Character Study: Denise Lovett

Denise Lovett is the main protagonist in “The Paradise”, BBC’s drama about England’s first department store in the late 1800s. Having come from a small town in Scotland, Denise takes on a job as a shopgirl at the Paradise. With her brilliant ideas and ambition, she overcomes difficulty against her supervisor, jealous coworker, and most importantly the difficulty of managing her growing feelings towards Mr. Moray, the owner. At the end of the series, she decides to start her own beauty business from her uncle's shop, independent from the shadows of Mr. Moray. 

In the late 1800s,  being pale was considered “in” as darker skins were signs of manual labor. In the following,  I recreated some of the products that Denise would have handpicked from all over the world to sell at her store; "Safe" arsenic wafers, skin whitener, and face powder. Also displayed are the purchase invoice and an ad that she would have put up in her neighborhood.