Inspirations: "Birth of Venus" and Jane Austen

I have been thinking about creating a new range of designs and I have decided to use two inspirations, to create something a little different...

Whenever I read Jane Austen novels, I think of the flowing dresses and beautiful fabrics. One of my favourite DVD's is "Pride and Prejudice", with Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle. The Regency period used Empire lines- what most people would call a "baby doll" style; Grecian decoration, Egyptian ornament, Spencer coats, and military influences. I will borrow a little from this period for the silhouette of my designs. Click here to read more about costume's from this period. All costume photos in this posting are from the fashion-era.com website.



The painting above would have to be one of my all-time favourites; Sandro Botticelli's "The Birth Of Venus". I love the colours, the beauty of Venus, the West wind, Zephyrus and Flora, the spring that are blowing her gently to the shore. I want to use the colours from this painting, as well as the beautiful femininity to help inspire my designs.



I will use a lot of pastel colours (coral, pink, aqua, mint, blues, creams, etc), and lots of florals, as well as floaty fabrics, and I have a great pleated pastel pink fabric that I want to use. I recently bought quite a lot of vintage and antique lace, so this might be added to the mix as well!



I can't wait to see what I come up with, and share my creations with you! I probably won't have them on sale for atleast a month or more, as I will want to take photos first, but I am too excited to not share my ideas with you!