Alexandre Mazel, the photographer, brought me to a garden island on the Seine in the Paris suburbs.

It was the first day of July in Paris, and blazing hot. I wished I could swim in the nearby Seine, but instead I went to a swimming pool next to the Père Lachaise cemetery after this photo shoot.

One of the outfits I wore was quite very classically Steampunk, as an homage to an early French precursor of Steampunk, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea by Jules Verne.

You can see I managed to capture a Kraken, on this nice Melisandre black blouse by Red Queen Black Legion.

My favourite sea monster is still here obviously, the Octopus ring from Edemonium Bijoux.

I guess I was thinking about the time I saw a giant squid in the Natural History Museum in London. I had read Kraken by China Miéville, where the main protagonist works in the Darwin Centre of the Natural History Museum and Archie, the preserved Architeuthis aka Giant Squid, disappears. When I learnt it was an actual thing, I knew I had to see it for myself. I strongly recommend the Spirit Collection tour!

I also quite like this khaki and dark brown underbust corset from Burleska, with the nice metal busk and the side lacing. I can’t find the reference but they sell the same corset in an overbust version.

Should I dance with Lucille and Francoeur, the characters of the awesome animation movie A Monster in Paris, a story loosely based on the Phantom of the Opera and that takes place during the Paris Flood of 1910. Quite spookily, I watched this movie when I was spending a weekend in Paris just before the 2016 flood.

I would recommend this movie and its music:

Quite fittingly as we’re talking about the river Seine, I’m wearing the Morticia mermaid skirt from Restyle Clothing, sadly out of stock.

On the land though, my well old New Rock boots are more useful.

I’m also wearing some vintage H&M rings, a top hat bought from the alternative shop Kaki in Le Mans. I don’t know where the goggles come from.

Pictures by Alexandre Mazel, except for the giant squid.

References

👗 shirt by @rqblsteampunk
skirt by @restyle.pl
underbust corset by @burleska_corsets

💍long metal rings with black inserts by @hm
Octopus ring by @edemonium_bijoux

👠 Boots by @newrock

🎩 Top Hat bought at @kakilemans

👁️ Ruddy eyeshadow from @maccosmetics
Mildew eyeshadow from @urbandecaycosmetics
Tattoo liner in trooper from @katvondbeauty
Perversion mascara from @urbandecaycosmetics

💄 Everlasting liquid lipstick in Witches by @katvondbeauty
Everlasting glimmer veil in Dazzle from @katvondbeauty

😊 Lock it foundation by @katvondbeauty