The Drowned DresS

Return to Lyonesse: storytelling in costume and accessory.


Image of Barbara's 'Drowned Dress'

Barbara’s dress for Return to Lyonesse was a special commission for the show,  designed and created by Morrigan Palmer Brown, owner of The March Hare in Looe.


During the story the tension progressively rises until the final dramatic scenes. Morrigan took that idea - The Storm is Coming - from the video trailer for Return to Lyonesse and chose a fabric the colour of a sunset over which storm clouds are gathering.

The chiffon silk print pattern suggests the trees of the submerged forest and the fish swimming amongst them, as foretold in the story’s prophecy.


In the tale an ancient ballad echoes the prophecy and uses the story's motif of wild strawberries, an idea expressed in the delicate glass bead decoration and jewellery commissioned from Claire Morris of Rowanberry Designs.

Together dress and decoration echo some of the story's striking motifs, so that as the harpist creates musical images of a lost world, so her dress reflects those images.



The March Hare

www.marchharevintage.co.uk

Rowanberry Designs

www.rowanberrydesigns.co.uk

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