Frances is quiet and meek, but behind her mousy exterior is a brilliantly talented mind for design. The illustrations in this graphic novel help the dresses Frances creates to shine and flow beautifully. Sebastian is also quiet and reserved, until he puts on Frances' dresses and becomes a bold, confident Lady. He feels more himself, more powerful, more glamourous. Each of the beautiful, colourful dresses that Frances designs tells a part of the story. Whether the dress is armor for Sebastian to feel safe and himself, or when he needs to fight, or black in a moment of sadness, anger and despair, or even whimsical roses while on vacation. Sebastian and Frances have a lovely friendship. Frances never makes Sebastian feel other, she simply asks him why and listens to his reasoning. She then helps to make him feel more himself, encouraging, accepting, and loving him. She knows how to highlight his personality, both dressed as Lady Crystallia and dressed as Prince Sebastian. The only thing that comes between these two is fear, fear of revealing themselves to the world. Sebastian's fear of being discovered makes him want to hide Frances and hinder her career/dreams. While Frances lives in fear of her work not being good enough or accepted by society, allowing others to interject what she should do with her work, stifling her creativity and confidence. This graphic novel is all about accepting who we are, about revealing ourselves to others even when we are scared. The book is about finding others who will believe in us or who will love us no matter what. It is about growing and learning to let go. Sebastian's parents learn to love him for who he is, realizing he has always been perfect to them, no matter how he wishes to express himself. The book shows that sometimes when we are brave enough to be ourselves, the world is brave enough to change along with us.
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