Joan of Arc, David Fielden and You, the Bride

“I became fas­ci­nated by the hero­ism of Joan of Arc and the visual imagery from a 1920 silent film about her. She became my muse and fol­lows on a trend of mine set­ting my bride in a world of con­flict from a visual and design point of view.

“I always like to jux­ta­pose the roman­tic with a edgy qual­ity. I see my muse as a heroic fig­ure fight­ing for love and truth in a hard and uncom­pro­mis­ing world.”

While the imagery from David’s lat­est bridal cat­walk is most def­i­nitely edgy and almost bru­tal, his wed­ding dress col­lec­tion for 2013 is full of beau­ti­ful fab­rics, ele­gant lines and incred­i­bly fem­i­nine shapes. I think he has a point: see­ing the mod­ern bride as a hero­ine is a rich and thought-provoking concept.

Con­sider it this way: as a bride to be, do you see your­self as Disney’s Cin­derella, all pretty and per­fect — a princess bride? Or as a strong and pas­sion­ate real woman, one who knows her own mind and stands up for her convictions?

David Fielden’s 2013 sposa col­lec­tion: Mod­ern Heroism

One last ques­tion before I leave this one in your hands… if you’re about to com­ment on the dark shad­ows under the mod­els’ eyes, their fig­ures or their hands held in sup­pli­ca­tion, or per­haps the harsh look of the images shown here…

Were you one of the 5.3 mil­lion peo­ple who read Fifty Shades of Grey? Which is the stronger woman — the bride rep­re­sented above, or E L James’s Ana?