Theme 2... Pride and Prejudice....

 One of the themes that I came up with was Pride and Prejudice, at the moment theres a huge audience for period dramas thanks to recent increasingly popular Tv series: Downton, Death Comes to Pemberly and Ripper Street. I think that the romanticised Pride and Prejudice theme would greatly apply to the 29 year old female target audience specified by Kidston in the brief. I also think that it would enable me to design in a manor that would allow me to really encapsulate her visual style. Class elegance (a requirement alluded to in the brief) thats not too mad and funky (my usual visual design style). Pride & Prejudice is also an iconic British classic so I think it would really allow me to cement the British theme.

 The Pride and Prejudice theme would allow me to incorporate a tea theme thats iconically British another important element of the Cath Kidston Brief although of course I would have to look into the teapots of the early 1800s period in order to preserve visual continuity.

Mr Darcy's house in Pemberly could provide a nice starting point- essentially it would help to generate a sense of location and is large enough design wise to become a main element. I could draw the house in the line style that Kidston employs in the London and London Guards prints which would really  help to clarify the Kidston style. The house itself would also create a nice self contained design that I could repeat at random. 

 I wanted to incorporate some kind of bird into the theme because bird designs are very vintage which relates to the current styles. I initially thought of a swan because swans relate to the queen and the royal family which is obviously British. However I felt that peacocks would be more visually attractive- theres a lot of peacock motifs in fashion at the moment- and the peacock itself has connotations of pride which refers back to Pride & Prejudice.

 Since Britain is known for bad weather I initially wanted to include some kind of umbrella before I realised that it wouldnt fit visually with the early 1800 time era- this then led me to parasols - a lacy umbrella used by respectable ladies in order to preserve the pale complexion associated with the rich. Although I wouldnt use the parasol as a main design I think I could integrate it as a smaller element that offsets the larger design aspects.

 Stamps and silhouettes are also aspects that I could introduce as smaller elements to really indicate a sense of story- Pride & Prejudice revolves around letters to it would be a nice reference to the story. As well as this stamps in my head also make me think of the Royal family which is iconically British.

Overall I am really excited about this theme I think it gives me a whole world to play with and would ensure that I didnt deviate from the Kidston style.