Melusina

The Founding Legend of Luxembourg

In the year 963, Count Siegfried built the castle of Lucilinburhuc, the cradle from which the city of Luxembourg would rise.
Legend tells that the fortress was erected for Melusina, a mysterious woman he encountered near the cliffs of the Bock.

Melusina agreed to marry him under two conditions:
that she would never be forced to leave the rock, and that she would never be seen on Saturdays.

For many years, the couple lived in harmony and had seven children.
But one day, consumed by doubt and jealousy, Siegfried peered through a keyhole.

There he discovered Mélusine bathing — revealing her true nature:
half woman, half fish.

Betrayed, Melusina vanished into an abyss that opened beneath her feet, disappearing forever.

Legend says she still weaves a shirt in the depths of the rock, adding one stitch every seven years.
The day the garment is finished, her curse will finally be lifted.

A Contemporary Interpretation

A powerful, elusive and sovereign feminine figure, Melusina embodies mystery, independence and the very origin of a city.

To honour this European legend rooted in Luxembourg, Kyō invited French illustrator Cassandre Montoriol to reinterpret the myth through her delicate and poetic universe.

Her illustration — embroidered onto an ethereal organza bag created with Brigitte Tanaka — portrays a Melusina both fragile and resolute:
a silent guardian of Luxembourg, suspended between water and stone, myth and city.

A Piece of Living Memory

This organza bag is more than an accessory.

Created in collaboration with Brigitte Tanaka, it becomes a fragment of story, a symbol of free femininity, and a poetic keepsake of Luxembourg — light as air, yet deeply rooted in legend.

Launched to celebrate International Women’s Day, this piece honours a mythical woman who chose freedom over captivity, mystery over submission, and whose spirit still lingers in the city’s foundations.

Why “Do Not Look at Me”?

The embroidered phrase “Do Not Look at Me” lies at the heart of the legend.

Mélusine asked only one thing of her husband:
never to look at her on Saturdays.

On that day she returned to her true nature — both human and aquatic.

By breaking this promise, Siegfried did more than betray his wife.
He shattered the fragile balance between love and trust, between the visible and the unseen.

“Do Not Look at Me” therefore becomes more than a warning.

It is a declaration of autonomy.
The right to preserve one’s mystery, intimacy and inner world.

Through this embroidery, Cassandre Montoriol’s Melusina emerges as a feminine figure who remains sovereign over her own story.

Discover more of Cassandre Montoriol’s work here ✨