A Wonderful Illustrator

Her name is Rebecca Dautremer. Before yesterday I didn't know she existed. Or so I thought. I've always loved the packaging for the perfume Flower by Kenzo. A bright red poppy on a skinny white box and on a tall skinny bottle. I bought my first Flower back in '03 on a trip to Paris as I fell in love with its powdery scent. Years later, I remember seeing it wrapped in new packaging and thought it was beautiful. Too bad I had way too many bottles of perfume at that point... It wouldn't have been right to buy another.

I was at a library yesterday, taking pictures of the architecture (see previous post) when I wandered into the children's section. On my way out I quickly glanced back to take one more picture. In the viewfinder I noticed a book...the illustration on the cover was so irresistibly beautiful I had to pick it up. I quickly skimmed the pages and took it with me.

So what does one thing have to do with the other? Well, it turns out that the wonderful illustrations in this book are by a French illustrator named Rebecca Dautremer, the same artist who was among two others picked to design the limited editions of Kenzo's Flower back in '06.

One look at Rebecca's illustrations and you're hooked. Every one of them is as is exquisite as the next, filled with delicate details. Princesas olvidadas o desconocidas, the book I picked up, translates to Princesses Forgotten or Unknown, is written by Philippe Lechermeier and it's just as outstanding as the illustrations themselves. Fortunately for those who don't read Spanish, Portuguese or French, the book is scheduled to be released in English sometime...