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"What makes a woman appear beautiful? Is it youth? Is it a perfect figure? Some people would certainly say that it is both of those things. I'm not one of them. I think that the beauty of women comes from a sense of self. A sense of belonging on this earth and a sense of connection to the whole tribe of womankind that stretches back thousands and thousands of years. When we hold the hands of our ancestors, of the women who came before us, we are beautiful. When we hold hands with a faery, a nature spirit, a naiad or dryad, we become one with those beings - we become faeries and in the case of us older
and perhaps even wiser women, we become faery godmothers. If we are joyous beings, if we can spread that joy and leave behind a bit of magic when we go, then we are beautiful. When Candace Savage approached me about collaborating on a line of Froud Faery clothing, I wanted to try something that I felt hadn't been done before, or at least not in the way I wanted to approach it. Candace has been making beautiful, romantic clothing for women with her company Gypsy Moon, for years. Candace believes in the romance of clothes. I believe that faeries are basically romantic whether in their familiar, woodland surroundings or in their more surprising urban guises. Candace and I decided that we wanted to create a line of clothing that would allow women to "feel like a faery" for as long as they wished to. We also wanted to design clothes that could be worn not just for Faerie Festivals but for any special gathering and in some cases just to wear down to the local shops or a day out in town. Our Urban Faery clothes are darker and made of rayon jersey and heavier woven silk while the Woodland Faery clothes are silk chiffon: light, floaty and fairly sheer ( with under shifts for modesty!). They all are "one or two sizes fit most". Most of you who read Faerie Magazine will by now be familiar with our small village of Chagford on Dartmoor in England. It has been featured in this magazine many times - in fact it has probably been present in some way in every issue so far and this is no exception. Chagford is a place that sings its siren song to people who are interested in the
arts and where people interested in Fantasy in general and Faery in particular blossom. We sing it and dance it, paint it, sculpt it and write about it. It is also host to an amazing number of Faery Godmothers. When it came to finding women to model these clothes, I
immediately thought of my women friends in Chagford who are all beautiful, varied in size, and all "of a certain age". They are indeed the Faery Godmothers of Chagford. I think that the photos taken by Brian (Brian Froud wearing his photographer’s hat) prove that everyone CAN love a fairy when she's forty, or fifty or sixty. I believe that Faerie, like beauty, is a state of mind; a place that everyone can enter. I hope that Candace and I have offered clothes that reflect that belief and will give women of all ages and sizes a chance to have fun, be beautiful and feel like a faery. If you look carefully at Brian's paintings, you will find all of these Faery Godmothers (and more) represented many times over. Brian has an eye for a beautiful woman whatever her age!" To see more of Wendy and Brian Froud’s artwork, visit World of Froud |
