter pan collar and Miu Miu ballet flats to the pub. This has made her a muse for designers and a beloved figure in street-style photography. Additionally my fashion designer of choice has always been Alexander McQueen. He frequently pushed the boundaries of traditional women’s fashion, incorporating gothic, romantic, and surreal elements. His collections often feature intricate tailoring, elaborate fabrics, and bold silhouettes that challenged conventional ideas of femininity. McQueen’s designs celebrated the strength and complexity of women, often reflecting themes of empowerment and vulnerability.

    I don’t watch many movies or TV shows. I often say I would rather hallucinate my stories between ink on pages and songs with lyrics that flow in and out of my consciousness. However, some films are able to break through my wall. Storytellers who I allow to make me sit and watch the visual contents of their minds. Sofia Coppola comes to the forefront of thought. Her films focus on themes of isolation, identity, and privilege, frequently depicting young women grappling with existential issues. Coppola uses sparse dialogue, lingering shots, and atmospheric soundtracks to create a sense of emotional distance and melancholy. The mood of her work is often ethereal and intimate, evoking a subtle, quiet beauty. That which encapsulates my being and what I hope to convey to the world.  

    I find myself daydreaming intensely, almost to a fault; music, the soundtrack to my creativity, usually depends on Arctic Monkeys’ lyrics, which often explore themes of youth, nightlife, relationships, and introspection. Alex Turner crafts vivid, frequently witty, and poetic depictions of love, desire, and the complexities of modern life. Their songs are filled with clever wordplay, sharp observations about social dynamics, and a sense of urban realism. Many tracks have a nostalgic or melancholic undertone, blending emotional depth with energetic, guitar-driven sounds. There’s a recurring theme of romance, self-awareness, and reflection on fleeting moments, all wrapped in evocative imagery. 

    I don’t necessarily have a favourite author. I know I am akin to specific genres and believe they have to start giving titles to books in which a young, beautiful girl goes insane due to reacting to her self-inflicted reality and starts taking sleeping pills. Those always resonate: “I understand her.” I think of these characters and keep them close to my heart. May Welland is the central character in The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton. Who embodies the ideal image of innocence and purity. Although outwardly conforming to societal expectations, she shows subtle strength and determination; despite her seeming naivety, she proves to be more perceptive and manipulative than she first appears. 

    I have always been envious of those who know their favourite piece of art. Mine changes often, though I have always gravitated towards Edvard Munch’s painting “The Vampire,” which depicts a woman with a menacing, almost demonic appearance kissing a man whose head is pressed against her shoulder. The painting is known for its intense emotional impact and unsettling atmosphere. The woman’s gaze is hypnotic and predatory, reflecting themes of obsession and desire. The dark, moody colour palette and dramatic composition contribute to the artwork’s overall sense of dread and unease. I appreciate Edvard’s work.  His expressionist paintings explore themes of anxiety, death, and existential dread. Edvards Munch’s art often reflects his struggles and the psychological depth of the human condition.

    I believe every woman needs an emotional support historical figure. Fortunately for me, I have two. Anne Boleyn symbolises the complex interplay between personal ambition, political power, and religious change in early 16th-century England. Additionally, her life and tragic end have made her a lasting figure in literature and popular culture, embodying themes of love, betrayal, and the struggle for influence. Though I adore how Anne fought for political power, I have a soft spot for Queen Victoria; I always ensure jet jewelry is visible on my body for her. On her wedding day, she wore a white satin gown adorned with Honiton lace, a break from the tradition of colorful bridal dresses. This decision helped popularize white as the standard for brides, symbolizing purity and innocence. In stark contrast, Queen Victoria entered a long mourning period after her husband’s death, Prince Albert. She famously wore black mourning attire for the rest of her life, making the “widow’s black” a symbol of grief and loss. Her mourning dress, austere and somber, became synonymous with the mourning culture of the Victorian era, shaping fashion trends for decades. Her white wedding gown and black mourning dress reflect the intensely personal emotions she associated with love and loss, turning these garments into historical symbols of her life and reign.

    Though I, unfortunately, do not have a British Monarchy to rule or an adaptation of The Virgin Suicides to write up, I find my creative inspiration in an amalgamation of visual art, music, literature, and history, which influence how I perceive and interpret the world. Whether it’s Sofia Coppola’s ethereal films, the Arctic Monkeys’ introspective lyrics, Munch’s haunting paintings, or the complex lives of women like Anne Boleyn and Queen Victoria, I connect gravely with themes of isolation, identity, ambition, and desire. These influences echo my introspections and fuel my constant search for beauty in the melancholy and complexity of life.