Mills & Boon covers inspire self-portrait project

They're dated, oddly posed, and rendered in a range of ghastly pastel colours. But the jacket illustrations of Mills & Boon romances from 20 years ago have inspired artist Alex Holder, who has recreated a range of them in self-portraits staged with the help of boyfriend Ross Neil and photographer Oli Kellett.

Holder's homage to the kitsch images once deemed the perfect illustrations of love stories for Mills & Boon's dedicated fans was created as part of the W Project for International Women's Day.

The work includes Holder kneeling on an artificial beach in a questionable mint-green jumpsuit, gazing rapturously at a seashell with her boyfriend – recreating the original image for Miriam McGregor's 1991 novel Master of Marshlands. Other images show her being clutched masterfully by the neck in front of pyramids for Jessica Steele's A First Time for Everything from 1990 (Josslyn is looking for excitement in her life, so a sudden assignment to Egypt is a lovely surprise – but not so lovely as her new boss Thane Addison); and grappling her boyfriend at an uncomfortable-looking angle, blonde hair rippling against a background of rural fields, for Valerie Marsh's "passionate story of love overshadowed by memories of the past", Dark Obsession, from 1985.

"There's nothing we like more than nearly kissing each other near some horses," muses Holder, who is an art director for advertising agency Wieden+Kennedy in London, of her romantic life with her boyfriend.

Mills & Boon's head of marketing Oliver Rhodes welcomed the homages. "Our covers have always captured contemporary fashions and styles from our classic 1960s book jackets to our newest range, Riva," he said. "It's great to see that Mills & Boon's iconic covers continue to inspire the art world."