After page after page of sketches and imaginative meanderings through the fragments of her psyche, Solovieva arrives at a concrete mood and concept for her printed silk fabrics or the direction she wants to take with her highly feminine, dream-like sensibility. The results resemble something that a Russian princess might wear if she ran away to the Ural mountains or decided to take up lute playing in a gold leaf forest.

"I should have brought my sketchbooks," said Solovieva as she spreads her hands wide to emphasize their thickness at a preview of her Fall 2009 collection in New York on Wednesday, Feb. 25. She takes in elements from her environment - she's based in London - like a brooch of a deer she found at Portobello Market that she then turns into a photocopy-like print, and she also explores a breadth of cultural references, from the icons of saints from her native Russia to Dutch lithographs of landscapes. She's especially fond of Russian fairytales.

But, she said, "It's not a direct reference. I don't like to be straightforward. It's more reflective."