Naughty but nice

Someone – one of my darling big sisters no doubt – bought me a poster of the original Flower Fairy alphabet* when I was very young. I Blu-Tacked it to my wall above my bed and daydreamed over the delightful illustrations.

My only complaint was that I was not at all pleased with the humble flower that represented the first initial of my name; I would much rather have had the glamorous ‘Queen of the Meadow’ – even back then I harboured grandiose illusions about my place in life! However, I could not think of an actual first name starting with Q that I would have liked.

I remember these as some of my favourites – and Queen of the Meadow was at the top of my list.When I did this shoot, however, fairies were far from my mind. It was the belling of the skirt that suddenly made me think of them.

I’ve always liked this particular vintage skirt (sometimes worn as dress, with or without a pink velvet ribbon tied at waist), and I always love pleats in general. The Obüs black shirt also has pleats on the elbow. The boots were the naughty addition to the outfit – the horizontal strips a nice counterpoint to the vertical pleats.

And so my Dragonfly Fairy was born. A little bit naughty, a little bit nice.

*Incidentally, as a nice segue from my last post, the paintings date from the 1930s–1950s by Cicely Mary Barker; originals can be purchased here.