In Aubrey Beardsley’s painting, “The Peacock Skirt”, two females are depicted in which sly, mischievous expressions are worn upon their faces. One female is garmented in what seems to be a peacock gown of some sort while the other female looks as though she’s dressed in a more raged gown. The image tells a short story. As the fancier dressed woman flaunts herself before the other she wears a grimace. The expression, in fact, takes the attention away from the feathery gown as she seems to be looking down on the girl beside her. The image somewhat alludes to the well-known fable, Cinderella, due to the idea that expense does not disguise ugliness. However, this version of Cinderella seems unlikely to conclude positively. As a flawless peacock flaunts its feathers in the distance beside the elegantly dressed woman, an arrangement of knives hang near the other female’s grasp.
My group created a new image, stealing the most precious pieces from Beardley’s painting. The idea in creating this image was to draw a new meaning to the peacock feathers. In doing so a beautiful, yet unusual, tree was formed. We used the most elegant part of the gown to form a heavy stalk while using the crown from the female’s head as a blossoming overtop. Cradled in the stalk is a form of a carriage. The newly generated image depicts a much calmer mystical tale. The symmetry throughout the image is strong, suggesting wisdom. The tree in itself is a strong form of life and the baby carriage only adds to its form.
–Malarie Williams
