Pre-Raphaelite Blossoms

The Pre-Raphaelite Blooms collection was born against the backdrop of designer Tatyana Ashakova's interest in the work of the Pre-Raphaelites, who managed to set a certain style and philosophy in fine arts, literature and even photography. This trend was founded in 1848 by a group of young English artists who sought to reform the obsolete modern art, returning to it the bright colors, detailed plots and realism of pre-Raphael painting. Thanks to new techniques that made it possible to create unusually bright shades of color, the work of the Pre-Raphaelites was radically different from the canvases of their predecessors and contrasted with the tastes of English society of the 19th century. Tatiana always had an interest in the innovative and bold, so the rebellion of young Pre-Raphaelite artists against academicism, their protest against stamping, resonated in her heart not only from an aesthetic point of view, but also as a philosophy. The Pre-Raphaelites gave a new form to what already existed, provided it with new meanings and presented it to the public.

Not wanting to be limited to canvas and oil, in their search they paid a lot of attention to applied art: ceramics, fabrics, wallpaper. They tried themselves in different areas — from book design to interior design. In their paintings, the Pre-Raphaelite artists sang, first of all, female beauty. Inspired by romantic literature, they sought to make their heroines look like the heroines of books, whose inner world is filled with harmony and spirituality. Numerous details on the canvases of the Pre-Raphaelites are not only scrupulously written, but also full of meaning. Members of the Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood sought out their muses in the busy streets. So the model for many famous paintings, and concurrently and the lover of one of the members of the Pre Raphaelite Brotherhood, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, was the milliner Lizzy Siddal. The image of a girl with a long neck and a heavy shock of red hair, framing a pale face with a sensual mouth and sad eyes, was forever entrenched in the iconography of the Pre-Raphaelites.

Shooting the Pre-Raphaelite Blossoms collection together with Tanya Kiaie, a successful advertising and fashion photographer from the UK, the designer set herself the task of conveying the style of the Pre-Raphaelite works both in the images of the model and in her plasticity. It seems that a young maiden with luxurious long hair and plump lips has just stepped off one of the canvases. Romantic dresses from Myoo Couture and Lana Müller with delicate lace and the finest beadwork are crowned with highly detailed floral-inspired headpieces. Flowers have always been present in the designer's collections in various interpretations: made of leather, feathers, special polymers imitating the transparency of glass or ice. Tatiana never ceases to look for new ways to get closer to natural beauty, mastering new techniques and materials. Most of the headwear in the Pre-Raphaelite Blooms collection is made from remnants of natural leather, silk and other materials collected in the ateliers and workshops of designers friendly to Tatiana. This is in line with the commitment of the founder of the BeretkAh...! to be a part of zero waste movement — a systematic approach designed to minimize the amount of garbage on the planet. Thus, all materials are non-serial, each of the products is unique and cannot be 100% repeated, which makes the designer's creations even more desirable.

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