Our shoot for Gothesque Magazine April 2016 Vol 2 Masks

Part of the backstory we wrote for this shoot.

At the forest’s heart she dwells.
Shrouded in feathers, she spends her days among the trees.
The raven’s call is the music she craves,
but it has been years since their wings have burned black against the midday sun.

At last, she has found the secret of their entrapment,
and today they will return to her.
Buried deep in the forest’s winding corridors, a prison sits.
Shaped like a crystal ball, it holds those from whom she has been forcefully estranged.

As she invokes the spell that will break the chains of imprisonment,
she begins to take on another form.
When she has liberated the ravens from their confines,
her transformation is complete,
and she joins them not as their keeper, but as their sister.

As daylight streams between the branches,
a halo over the somber winds, whispers of battle are carried through the air.
High above the bones and flesh of torn grace,
they circle, the sisters three.

The time has come
to count the living
and choose the dead.

–Tanner Skrocki

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For this shoot, we worked with the delightful Breanne Marie Photography, who captured our visions and pieces through her beautiful photography. The model was the wonderful tattoo artist and model, Poppy Del. Makeup was done by Ashley Skrocki Makeup Artistry.

With the creation of the raven mask for last year’s collection, we wanted to develop a series of raven inspired items. The concept behind the new pieces was to create three different raven characters, similar to the Morrigan from Celtic mythology. The Morrigan, considered a triple goddess composed of three sisters, flies over the battlefield prophesying death. We wanted to create three complete looks that were similar, but distinct enough to stand as individual characters.

Photo by Studio E. Raven mask created in July 2015.

With the first mask already created I styled it with the cuffs and belt / waist-cincher from our 2015 look book. Next I created a feather bib/necklace, made a blue shirt, from some special fabric I had been saving, to bring a bit of colour to the silver and black. The look was finished off with the completion of a velvet cape I had been making for a while. The velvet and the silver part of the skirt is material my mom had in the 80s. I remember making similar outfits for my dolls.

For the next look, I wanted to create a more elaborate version of the leather mask with black feathers featured in our 2015 lookbook, which had sold the previous fall. I redesigned parts of the mask, adding Swarovski crystals, beads, and additional carving to make it stand out.

The shoulder armour was a piece I created in 2015, and I included it to hint at the battlefield the ravens fly over. The armour corset was created for the upcoming 2016 Western Canada Fashion Week and is inlaid with blue black tiger’s eye, further emphasizing the war goddess interpretation. I added a number of pierced layers and detailed hand carving to the front panel of the corset to give it dimension and additional focal points beyond the stones.

The armour style cuffs were also created this year and feature Swarovski crystals, hand carving, and hand painted leather. A blue accent skirt was layered under the black skirts from the 2015 WCFW to carry the blue tones seen in the other photos.

The sterling silver pendant was created shortly before this shoot and has a refined edge that suited the overall look. It was made start to finish in our workshop. First, it was patterned and shaped, then oxidized and pierced, and finally I bezel set the large blue druzy to create a striking focal point.

For the final look, I wanted to show the model’s face. The headpiece is based on one of my mask designs, reimagined as a fantasy kokoshnik style headdress. This headdress can also be created as a mask, and most of our masks can be adapted into headpieces, crowns, or French style hoods, so feel free to email me if you are interested.

These historical headdresses first appeared around the 10th century and originated in Russia. The style became most popular between the 16th and 19th centuries, and variations can be seen throughout Slavic regions. It was a major fashion statement in Russia at the time and is similar to the French hood worn in Tudor England. Toward the end of its popularity, the designs were influenced as much by traditional kokoshnik styles as by Italian Renaissance fashion. I imagined the Morrigan sisters as unmarried and created an open back povyazka, a style of headdress worn by unmarried girls. The piece I created is shaped in a half moon form, although some historical pieces were also made in a crescent shape.

Since I was inspired by the kokoshnik rather than replicating it exactly, I designed it to resemble a crown and added black rooster feathers to symbolize the ravens, which ties into what the Morrigan represents, the phantom queen or great queen. Interestingly, the kokoshnik style has seen a resurgence in recent years through its use in costume design for films and television, including Star Wars and other fantasy and science fiction productions such as Queen of the Damned.

The leather cape is another new piece that took an incredible amount of time to design and create. In motion, the cape resembles wings and has a strong couture feel, making it suitable for both costume and non costume events. For this piece, I used supple garment leather to create the main body and many of the layered details. I designed custom trim, which is stitched and riveted along the front, then made dozens of individual feathers that were carefully stitched into place. Finally, I hand sculpted, carved, and dyed thin vegetable tanned leather to create more structured yet flexible panels for the back shoulder area. This raven cape is one of my favourite pieces, and my husband’s as well.

To complete this look, I added a beak mask I designed in early January, shown here without straps, although straps can be added, along with blue earring inserts and one of my blue druzy wire wraps. For the beak mask, I created many individually shaped feathers from vegetable tanned leather, hand sculpted, dyed, and carved each one. The underside of the beak features an ornate pierced pattern, with silver areas that are hand painted and a black dyed base. The wire wrap is hand sculpted from sterling silver and gold filled wire and features a large blue druzy stone. The model or character is essentially becoming a bird with the costume changes, like how I envisioned it.