Javitrulove

"Courageous and Brave” - A Disney Historically Accurate Set

Added 2020-06-14 18:41:52 +0000 UTC

September 7, 2018. A quick thought passed to my head and i posted this on my Tumblr page:

"Brain Please Stop! I dont want to create a Series Called 500 Years of Princesses Creating Historically Accurate Disney Gowns of each and every Disney Princess. Starting Of Course with Cinderella and no one would ever tell me that Cinderella is not set on Mid Victorian times because i have the receipts."

Many simmers were intrigued, they even encoraged to doing this project but because my day job and Geographical location are very demanding and overall stressing then i trow this idea on the back of my drafting table.

June 17, 2019. I found this idea liying around while dusting my Tumblr. I already was a member of Teanmoon's Sims Of History Discord Group. A group for Historical Simmers so i talked about, made a poll about wich princess should be first and Cinderella (1950) was the choosed one. The group was super pumped because this was supposed to be a team effort. But first we needed a date and a place to build up the context of the wardrobe and see how many pieces we were going to make.

Cinderella (1950) - Into the Research.

That very night i downloaded the animated movie and paid especial attention to the clothes and situations. While is very clear that the clothes are inspired by the current 1950's fashion the designers and animators inspired themselves on previous eras.

So, like a said before first of all i have to set a Date and Place. I choosed Countryside France Fall 1869. How do i reached to this conclusion? First of all Cinderella Story is not a contemporary fairy tale. The story Origins can be traced to Ancient Egypt and China, there are several variants of the plot but the main story elements are the same, a young maiden or slave bullied by her relatives, a extreme makeover and small feets. On 1697, Charles Perrault wrote "Cendrillon ou la petite pantoufle de verre", the first version of the story that includes more recognizable elements like Pumpkins, the fairy-Godmother and glass Slippers.

Because Perrault version was the one that Disney took inspiration when they made their animated movie we can assure that France is the rightful place that the story takes place and this detail can be sort of confirmed on the beginning of the movie where the narrator said "Once upon a time in a faraway land, there was a tiny kingdom, peaceful, prosperous, and rich in romance and tradition. Here in a stately chateau, there lived a widowed gentleman and his little daughter, Cinderella" The presence of a Chateau confirms that is set on France Countryside.

Now we can logically think that because Disney version was based on Perrault version it's also set on the same date. WRONG! when we see the movie one can see the clothing wise is NOT a late XVII inspired clothing but instead we can see big victorian inspiration. This is more notable on the big ball scenes when you can see characters wearing crinolines dresses but the stepsisters wearing Bustles, all these garments are emblematic of the Mid XIX century time.

Again, because the ladies of the court and ball guests are wearing a combination of Crinoline dresses and bustles i can pinpoint an exact date where both sylhouettes were fashionable on court parties. While 1850's dresses where more Crinolines based and 1870's ones where more based on Crinolettes to enhance that bustle shape we can say that this ball is set on the 1869, a fashion transition period where both styles can be wore without being a faux pas . Also because we are in presence with the iconic Pumpkin that turns into a carriage i can conclude that is an Autumn ball because "Perrault Pumpkins" can be harvested only on fall season.

Now that we have set a Place and Period was time to see what garments were are going to be made. Of course the first dress was going to be the ICONIC Cinderella SILVER Ball gown. Yes, you read me, Cinderella's ball gown is NOT blue... it's Silver /White. That's been a HUGE pet peeve since i saw the movie for the first time. Everybody says that the dress is baby blue (Blame the Mandala Effect for that) and Disney even felt the pressure and turned it blue on later movies and adaptations but that's another topic. The dress is white / silver so i based on fashion plates from 1869. Mostly french like "Magasin des Demoiselles". Was a pleasant suprise to find our that most of the fashion of that time was heavily inspired by Late XVII / Early XVIII Century garments at ties so much with the original Perrault fairytale.

Now, Because every princess needs a Prince of course that his outfit was going to be one of the chosen one for this set. Because we are on France 1869 we are on the reign of Emperor Napoleon III. Even thought the overall shape is accurate for the time period members of the imperial family usually wore military garments for formal balls.

So, this is the result of this long investigation and work. I created a historically accurate 1869 Evening Gown and WildTexan, fellow military History nerd made the prince military formal look.

The whole Set consists of a 1869 Ball Gown, a Formal matching gloves and a Formal Military Uniform

Midnight Ball Gown