Fairy Tale News New Year's Bumper Edition: Fashion

• Wild at Heart (Fall fashion slideshow feature by ZoomZoom) In this fall fashion feature, Erik Almas takes 1930s paintings, taxidermy animals, and the modern woman to create diorama-like images of fashion in the wild. The result is an amalgam of the fairy tale and the mythological muse. The images conjure narratives of the heroine who can talk to animals, live amongst the brown bears, and rule nature itself.

• Ko Ara's Fairy Tale Shoot in Korean Singles Magazine 2008 (Thumbelina, Red Riding Hood, Princess and the Pea, Bremen Town Musicians, Peter Pan, Hansel & Gretel)

• Cinderella's Closet, which provides dresses to under privileged teens for their proms, is calling for gently used prom dresses.

• Fairy tale themed jewelry by LunarraStar (Alice in Wonderland, Snow White, Little Red Riding Hood, Wizard of Oz and more) Etsy find.

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Lovely Graphic Design for 2 (Unused) Fairy Tale Covers

Here are a couple of fairy tale book covers I found recently by graphic designer Oleksandra Korobova (a.k.a. l-e-s-k-a on deviantArt).

I just love these!

They were to be part of a series but as far as I can find, have not ever been used. Such a shame! They would have had me picking up the books in an instant.

You can find more of her art and photography HERE.

V-Ray Tales by Silvia Bratanova

Discovered on deviantART, this 'V-Ray Tales' series is advertising the power of the V-Ray rendering engine for 3D computer graphics but I think these images (not including the accompanying text) show us yet another interpretation of our old favorites.

The artist is Silvia Bratanova (SOOO on deviantART) and is an 'experimental photographer/designer', working as part of 'Wings Creative Studio' team.

There is text on each image with the 'tale' (according to V-Ray). Clicking on the images will take you to Silvia's deviantART page where you can click 'Full View' and have a closer look to read what's written (there's an example at the bottom of this post).







NOTE:
Copy for The Princess and the Pea V-Ray Tale:

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, there lived a beautiful princess, cursed in a most peculiar way - whenever she saw a bad pixel, it would turn into a pea underneath her mattress. She would lie awake every night praying for a new v-rayvolutionary product - reliable and accurate enough to render out all the pixels and break the curse.

V-Ray - no more sleepless nights!

Behind the Scenes of Fairy Tales by Rosie Hardy

What REALLY went on with those characters behind closed doors!

A talented, young photographer named Rosie Hardy, has done a wonderful job at relating fairy tale scenarios to real life issues that don't usually have a happy ending.

Her unusual self-portrait set of 'behind the scenes' fairy tale photos on flickr are not your usual dreamy visions, or even stylized goth versions of the fairy tale heroines. No. These girls just might be your next door neighbors, girls you went to school with, your cousins, your aunts, your sisters and maybe even your mothers - and their tales all have a sobering side to them.

In posting her photos Rosie has thoughtfully added statistics about social issues, addictions and other problems our fairy tale characters could relate to. It'll make you rethink those familiar stories from a modern and relevant perspective. Instead of just posting the photos I'm giving you screen captures so you can see the connections she's made (and perhaps entice you to check out the rest for yourself).

The issues are not always comfortable to consider but I feel like applauding the wonderful job Rosie did on these. Talk about showing how the tales can be relevant to today!

Check out the rest of her 'behind the scenes' fairy tales set HERE and see more of her photography HERE.

Once Upon A Time A Little Girl...

Once upon a time, many years ago (on today's date), a little girl was born who loved fairy tales... and yes, that little girl was me. :)

Today, I leave you with a reminder of the awesome Lotte Reiniger (1899 - 1981) who loved two things I do - fairy tales and animation.

This amazing German woman directed the first full length feature animation in 1926, long before Walt Disney brought us Snow White. The film, titled "The Adventures of Prince Achmed", can most definitely be classed as an Arabian Nights fairy tale and is full of her beautiful silhouette work.Late last year the British Film Institute released a two-DVD set of her animated fairy tale films, spanning 1922 to 1961.

Here's the list of tales and when they were released:

* Cinderella (1922)
* The Death Feigning Chinaman (1928)
* The Golden Goose (1944)
* Aladdin and his Magic Lamp (1954)
* The Frog Prince (1954)
* The Gallant Little Tailor (1954)
* Sleeping Beauty (1954)
* Snow White and Rose Red (1954)
* Cinderella (1954)
* Puss in Boots (1954)
* The Magic Horse (1954)
* The Grasshopper and the Ant (1954)
* The Three Wishes (1954)
* Thumbelina (1954)
* The Caliph Stork (1954)
* Hansel and Gretel (1954)
* Jack and the Beanstalk (1955)
* The Little Chimney Sweep (1956)
* The Frog Prince (1961)

It's available HERE through the BFI website and through Amazon.co.uk (hint, hint Mudsock dearest!)

I'll bring you more of her gorgeous art another day but for now have some cake. :)

Eugenio Recuenco's Fashionable Fairy Tales

Eugenio Recuenco is a well known Spanish photographer who's fashionable avant garde fairy tale recreations for Vogue caused a big splash back in 2006.

In this popular series he recreated The Princess and the Pea, Snow White, Puss in Boots, The Pied Piper (though this shot could double as the delirious Dancing Princesses), Cinderella, Red Riding Hood and Beauty and the Beast.

Here are the spreads from Vogue that swept the web at the time:
I recently found a few more, though I'm not sure when they were taken. For this set we have Sleeping Beauty, Thumbelina, Snow White (take two), The Ugly Duckling and two additional Beauty and the Beast shots.And, just for fun, here's an ad for Saniterpen Pet Odor Remover in France (from March 2008). Puss in Boots gets a little on the smelly side...All of his photos have a dark, other -worldly quality. His extensive online portfolio is well worth your time to browse.

Steampunk Fairy Tales - Part II of III

Here we continue to look at some interesting 'steampunk-ing' of fairy tales. This is part II of III. You can find Part I, posted 7/12/09, HERE, which includes my introduction.

Please note, you can click on the images for a larger view (highly recommended). The link to the artist and more of their work are in the title & name.

Enjoy!

STEAMPUNK FAIRYTALE STEAMLADDIN by NIKLAS TARPILA

DON QUIXOTE: SUPRESSOR OF ENGINES by MAREK MADEJ

STEAMPUNK FAIRYTALE GOLDYLOCKS by CLAUDIA M. a.k.a LAVAH

STEAMPUNK THUMBELINA by HAKUBAIKOU

Part III, the final installment for this round, is coming on Thursday.