This collection was first inspired by Taylor Swifts’ song Love Story. I had always loved the song and had watched the music video a few (okay maybe more than that…) times and just absolutely loved it.  I am working in a career as a costumer for film and theatre, so it only made sense to create a final line meant to be worn on a film set. I love fantasy and because the setting in the music video Love Story inspired me, I decided to do a historically inspired fantasy collection. What really finalized my decision though, was when I heard Love Story Meets Viva La Vida by the Piano Guys. It was the part in the song when Love Story merges into Viva la Vida that sold me.

Designing this collection became another challenge as I had to come up with 24 designs and bring that number down. In the original collection, I had a Jester, Maid, and Wood Elves, which didn’t make it to the second round. By the end I had 24 designs come down to 12 for the collection, and from there, my favorite 5, and finally the 3 that would come down the runway. This was very difficult because as a costume designer, you only really design what is actually going to be used, so I despised the selection process more than anything because I knew my final three outfits from the start, and my other two if I had time (However, that did not happen sadly…).

This selection and design project took 3 months to complete, and was quite demanding mentally. Although I enjoyed it, I still would have wanted to do some more research on my designs, just to make them that much better. I am happy however that I did what I did for my final collection. It was this or men’s wear which would have been cool too, but not as exciting nor as spectacular to see on a runway.

A special thanks goes to my parents and my brother Bram who helped with some of the design decisions.

I’d also like to thank the following members of my crew:

Hairstylist: Arie Janko,

Makeup Artist: Shauna Carveth,

Photographer: Adam Hayward,

Videographers: Jon Mogul and Brittany Allen,

Models: Savannah and Sage Kirk, and Dorothy Dalba.

Special thanks to PR Photography, Pinstripe Productions, and all those who helped at the show!

Without you guys I wouldn’t have been able to achieve what I did, Thank You!