Debutantes of 2010: Backstage at the Queen Charlotte's Ball

The Ball was held at the Treasury House, Inner Temple which was a wonderful setting and, to my delight, housed a huge variety of art work from centuries past to the present day. I was particularly taken with some pastel/conte crayon portraits.
I thought that I would do a post of some of the pictures I took during the afternoon and leading into the evening so you could have a good look at the lovely dresses and jewellery. Provided by Pronovias and Mikimoto respectively dress and jewels were picked to suit each deb and I think the combinations worked out perfectly. So here is the prettyness itself:

I love how the crinkled layers of fabric on my dress remind me of petals, and my jewellery set was 'rose blossom'- very much in tune with my floral obsession.

A spritz from Clive Christen perfume:

So much fabric! These dresses are extremely beautiful, but they are not easy to manouvre in, especially as there were just so many of them!

Part of the reason behind my taking quite so many photos- there are many, many more where these came from- is that I will be using them in my Fine Art coursework. I'm going to be looking at John Singer Sargent's society portraits but also Degas' work which has a less set up, more personal feel. I'm really looking forward to doing an oil painting of this photo as I just love the fabric of this particular dress and how it falls, the pose is perfect too.

It's amazing to be a part of something steeped in so much tradition, and of course you don't get many opportunities to wear a wedding dress, particularly without finding a fiancé first! I had the most incredible time both at this event and throughout the London Season, and I'm really grateful to have been a part of it. In a few days I'll do another post with some photos from later in the evening.