Almira Formal Costume Design

Introducing Almira Shukla Tandon Johar.

Almira was born in 1949 in Infrion, Alta, the third of four daughters. She grew up in a well-to-do but not extravagantly wealthy family of fire Fae. Almira never attended school and was taught by her eldest sister how to read and write Sanskrit. She was the last of her sisters to wed, and certainly the least fortunate.

Almira was wed to Cameron Seventus Aji, general of the revolution and notoriously powerful warlock, in 2008, 33 years after the mysterious disappearance of his first wife, Katarina Shahnaz York. She soon discovered Cameron was not the man she or her parents believed he was. Instead, he proved to be violent, tempermental, and downright sadistic, even toward his three grown sons. For four years now, she has somehow survived the daily abuse. She has yet to bear her husband any children and fears the day she does because once she carries his child, she is bound to him for life.

She has formed a fast friendship with her eldest stepson, Amadeus Aquila (He's actually nine years older than her.), and he does what he can to help her through each day, including teaching her to speak, read, and write English. Cameron hardly ever lets her out of the house and as a result she has few to no friends outside two of her three stepsons.

She is utterly terrified of men and particularly the captain of Cameron's bodyguard, Nexus Alexander Meridius. Cameron does nothing to dispel this fear and even encourages it both with his treatment of her and by feeding her stories and rumors of the men he commands. Almira's fear of men is epitomized in Cameron himself and she will do literally anything to avoid his wrath.

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Alright then. That's a fair bit of rambling, but it's basically accurate if rather vague. I don't think I've ever drawn Almira before this.

This is the beginning of a project involving the design of various outfits for my characters. Almira's here was inspired by Indian saris. Don't ask me how the fabric drapes around her shoulder or how it hangs. I honestly have no clue.