Lady of the Lake #2: Awesome Auburn

Porter magazine
Photographer Jeff Bark
Fashion editor Anthony Unwin
Enchanting heroine Karen Elson

Dresses by Bottega Veneta, Marc Jacobs, Dolce & Gabbana, Alberta Ferretti

A continuation on the theme of etheral beauties and the Pre-Raphaelite legacy. It seems as though this is a trend co-inciding with the opening of a major exhibition at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. (May 20 to October 26, metmuseum.org)

As Elizabeth Siddal, the muse of Pre-Raphaelite painter John Everett Millais played the perfect tragic heroine, lying body submerged for a period of four months, as he realised her comparison to Shakespeare's Ophelia.  Elson, our modern muse lies, as Elizabeth Siddal, femme fatal, in a wet dress, the creation of the image a masterpiece of research, hair and makeup, stylists and assistants, in a matter of hours. 

Lady of the Lake

20ft deep water tank 

750,000 litres of water

1,609 metres of hair extensions

5 metre high bed

6 hours to set up

8 hours to shoot

1,468 photographs

53 seconds without taking a breath

9 crew members

7 cameras 

62 wet towels

 

How to Spend It special interiors edition (Superior Interiors April 12 2014) showcases the most sumptuous silks and satins for the bedroom... and the gowns you will be wearing when you sink into them.

This Pre-Ralphealite-esque photoshoot conjours up themes of nature, love, literature and death, of sweet slumbers in an eerie watery world.

Exquisite dresses, aquamarine themed headpieces, crystal neck decor and pearl suspenders. Silk, organza, embroidery, crepe and lace. The finest silk, cotton, and goose feather linens and bed spreads. Designers include Ralph Lauren Home, Sophia Kah, Oscar de la Renta and Suzie Turner Couture. 

My favourite touch are Miranda Keyes designs; sand-eel headband and needlefish-tail headpieces (made to order).. For that fishy party.

Styling by Damian Foxe.

Underwater photographs by Zena Holloway. 

Floral art and design, seen throughout, by Jane Macfarlane-Duckworth for The Flower Union.