One book can usually be enough to create an image in your head, which will then come to life and change the world of trends. The profession of a designer fits creative people who are fond of fashion trends and have original artistic tastes.

Imagination, that’s what helps people create new products. And how can the creative vision develop best, if not, when reading an exciting book? Reading the description of the characters, a person unconsciously draws their appearance in mind. The created image may not meet the author’s standards, but it will be almost a finished product for the couturier. Books are often considered to be one of the greatest sources of inspiration in the glamorous world of fashion. That is why reading often inspires the creation of new styles.

1. “A Room Of One’s Own” – Virginia Woolf

Reading Virginia Woolf’s books, people quickly plunged into her universe. Her description of details creates vivid images and makes you fall in love with her writing. That is why many creative designers made their masterpieces based on her works.

The author integrated fashion and interior design into creating her “A Room Of One’s Own” (1925). She used those two elements to describe a critical topic-a woman’s place within society. Paying special attention to the smallest details added to create the most complex picture, could not have been ignored by the artists from the fashion world. She was not the only one to do it. In the essay on The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman we can see the similar parallels between the worlds of fashion, literature, and women’s position at the beginning of the 20th century. This way the authors managed to create a powerful image of a woman.

Woolf’s satirical novel “Orlando” is a book that is also worth mentioning when it comes to the sources of fashion inspiration.

2. “Alice in Wonderland” –  Lewis Carroll

The great absurdist fairy tale Alice in Wonderland is embodied in fashion in different ways, whether it’s the punk queen at Vivienne Westwood, the grotesque card prints at Dolce & Gabbana, or the huge hats that drown heads and faces at Marc Jacobs. But, perhaps, the most significant fashion statement on the theme of “Alice” from the book was the Tokyo show of the independent Japanese brand Alice Auaa. Available in just two colors, black and white, ‘Alice in Wonderland in Me’ shows the dark, crazy, and most surreal side of Alice.

3. “Little Mermaid” – Hans Christian Andersen

The little mermaid is the latest trend – you will find such a phrase in fashion magazines or blogs. Silver shimmers and sequins, an abundance of aqua color, mesh materials, and ‘mermaid tail’ silhouettes appeared in the fashion collections every summer.

The underwater world and mermaid models at the Versace 2021 show inspired by mermaid style made an accurate impression by transparent dress style. The show’s scenery was a sandy podium as if on the seabed, bathed in blue light, with fallen columns, dilapidated arches, and the remains of an underwater city. The first looks were similar to what you might wear if you were on the coast, taking business calls between surf sessions: for example, a navy pinstriped blazer was paired with a top and shorts. Vibrant corals, seahorses and tropical fish, and a bunch of starfish with rhinestones were reminiscent of the Trésor de la Mer prints that hit the catwalk in 1992. All of these collections were inspired by the famous book character.

4. “Lord of the Rings” – J. R. R. Tolkien

Elves from The ‘Lord of the Rings’ are frequent images in fashion shows. Light, airy outfits are sewn from light or bright fabrics, decorated with pictures of butterflies, plants, and flowers to create visions. The most common accessories are floral wreaths, sometimes real ones, as in the Rodarte spring-summer 2016 show. Shows in the warm season can be held outdoors, and the podium is covered with moss or grass, as if in a natural forest.

An interesting experiment was conducted by the fashion house Fendi, which set up a glass podium for the show at the Trevi Fountain in Rome. The girls in sheer dresses embroidered with flowers came out of the water and stepped on it – a fabulous impression. The role of fashion shows is to attract the world’s attention to the new collections. Taking inspiration for such ventures from the book “The Lord of the Rings” turned out to be a very successful idea for many designers.

Conclusion

Working in a creative professional environment is a job, not every person can take. Making some unique things is art, and art is not a nine-to-five job. The people who need to be productive and creative at the same time are under a lot of pressure. Turning to all possible sources for inspiration is something they do to keep their work going. Literature in this case is one of the finest choices. Books enhance one’s imagination, distract from the everyday routine, and create the most unexpected pictures in our heads. And the best part-even when several people take inspiration from the same literary works-their works is never the same. To spin a famous quote we may say that art imitates books and books imitate life.