Photograph from Vogue UK March 2008 Kate Moss by Craig McDean.

Photographs from Elle US February 2008.

If Madame Miuccia Prada says jump…who are we not to follow her? By we I mean the editors and fashion fans worldwide, we who digest or reject ideas and trends twice a year (resort and pre-fall not included). The fairies trend has caught on, it being very editorial friendly. The one dreamy, sheer dress (in best cases a Prada ss08 one), a model with romantic long locks and eyes, place into the woods and there you have it: the fashion fairy. Story told nice and easy, not exactly imaginative, is it? Evidently, the message counts and I’m all for a romantic, eerie look for next summer.

More amazing is the Prada short film “Trembled Blossoms” which I’m sure you have seen by now (if not, click here to watch it). Do read to full post to learn more about fairies and look at modern-day ones: the “lost girl in the woods” type of fairy.

Vogue Nippon March 2008 cover and photographs from different editorials;

<<A fairy (also fay, fey, fae, faerie) is the name given to a type of mythological being or legendary creature, a form of nature spirit, often described as metaphysical, supernatural or preternatural. The concept of fairies is based on the fae of medieval Western European (Old French) folklore and romance. Fairies are often identified with a variety of beings of other mythologies. Even in folklore that uses the term “fairy,” there are many definitions of what constitutes a fairy. The term only describes a specific type of more ethereal creature. Fairies are generally described as human in appearance and having magical powers. Their origins are less clear in the folklore, being variously the dead, or some form of angel, or a species completely independent of humans or angels. Folklorists have suggested that their actual origin lies in a conquered race living in hiding. Many folktales are told of fairies, and they appear as characters in stories from medieval tales of chivalry, to Victorian fairy tales, and up to the present day in modern literature.>>

Editorial published in Vogue Nippon March 2008;

• << One popular belief was that they were the dead, or some subclass of the dead.

• Some hold that the Catholic concept of Purgatory was an invention to appease converts who believed “The Land of Fae” was the home of the souls of the dead, said realm being co-existent with, but separate from, the world of the living and which could only be seen by those gifted with an ability known as the “second sight”Another view held that the fairies were an intelligent species, distinct from humans and angels. In alchemy in particular they were regarded as elementals, such as gnomes and sylphs, as described by Paracelsus. This is uncommon in folklore, but accounts describing the fairies as “spirits of the air” have been found popularly.
• A third belief held that they were a class of “demoted” angels. One popular story held that when the angels revolted, God ordered the gates shut; those still in heaven remained angels, those in hell became devils, and those caught in between became fairies.
• Others held that they had been thrown out of heaven, not being good enough, but they were not evil enough for hell. This may explain the tradition that they had to pay a “teind” or tithe to Hell. As fallen angels, though not quite devils, they could be seen as subject of the Devil.
• A fourth belief was the fairies were devils entirely. This belief became much more popular with the growth of Puritanism. The hobgoblin, once a friendly household spirit, became a wicked goblin. Dealing with fairies was in some cases considered a form of witchcraft and punished as such in this era.
• A less-common belief was that the fairies were actually humans; one folktale recounts how a woman had hidden some of her children from God, and then looked for them in vain, because they had become the hidden people, the fairies. This is parallel to a more developed tale, of the origin of the Scandinavian huldra. >>

Editorial from Jalouse February 2008. Looks like a nowadays fairy to me.

[image credits: scans from tfs; wikipedia]