The 'Divine Curiosity' collection explores the beauty and importance of intuition and curiosity. Made in Somerset, England from 100% cotton. Each skirt was originally screen printed by hand in England in an array of bright colours. Our new collection draws inspiration from curiosity and its importance, influencing everything from the iconography to the colour palettes of each of the four skirts.
Cesare Ripa, a Renaissance iconographer depicted Curiosity (Curiosità) as being a wild-haired, winged woman, with arms widely raised and a quizzical expression on her face in Iconologia, an encyclopaedia of iconography. First published in 1593, the work was published with illustrations in 1603 and became incredibly influential in the 17th and 18th centuries across many artistic practices.
In many copies of Iconologia, the text below the woodcut image of Curiosity reads – 'Curiosity is the unbridled desire of those who seek to know more than they should'.
One of our biggest sources of inspiration for the Divine Curiousity collection is a folktale that has been passed down through the centuries, Bluebeard. The story was written by Charles Perrault and included in Histoires ou Contes du Temps Passé, a collection of literary fairy tales first published by Barbin in Paris in 1697.
Bluebeard's dark and gruesome plot entails a young girl (named Jeanette in many versions), who is seduced into marriage by a rich and terrifying nobleman, whose previous wives have all mysteriously vanished. The nobleman leaves for a trip, instructing his young wife to not go into one particular room of the château or suffer his wrath.
Her apprehension of her husband's intimidating command coupled with her natural curiosity, however, leads her to decide to find out what lies behind the locked door. Upon entering the room she finds it slick with blood and the corpses of all Bluebeard's previous wives hanging on the walls.
Upon her husband's return, he finds the key bloodied from his wife dropping it in shock. Her husband is enraged and she asks for one prayer with her sister before he kills her. Then, as he is about to deliver the fatal blow, her sister and the wife's brothers arrive and kill Bluebeard. Leaving Jeannette to inherit his house and fortune.
Similar to a myriad of other fairytales, Bluebeard was created with the intent of warning young girls of the consequences of giving into their 'overactive' curiosities and intuitive nature, as well as disobeying authority (in this case her husband/men).
The question is raised as to whether the moral of the tale is really either: to obey and live in blissful ignorance suppressing a women's capacity to question and doubt, or to use your curiosity to potentially save yourself? Although Jeanette could have been safe from the threat of death if she had obeyed Bluebeard, this would not have changed her circumstances or would not have made her husband less of a threat.
