By Stephanie Warren

Creativity often requires a vessel, an enigmatic being with perpetual intrigue, from which fresh concepts will naturally seed and spawn.

The muse is an inspiration-apparition and can be quite startling, which was just the case for Stéphane Rolland on meeting Fan Bingbing.

On the Chinese superstar, the couturier with the royal touch says: 

“All magical tales begin somewhere. Picture the Parisian morning summer sunshine.

"At eleven o'clock a swan alights before me. Fan Bingbing is quite unsettling.

"Not because she's already a living legend to an unfathomable audience. Not because of the styled elegance one would expect of a dynastic scion. 

"But only because as our discussion unfolds, dancing around our respective passions, I observe her innate grace: humble yet aware. I am soothed and ultimately spellbound by little neck and hand movements. A face marble-sculpted, skin silk-transparent, a mane full, black and lush.

"The encounter peaks with an epiphany bubbling in my vision: a bridal gown where from delicacy springs an audacious strength – made just for Fan. Perhaps this is where the magic in a story should commence.”

See more photos from Stéphane Rolland's Fall/Winter 2012/2013 Haute Couture fashion show.