"Where Your Destiny Awaits" by Annie Leibovitz

And here she is: Jessica Chastain as Merida for the Disney Dream Portraits series for Disney Parks, photographed by Annie Leibovitz.

I did a quick search to track down what movie-Merida looked like doing mounted archery and found these reference images:

Then I discovered there's already a real life Merida who does the real thing. She's a professional stunt woman and archery coordinator who specializes in recurve, compound, longbow, crossbow, barebow, horsebow and mounted archery. (Phew!) Her name is Virginia Hankins, she looks like this (yes, that's her own hair). and she's had no shortage of work since Brave.

She's also a free diver and does movie stunt work as a mermaid (see below). The woman is like a walking fairy tale heroine! (Can I be her when I grow up??)

But I digress..

As per usual, I got to wondering about stories with mounted archers and wondered where in the world they might make a regular appearance. Turns out Russian hunters used mounted archery a lot, Iranian peoples specialized (still do), Native Americans (both Northern and Southern), Mongols and Turks but it became a particularly honored tradition among the Samurai (called Yabusame). While it's on the rise again in European countries, including Britain, the Scots weren't listed among the world's fiercest in horse archery warfare in history as Japan and Iran were. Though they did use this technique, as the majority of ancient hunters with regular access to horses did, it doesn't seem they practiced specialized training as much.

Here's a photo of a modern female mounted archer from Oregon, Katie Stearns, with her horse, Magic, painted to match her own costume. I kind of love that she studied anthropology before going into her horse training full time.

Katie Stearns aka Morwen or The Flying Dutchess

While I haven't had time to do any serious research, there are quite a few fairy tales in which archery features, though not usually as the main feature. Robin Hood's legend grew up around his skill, of course, but the Firebird centers on 'the king's archer' who comes across a fiery feather, and there are some Japanese tales that feature archers as well.

Behind-the-scenes of "Where Your Destiny Awaits" shoot

But back to the reason for the post: what do you think of the official new Merida?

New Addition to Annie Leibovitz's Disney Dream Portrait Series: Jessica Chastain as Merida

You knew it was only a matter of time but there have been so many excellent cosplays of Merida since Brave hit the big screen that Ms. Leibovitz actually has quite a challenge on her hands to top them!

ET released a behind the scenes video on Wednesday afternoon:

Jessica Chastain isn't quite who I would have chosen since she looks far more fragile to me than Merida should but I have no doubt the results will looks stunning no matter what. We should see the photo some time today...

In the meantime, here are some of my favorite cosplay pics for Merida. Yes, there are a lot  - and I applaud the creativity and attention to detail of each girl (and team) that put these images together - it's kind of wonderful - and since I can't think of a time when I might show these again I'm putting them all here. Enjoy:

Aeriat

Shua-cosplay

Ida Sofie aka. Starbit Cosplay

Monique Duke

Monique Duke

Shua-cosplay

Pugoffka

GreatQueenLina

Re-Aska

AlexanderNVIDIA

shua-cosplay

Re-Aska

MikiLavi

MikiLavi

MikiLavi

AlexanderNVIDIA

Tathariel Creations

"White Shoe" - Ferragamo's Full Fairy Tale Film (Bellisimo!)

Published online as a gift to us all on New Year's Day this year, we can now watch the full Ferragamo fairy tale, White Shoe! (Here's my previous post on White Shoe with the background to this movie, in case you missed it.)

The video is a 24-minute visual that tells a dramatic story about the label’s first years. The shoe Ferragamo designed was for his sister’s first communion and he constructed the shoe by candlelight. The film was directed by Mauro Borrelli who happens to be the conceptual artist for two of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies. The story is told without dialogue and basically shows a young Ferragamo getting into (his profession) at a shoemaker’s workshop. (via)

It's a beautiful little film and the fact that the fairy tale is based in/inspired by reality is pretty neat as well. The little boy's flights of fancy and imagination while he works, both tell aspects of the Ferragamo story and communicate this famous shoemaker's inspirations. When you consider this film (and relatedd exhibition) was created with an understanding of the importance of shoes in fairy tales and folklore throughout history, this becomes even more special.

I want to make special note of the music as well, composed by Leo Z who created a piece so beautiful you could close your eyes, listen, and see a fairy tale without watching a single frame of the movie. Once you have seen it, of course, just a few notes will take you back into the film's story as well.

Here it is - enjoy!

Fairy tale bonus of the day:

Some White Shoe screencaps for you from the film...

If you're interested, there are behind-the-scene videos of White Shoe on the FerragamoOfficial YouTube Channel HERE. And because I raved about the music, here's the behind-the-scenes interview with the composer (I'm going to have to hunt down the piano score..!). Once you've seen this I recommend going back to the movie, turning up the sound and letting it run with your eyes closed. hopefully you'll have been just as inspired as I have.