After a year of adversity and adaptation, we’re elated to announce that our second ship, Valiant Lady, will be hitting the water with a bold splash in 2022. Heading out from Portsmouth, UK to Europe on 3-night, 11-night and 12-night voyages — her sailings will be filled with sundrenched days and moonlit moments in the most gorgeous islands and cities throughout Spain, Portugal, Belgium, and the Canary Islands.
With late-night and overnight stays in Málaga, Palma de Mallorca, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Lisbon, and Zeebrugge, she’ll sail through Europe seeing the nights come vibrantly alive and watching as the sun gently rises in the morning — giving you, our Sailors, the most immersive experiences possible in each destination.
Like Scarlet Lady who came before her, Valiant Lady features a new, strong, and gorgeous mermaid at the helm — which we couldn’t be more excited to reveal. Created by artist Hillary Wilson, the mermaid represents the beautiful tension between strength and vulnerability; a woman who is unafraid of her own power and never backs down. For Hillary, valiance is the balance between the two, and she created a gorgeous mermaid who encompasses the energy of a woman moving confidently forward toward her dreams.
Hillary’s background is in both classical art as well as medical drawing — allowing her to pull from two sides; one that’s more creative and less exact, and the other which is, well, extremely precise. That dynacism resulted in a mermaid that proudly looks like a real woman; a work of art that celebrates the human form in all its glory.
For Hillary, who is the kind of artist you dream of interviewing (kindness and talent abound), she’s inspired by the diversity of people and faces in the world that she has an opportunity to paint. It drives and inspires her creative process. She explained, ”The breath of people that live and exist in the world — I feel so lucky that I get to experience them and create art from them. How lucky are we to get to paint all these kinds of people? To rejoice in all the kinds of people that exist and all the ways you can draw them.”
At the onset, we knew we wanted an inclusive group of mermaids that reflect and celebrate diversity, and Hillary knew this was important to our brand. She expressed that she generally tends to draw her subjects as Black, if not otherwise specified, noting, “you don’t need permission to make someone Black.” But the truth is that culturally, we are used to seeing our models, our brand logos, and our depictions of people as predominantly white. And that’s something that we need to be purposeful about changing so that we can reflect the real, beautiful, and dynamic world we live in — allowing more than just white people to take up spaces; seeing only themselves and their stories represented.
We’re so thrilled for the world to finally come aboard and see Valiant Lady; from the mermaid who adorns her to the cities and islands she’ll travel to. We’ve never felt more confident about our future and seeing our dreams come to life with her in 2022.
