Romance and the Mythic West

Even though Coppia del West isn’t quite finished yet, I’m just too excited about this new invitation design. Like Playa D’oro, Coppia del West celebrates the Mythic West: a time and place that never really existed (which makes it perfect material for Royal Steamline creations!).

Like most RS designs, Coppia draws inspiration from a variety of sources. However, one source in particular fascinates me: Puccini’s La fanciulla del West. It’s an Italian interpretation of the American idealized “West” — fifty years before the advent of the Spaghetti Western! Life, love and death are exaggerated as only opera can. And from the title alone, it’s inferred that the concept of a mythological “West” existed over 100 years ago. Amazing!

So as the strains of Spindrift‘s “The New West” mix with Puccini’s arias here in the RS Studio, we will soon post a finished version of Coppia del West.

Oh, one more thing. I tagged this post as Groom Style because I wanted to share another movie with grooms-to-be that inspires our invitations: Death Rides a Horse. If you are at all a fan of the genre, have a look at this great film. Directed by Giulio Petroni (and not Leone), it’s dropped off the radar of many fans. But I would encourage you to give it a chance. Interestingly, there are no female characters in the whole movie. As such, it’s more of study of men, the father/son relationship, and the patience and wisdom that comes with age. And somewhere in there is a message or two for men starting a new chapter in their lives as married men.

And Lee Van Cleef is twice the man at 43 than you or I were at 23.

In Death Rides a Horse, he shows us that proper grooming should never be neglected, even in the West.

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UPDATE: Here is the finished invitation!

See the entire Coppia del West invitation suite here!