Flower Petal Fashion Illustrations by Grace Ciao

[all photos via GraceCiao.com]

Signs of spring? We have quite a ways to go before the ground thaws and the first blooms burst through, but Grace Ciao is giving us a reminder of things to come. The Singapore fashion illustrator dreams up original gowns by laying flower petals atop her sketches, using marker and water color only sparingly.

The process, Ciao says, helps her visualize prints she otherwise wouldn't have imagined, but her signature style came about purely by accident: A gift of a red rose began to wilt, and Ciao integrated the flower into her sketches in an attempt to preserve it.

These illustrations come from Ciao's website, but her Instagram account is the real gem, filled with more dreamy illustrations and photos of her process.