Research for Diana dress: structure, nature

At the moment, my designs for the Diana dress are a bit unclear; I know what I want to show, but I'm not sure what the best way is to show it.

Themes for my Diana dress:

- Power

- Structure

- Goddess of the Hunt

- Nature / natural

- How she HAS to act as a goddess, she has to accept the power of her title

- Femininity and shape

- Vulnerability when Acteon comes across her bathing

I want to incorporate these themes, possibly not all of them, and I have ideas of what the garment would look like...but I'm not sure how I'd be able to create the extravagance from my mind in reality.

So I though it might be time for some research...I've been looking at structured garments on Google and found some interesting stuff! Mainly corsets to emphasise small waists and some have added structure around the hips to make them more defined. There are also some images of nature inspired dresses, using sticks and flowers for embellishment.

I want to create this kind of structure in my garment, to show Diana's strength and femininity.

Really like this because one, I love corsets, and two, it doesn't just look like a normal corset, it makes the hips look bigger too, which is obviously a bonus from just emphasizing the small waist.

This isn't just a normal ball gown! Look at those hips! Probably some form of bustle to achieve that? Maybe that's something I could include in my designs?

I like how the silver front piece doesn't appear to be directly on the front of her body like you'd expect, a little quirky and different, yet still has the structure, just off centre a bit!

This one is just amazing, the structure and emphasised waist and hips and shoulders...just wow! Really love this! Also it's a big contrast to the fluffy shawl / shrug she's wearing. Like a contrast of hard, man made metal to something soft and natural.

On the subject of corsets, this is beautiful! The detailing is so intricate which is really nice and the flowing bits of net or maybe organza are a great contrast to the stiffness and structure of the corset. Very old and natural looking, would love to create something along these lines...not sure that I'm skilled enough though unfortunately!

These costumes are really lovely and remind me of forest nymphs and fairies. The stiff corsets again contrast to the flowing skirts and the embellishments are really stunning. These are beautiful costumes but don't look "costumey", if you know what I mean? For example they could easily be simplified into quirky summer garments suitable for upper high street shops.

This is something I found on Pinterest, probably not wearable but really interesting with the sticks forming the skirt, really plain and simple, clearly running on a nature theme. The artists name is Katsura Takasuka and the collection this is from is called 'The Clothes of the Earth'.