That Alice in her own Wonderland.

"Did you see the Cheshire cat?"

Even though Alice in Wonderland isn't a Disney Princess, and I got asked if I was her every single day of the summer (who else can you be if you're blonde, English and name is Alice yes?) but she's still my favourite character. and last year in textiles I spent the year designing my own Alice costumes that had more detailing on them, illustration embroidery around the hem of her classic simple blue dress that tell the tale of Alice in Wonderland.

I've since become oppressed with anything Alice, wanting all merchandise there is with illustrations from Lewis Carroll's original novel. Or even with quotes from Alice or the other characters, "Have you seen the White rabbit?", "I'm late!" or even as simple as "Would you like a cup of tea?" could make symbolic work in their own right. Wouldn't need to be on a blue dress to show what they mean, but printed or embroidered onto fabric then framed in the quirky or crooked style.

My own embroidery for an Alice dress. 

I think that this could be done for all principal characters of a Disney film, 10 simple illustrations that tell the tale. But each one needs to be symbolic enough to always work in their own right, so if just one were chosen it's still clear what tale the illustration is portraying.

Grace Kelly - Real life Princess

V&A flyer for 2009
exhibition

I went to an exhibition on at the V&A Museum in London 2years ago showcasing Grace Kelly's clothes over her life time. Grace Kelly was a real life Princess who went from the film industry to marrying Rainier 3rd, Prince of Monaco.

She was a style icon since she started starring in films from the age of 20, her last being High Society before she married. In High Society she plays a princess, appropriately as she was about to become one, but she still portrayed the same grace and elegance in her films as she then did in her real life. It's said that Kate Middleton's wedding dress of last year was stylised after Grace Kelly's, and I think what makes them so beautifully classic is that they look detailed due to the lace used but there's not visible embroidery on them, so perhaps this is more how real life princesses differ from make believe.

Grace Kelly and Kate Middleton on their lacetastic wedding dresses

I think it would be interesting to look into using lace along with embroidery to enhance and make princess costumes more elaborate and detailed compared to stage show versions of their costumes.

Back to that world of Princesses.

Snow White, one of the ten
Disney Princesses

Now that Cabaret is over I need to start working towards a final project for my creative practice module this year, and I feel like there's no harm in having it Disney themed, I want to be able to draw on my experiences over the past summer and put it all together in a piece of work. Whether it's designing a dress/costume for one of the princesses, or a even just a fairytale character. Taking elaborate wedding dresses and striping them down to then work on to, whether embroidering or printing onto the fabric. 

I do know that I need to start drawing again, go to the Fashion Museum in Bath or even see if it's possible to go to the costume services company in Bristol just to take a look at the costumes. As there is such a difference between fashion and costume as when an item of clothing is a costume for theatre or film it needs to be sturdy, go through countless takes that could be spread over weeks and still look like it did on week one. Now it's not like I'm going to be making anything for an actual show but the costumes worn by the princesses in Disney were just the same, being worn all day but still as magical and full of sparkle by the end of the day as they did at the start. I'd like to start researching into more detailed princess designs and which ones due to their story or fairy tale could have the most sparkle.