"A bride's wreath and veil..."

Lady Silverson is as beautiful as she is mysterious. After the death of her first husband, a Chinese lord, under "circumstances unknown," she became betrothed and later wed an equally mysterious foreigner from the West by the name of Julius Augustus Silverson, an art dealer and a society blackmailer from England, some two years later. However, this caused suspicion because a widow was to withdraw from official life and commit herself to a formal mourning period was three years, not two. Nevertheless, their wedding was elaborate and ceremonial where there was no hit of Europeanism in the proceedings. When arranged marriages were still a faithful tradition, the bridegroom would never have seen his bride, who would have a thick red veil, until after the ceremony. Being a foreigner, switching the brides before the "I do" were uncommon but possible, so the two prepared a signal. When their hands met for the first time ever, the bride rub the side of Silverson's finger three times, and indeed, it was her. Here you see Lady Silverson after the directly after the ceremony where Silverson lifted veil of his bride, the nobly titled Lady Silverson, in the nuptial chamber which was dimly lit by red lanterns.

As tradition of a bride, Lady Silverson wore red with gold trimming with the motifs of shuang xi in gold as well. Her headdress was of pearls and gold beads, with the immortal phoenix perched upon her hair. This is vision that Julius Augustus Silverson gazed upon those years ago, remembering very sound and smell and touch, with all the passion and love which flooded his heart.

(The Chinese character for happiness, hsi or xi, but double happiness, or shuang xi, signifies good fortune and ultimate joy for the newlyweds, ensuring a happy, auspicious future.)

Models - Gong Li

Medium - Col-erase red.

Lady Silverson © Diane N. Tran.