Contemporary Royalty

    For my contemporary portrait that shows royalty I decided to use one of my favourite fashion brands, Dolce and Gabbana. If anyone has been their runway shows or fashion editorials you'll know that the majority of them follow this trend of baroque which I really relate to royalty.
    Baroque is often thought of as a period of artistic style that used motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension and energy in sculpture, painting, architecture, literature, dance and music. The style began around 1600 in Rome which explains why Italian designers Domenico Dolce and Stafano Gabbana incorporate their heritage into their work and baroque was also created around the same time is Queen Elizabethans era and before the Renaissance.
    Another reason why I associate baroque with royalty is because they always have crowns which is symbol of royalty and their use of Monreale's famous Byzantine and Venetian mosaics bring a romanticised view of the Catholic Church which also explains their use of decorative crosses throughout their designs and adverts. Roses are another form is symbolism that Dolce and Gabbana use, but more specifically red and white roses. Red roses mean true love and whits is silent or innocent, wistfulness, virtue, purity, secrecy, reverence and humility which sums up Queen Elizabeth herself, another colour scheme they use on their flowers is red and white together which symbolise united which relates to the Renaissance.

    Celebrities have also adopted this desire to be royalty and have expressed this though advertisements for their world tour to perfumes. I think this really shows the impact that Queen Elizabeth has had on all classes around the world and everyone has a different image of what they see as royalty, for example look at the difference between Beyonce and Katy Perry's promo pictures, they each have a different view on Queen Elizabeth and have thrown in their own spin on the look. Katy's look is so much more simpler yet saturated with colour compared to Beyonce's where she is dressed head to toe in pure gold, however they do have many things in common too such as their sceptre which has also been adapted to suit their own person image, and their crown to really finish off the whole royal look to their campaign.