A glamorous costume designed by Abergavenny designers Charles and Patricia Lester featured in a last week’s episode of the top BBC Saturday night drama Casualty.

Charles and Patricia have an international reputation for their beautifully luxurious outfits for women who appreciate the uniqueness of their bespoke wearable art.

Each piece is crafted individually using techniques that they themselves have developed over the 50 plus years that they have been in this business. Each piece of cloth is painted by hand before being silk screen printed and/or hand pleated after which it is carefully cut, stitched and beaded into wonderfully sophisticated and elegant gowns and outfits.

No strangers to the world of film and television, Charles and Patricia were delighted when they were approached to provide something extra special for Casualty’s guest star Rula Lenska.

From the elegant outfits created for the Oscar nominated "Wings of the Dove" to the less elaborate costumes for the recent horror film "Heretiks" and now "Casualty", this is just an example of how varied and interesting the world of costume design can be and the diversity of the work that the Lesters do.

In last weekend’s episode of the hit drama Rula Lenska played the part of a glamorous socialite Vera Vintner who was due to go to a very elegant event when she met with - yep you’ve guessed it - an accident and ended up in the casualty ward.

That I’m afraid was all that we knew before hand other than being reassured that special effects blood etc. would not damage our silk dress or velvet coat,” said Georgina Lester.

“Rula was wearing a silk ‘Jeanette Dress’ in ‘Sedona Red’ which is not too dissimilar to the style of dresses worn by Helena Bonham Carter and Charlotte Rampling in "Wings of the Dove". It is made using the Lester hallmark hand pleated silk for which they are most well known,” she added

The velvet "Symphony coat" is a wonderfully sumptuous patchwork creation in mixed purples, blues with highlights of ginger which complemented the russet tones of both Rula’s luxurious red hair and the red of the dress. Judging by the feedback from the "Casualty" team, the outfit was both loved and appreciated,” said Georgina

“It is clear that this is a momentous time for all the team at "Casualty" and we were delighted to see Rula in her star guest role,” she added.