Recently, disney debuted their redesign of some of the princesses costumes, which sent some people into a frenzy ( including myself ) for the right reasons.
The main uproar was on princess jasmine's new look, before I get into the rant here is what the new one looks like ( right ) compared to the old one ( left ) :
The main uproar was on princess jasmine's new look, before I get into the rant here is what the new one looks like ( right ) compared to the old one ( left ) :
Obviously there are a lot of different angles to argue about this new redesign.
one argument for the redesign is that it is more accurate towards the Arabian culture that jasmine descends from, the fact that originally she has her stomach on full display isn't accurate at all to her ethnicity and how she would dress if it were accurate, and the redesign at least adds this element of truth towards her outfit.
However, although ethnically more accurate, disney's high on 'character integrity' and this dress doesn't resemble any of jasmine's outfits within the movie at all.
Jennifer Oaks, a previous jasmine character performer in the disney parks even said ( when she wore the original costume while performing ) children would question why her outfit had jewel's on it when it didn't in the movie. She improvised an answer of 'oh aladdin went to the market and bought me some jewels so I put them on my outfit because they were so pretty'. Obviously the children nodded along agreeing, in awe, but imagine the questions the children will ask now about this new design.
If anything, they should have ( in my opinion ) taken on the purple dress that she wears within the movie because that is a more conservative ensemble but still holds to the character integrity of outfits within the movie.
one argument for the redesign is that it is more accurate towards the Arabian culture that jasmine descends from, the fact that originally she has her stomach on full display isn't accurate at all to her ethnicity and how she would dress if it were accurate, and the redesign at least adds this element of truth towards her outfit.
However, although ethnically more accurate, disney's high on 'character integrity' and this dress doesn't resemble any of jasmine's outfits within the movie at all.
Jennifer Oaks, a previous jasmine character performer in the disney parks even said ( when she wore the original costume while performing ) children would question why her outfit had jewel's on it when it didn't in the movie. She improvised an answer of 'oh aladdin went to the market and bought me some jewels so I put them on my outfit because they were so pretty'. Obviously the children nodded along agreeing, in awe, but imagine the questions the children will ask now about this new design.
If anything, they should have ( in my opinion ) taken on the purple dress that she wears within the movie because that is a more conservative ensemble but still holds to the character integrity of outfits within the movie.
Another downside to the outfit, weird bangs!
why oh why did they decide to add weird tuffs of hair right in the middle of her forehead, it looks weird and honestly probably itches the poor girl to death :p
and on the topic of hair, the actual size of the wig itself is so much smaller than what it used to be, like its obviously a realistic size and volume that anyone can actually do to their hair, but doesn't resemble the mad hair jasmine has in the film ( which the old wig captured in its length and volume ) so that really disappoints me.
why oh why did they decide to add weird tuffs of hair right in the middle of her forehead, it looks weird and honestly probably itches the poor girl to death :p
and on the topic of hair, the actual size of the wig itself is so much smaller than what it used to be, like its obviously a realistic size and volume that anyone can actually do to their hair, but doesn't resemble the mad hair jasmine has in the film ( which the old wig captured in its length and volume ) so that really disappoints me.
However, even though I haven't seen the outfit in person obviously, but reading multiple review's and opinions on the new dress show's people are taking a liking to the prettiness of the material of the dress, the sleeves are sheer and apparently give off a beautiful sparkly appearance in real life.
Similarly, Oaks stated she used to put glitter on her eyelids to sparkle up her appearance when performing in the parks, which at times got her in trouble with the cosmetology department ( again, character integrity ) so she was happy to see the sparkled up piece.
Similarly the reduction of the jewel's is a plus, with the statement jewel headpiece and one matching centre jewel on her outfit, is an improvement to the over bedazzlement the original outfit had with hanging jewels from her crop top and embellishments to her belt, so that is a positive.
And finally, the other main reason for the drastic change besides the culture, is the over-sexualisation jasmine used to get due to being the only princess showing her stomach in a crop top.
Oak's said she would get catcalled by men in the parks, and she would get much more male attention when portraying jasmine ( rather than Pocahontas which she also portrayed ). She would have creepy old men trying to hit on her and while doing dinner time meet and greets, the fathers would always want pictures with jasmine which made the wife laugh, however took away time she had to spend with the children and interact with them because so many male adults wanted pictures as well, which was never the case for the other princesses. So to be able to eliminate this kind of behaviour with the redesign of the costume I think is an important change to make, being within a G Rated park, they don't need that kind of behaviour being apparent every day, so in that aspect it is a positive outlook to the change.
All in all there are pro's and con's to the redesign but at the end of the day as long as the children still squeal with joy in meeting princess jasmine then it doesn't really matter.
Now onto the next redesign....MULAN !
Mulan when being presented in the parks is usually adorned with a chinese inspired dress from the scene she goes to the matchmaker in hopes of being matched with a future husband, which obviously goes terribly wrong.
Now with her updated look, it is similar to the original just more...extravagant, take a look :
Similarly, Oaks stated she used to put glitter on her eyelids to sparkle up her appearance when performing in the parks, which at times got her in trouble with the cosmetology department ( again, character integrity ) so she was happy to see the sparkled up piece.
Similarly the reduction of the jewel's is a plus, with the statement jewel headpiece and one matching centre jewel on her outfit, is an improvement to the over bedazzlement the original outfit had with hanging jewels from her crop top and embellishments to her belt, so that is a positive.
And finally, the other main reason for the drastic change besides the culture, is the over-sexualisation jasmine used to get due to being the only princess showing her stomach in a crop top.
Oak's said she would get catcalled by men in the parks, and she would get much more male attention when portraying jasmine ( rather than Pocahontas which she also portrayed ). She would have creepy old men trying to hit on her and while doing dinner time meet and greets, the fathers would always want pictures with jasmine which made the wife laugh, however took away time she had to spend with the children and interact with them because so many male adults wanted pictures as well, which was never the case for the other princesses. So to be able to eliminate this kind of behaviour with the redesign of the costume I think is an important change to make, being within a G Rated park, they don't need that kind of behaviour being apparent every day, so in that aspect it is a positive outlook to the change.
All in all there are pro's and con's to the redesign but at the end of the day as long as the children still squeal with joy in meeting princess jasmine then it doesn't really matter.
Now onto the next redesign....MULAN !
Mulan when being presented in the parks is usually adorned with a chinese inspired dress from the scene she goes to the matchmaker in hopes of being matched with a future husband, which obviously goes terribly wrong.
Now with her updated look, it is similar to the original just more...extravagant, take a look :
It is different yes and resembles less to the movie costume now, but I think its nice for mulan to stand out a bit especially when she would be next to the other princesses extravagant gowns, it sticks to the chinese culture and hones in on some of the key colours, the shape and overall look of the outfit is similar so there's not much to complain about, just the fact its different from the movie. But overall I think they did a good job.
Another new look came for Pocahontas as well, and although once again Disney is trying to stick to cultural accuracy, there's really only one thing I am seriously upset with when it comes to this new outfit.
Another new look came for Pocahontas as well, and although once again Disney is trying to stick to cultural accuracy, there's really only one thing I am seriously upset with when it comes to this new outfit.
The iconic. Blue. Necklace...has been scrapped.
Now i'm all for the rest of the outfit, sticking to traditions as well as keeping the original dress colour and shape, change all that stuff fine, but get rid and change the sacred blue necklace that was Pocahontas' mother's necklace, her mother that died, the necklace her father gave her that her mother left for her, do not change that. Sure she has A necklace but that is no excuse for scrapping the iconic shape and colour of the necklace...no that is the only thing wrong I can say with this new look.
Now obviously there has been character costume redesign's over the years, but these ( especially Jasmine's ) have been the most drastic of changes I can assume, but to make sure I researched some of the redesigns of other princesses over the years.
First up
Now i'm all for the rest of the outfit, sticking to traditions as well as keeping the original dress colour and shape, change all that stuff fine, but get rid and change the sacred blue necklace that was Pocahontas' mother's necklace, her mother that died, the necklace her father gave her that her mother left for her, do not change that. Sure she has A necklace but that is no excuse for scrapping the iconic shape and colour of the necklace...no that is the only thing wrong I can say with this new look.
Now obviously there has been character costume redesign's over the years, but these ( especially Jasmine's ) have been the most drastic of changes I can assume, but to make sure I researched some of the redesigns of other princesses over the years.
First up
SO a lot of positives, overall the dress gives her a much slimmer figure giving her a really nice shape, I love how the sleeves also are a lot tighter to make her arms more delicate, feminine and graceful. Then they finally sorted out those damn shoulders :p I hated those pointy shoulder spikes so I'm so glad they fixed those and still kept the look of the shoulder rimming of the neckline. Aurora's bangs now also look a lot neater and really opens up her face so we can see her eyes a lot better than the old bangs which covered up her whole forehead, and finally the crown!
Such a prettier crown, not so overpowering and the more gold colour looks really nice as well, I want one of those crowns!
So thats the latest of the redesigns for Aurora, I collected some photos of the number of different outfits Aurora has had over the years and still changes into sometimes.
So thats the latest of the redesigns for Aurora, I collected some photos of the number of different outfits Aurora has had over the years and still changes into sometimes.
Okay next up.....
First thing I can say is thank god they toned down the bright yellow colour, that really was a hideous. And whatever those bubble looking things were around her neckline i'm glad they sorted that out too.
The colour of the new dress is much nicer as a pale yellow, and the material is so much better.
I admit the dress still looks like a lampshade but they're getting better, they'll get there eventually.
The colour of the new dress is much nicer as a pale yellow, and the material is so much better.
I admit the dress still looks like a lampshade but they're getting better, they'll get there eventually.
So here we can see how much better the neckline looks without those tacky bubble looking things, and I really like the lace detailing around the sleeves.
Hairstyling wise even though the old yellow band around the top knot kinda thing was more movie accurate, personally I think the new look of not having that thick band from the front view looks a lot better, and when you have a massive yellow dress anyway its just too much yellow so the little gold detailing I think looks a lot better. I think they also made her hair a little longer too.
So thats about it for belle, here's some of belle's random and different looks....
So thats about it for belle, here's some of belle's random and different looks....
Alright next up....
Not many changes at all to the classic cinderella, you cant really go wrong with her ensemble anyway. But taking away the pointy sleeves and giving her nice little puffy ones work a lot better, especially with the added sparkle. A more realistic wig and a nice fitted bodice of the dress makes all the difference. Overall a few nice little tweaks.
Next we have.......
Shimmery material, light floaty skirt...Does seem more 'ariel' than a stricter princess dress than before, however those MASSIVE puffy sleeves I do not like, if they had just kept the same size sleeved it would be perfect, and I love how they've lengthened the hair.
But overall I do like this dress better, especially with the bedazzled jewel shell in the middle of her bodice on the neckline, all the little details in disney's costuming are always gorgeous.
But overall I do like this dress better, especially with the bedazzled jewel shell in the middle of her bodice on the neckline, all the little details in disney's costuming are always gorgeous.
Snow white's costume hasnt changed much over the years at all, maybe a few little tweaks here and there but they really have stuck to the original dress design with every aspect. I guess you could say with snow being the very first princess they should probably keep her the same :p But there are differences you can see....
With characters such like Rapunzel, Merida, Tiana... they haven't been within the parks long enough to be needing a costume update yet, but I'm excited to see what they choose to do to the costumes when they decide its time for a refresh.
So I think thats about it for the changes of costumes over the years, obviously I havent included the costumes from the VERY beginning of time of disneyland face characters, because a. it would have made this post even LONGER than it already is ( which is pretty long ) and b. I plan on doing a post on the original disneyland and what it looked like way back then, the ' retro disneyland' as people have named it.
So thats it for now, an update I have finished 2/6 of my exams and have my next one this friday ( maths ), but I'll be done in 16 days which I cannot wait to be over and done with all this.
So ta ta for now stay beautiful x
So I think thats about it for the changes of costumes over the years, obviously I havent included the costumes from the VERY beginning of time of disneyland face characters, because a. it would have made this post even LONGER than it already is ( which is pretty long ) and b. I plan on doing a post on the original disneyland and what it looked like way back then, the ' retro disneyland' as people have named it.
So thats it for now, an update I have finished 2/6 of my exams and have my next one this friday ( maths ), but I'll be done in 16 days which I cannot wait to be over and done with all this.
So ta ta for now stay beautiful x