Most often forget the role that Venus had to play in the war of Troy, or in the life of Helene of Troy. The story of the Trojan War begins with an argument amongst Venus, and 2 other goddesses, over an apple that was to be given to the ‘fairest’ amongst them. To resolve the discord, a mortal man was chosen to deal a fair judgement. Each goddess offered him a bribe to sway his judgement in their favour: Venus offered the most beautiful woman in the entire world - and the mortal was swayed. He lunged at the opportunity for love, and the trophy of parading around a beautiful creature that belonged solely to him, and Venus put her plan into play- manipulating Helen of Troy’s life with the end goal being to hypnotise her into falling in love with the mortal man. 
 
And such was the tale of one of the most ridiculed, criticized, shamed women in history - to have been handheld down a path by powers significantly greater than anything she had ever imagined. Free will? Non-existent. While laying tributes to all the women that history has wronged, we name this dress after Helen of Troy, and the apple that wrote her fate, and the goddess that cast her to her own doom with nary a say nor a thought of her own will, and therefore, Melon speaks to freedom, to exploration, to movement and choice. 
 
Melon is a bias-cut slip dress with detailed fluid ruffling at the neck and the sleeves. The ruffles offer a ribbon to be tied into a bow, which we make the choice to leave free, allowing the wearer to determine their own fate, unlike the choice that Helene had. Wrapped around the body and on each sleeve, are haphazard sprinklings of embroidered ribbons, inspired by doodles made by one of our staff members when the narrative of Birth of Venus was being explained to him. We felt that this embodied the spirit of óasi, and carried on the story of how Venus, or in our eyes, the Pearl,  influenced the life of one of our heroines.
 
Colourway: Olive green with embroidered multi-coloured accents. 
Fit: Body Skimming. Dress ends at ankle.
Fabric Composition:
Body: Jute and Rayon blend
Ruffles: 100% Viscose Chiffon 
 
dry clean only