I first stumbled upon this collection of portraits by Australian Alexia Sinclair in Harpers Bazaar back in 2007 after it won the Harper's BAZAAR & Canon Fashion Photography Award, I was instantaneously drawn in.

The collection is titled “The Regal Twelve” and is absolutely phenomenal on so many different levels. The series depicts twelve of history’s most powerful women combining photography, fashion, illustration and symbolic historical references, aldigitally enhanced as a montage of the many artistic processes it took to create the images.

I could talk about these photos for hours. I think that I love them because they are so—for lack of a better word —magical. Yes, magical and kick-ass. They are absolutely stunning and fairy-tale like, and the aesthetics and lighting is pretty much dead on. However, the fact that they are so tweaked and perfected is where some might disagree on the degree of their perfection.

A friend of mine who is a photographer (and prefers old school methods of photography, a.k.a., the dark room) thinks that the Photoshop effects are a bit over the top. While yes, these images were obviously digitally manipulated (I only had a few minor critiques of my own for the photos), does it make them any less captivating? It takes as much time and creativity (arguably, maybe even more time) to create something that is just as original and breathtaking as any good ol' photograph.

Sinclair puts it best:

"My influences range from Botticelli and de' Medici circle to contemporary couture fashion designers such as John Galliano and Alexander McQueen. All of the portraits are inspired by the styles and fashions of each monarch and are reinterpreted into a contemporary visual narrative."

The impression that I have is exactly that. These images are supposed to have a modern feel. And in our day and age, that means using technology to our advantage. I don’t think that it compromises in the slightest what the images are about. The Regal collection includes Queen Elizabeth (The Virgin Queen), Eleanor of Aquitaine (The Eagle), Marie Antoinette (The Extravagant Queen) and Isabella of Spain (The Catholic)-- all pictured here.

Sinclair is currently working on a follow-up series called “The Royal Dozen”, which “closely follows the themes and styles of the Regals with the incorporation of a few new twists.”