Aluminium bones

Dressing for reverie with Olivia DeJonge

Bathed by sky, in stiletto boots of blue, she builds her fortress. On a bed of black sand, the citadel’s aluminium bones rise à la flame lily tendrils that seek the hidden sun. When the clouds arrive, she’ll know it’s safe to let herself in uninvited. Crossing the threshold she is bejewlled in triangular gemstones born of times since drowned by basaltic lava. There is a chandelier above, heavy under the weight of light and fertile promise. Upstairs, her glass closet will be waiting, impatient for her presence—anchored by anticipation. The room is painted ivory, its windows are cloaked in curtains of ripe black cherries. Reaching the closet she will undress so as to be dressed once again. Her gown, made of midnight, will fall to the floor and melt into a shallow pool of wildflower honey. The dream will end as she zips up the reddest dress and lets down her tousled hair, combing splintered remnants of the black desert from its strands with her naked fingers. This may be a vision that Olivia DeJonge has never had, but beyond the lens of Bec Parsons she is styled by Jessica dos Remedios in the kind of decadence that dreams are made of.

You can read more of Kathryn’s poetry here.

This meditation was first published in issue 27 of LOVE WANT

PHOTOGRAPHS BY BEC PARSONS

STYLIST JESSICA DOS REMEDIOS

MODEL OLIVIA de JONGE

HAIR STYLIST MICHELLE MCQUILLAN at M.A.P.