More Disney Fashion: Lady from "Lady and the Tramp"

Another one! This one based on Lady from Lady and the Tramp. Prices are accurate as of posting.

Hat--Helen Kaminski's Newport Standard Bretton--$195.00

Blouse-- Seamstress of Bloomsbury 1940s Cream Jive Blouse via Amazon--Price unavailable

Skirt--Beautifulmall Women's Winter Woolen High Waist Solid Long Flare Split Midi Skirt via Amazon--$59.99

Shoes--Zooshoo Kitten Heels Mary Jane Pumps via Amazon--$22.18-$39.88 

Necklace--YuQiang Gold Cocker Spaniel Necklace Dog Pendant via Amazon--$6.66

Bracelet--7th Element Polished Stainless Steel Bracelet Classical Band Bangle for Womens, Mens 6.3inch-7.1inch via Amazon--$17.99

Inspired By polyvore...

So I keep coming across these Disney inspired fashions on Pinterest...

So I thought I'd give it a go myself. I present Emperor Kuzco.


Dress--SimplyBe Closet Split-Front Dress--$79.99
Shoes--Sole Diva Cross Over Sandal via SimplyBe--$39.95
Bracelet--"You Accessorize" Thick Filigree Style Circle Cutout Ethnic Brass Cuff via Amazon--$17.99
Necklace--SimplyBe Fringing Necklace--$24.49
Earrings (part of a set)--Joanna Hope Necklace and Earring Set via SimplyBe--$49.95
Ring--Llama Ring by Nicole Iredale Designs--$49.41 (£35.00)

Sleeping Beauty: Why I love Aurora

The Disney Princesses are some of the most beloved and despised characters in American cinema. I don't think that's much of a stretch. In recent years especially, Disney has made a real effort to be conscious of the impact that the franchise has on women and girls. As annoyingly omnipresent as it is, Frozen did a lot of good regarding the empowerment of young women in Disney. My hope is that Moana will continue that trend with a person of color.

And while I do love Elsa, Tiana, and Mulan, from a very young age my favorite was Aurora from Sleeping Beauty.

( © Disney, found here)

Aurora, or Briar Rose, is the quintessential do-nothing princess. Her last line occurs about forty minutes into the movie, and she has some of the least screentime of any princess. Because of this, she has very little character development or even definition. Usually she's described as beautiful, graceful or--surprise surprise--sleepy (Although to be fair, in the movie she falls asleep just before sunset and awakes at dawn--I wouldn't say that's excessive). In the story, things happen to her. She kind of just floats along. Some have argued that Sleeping Beauty is really about the conflict between Maleficent and the good fairies, and I am inclined to agree. After all, the film was not made with the Disney Princess franchise in mind, so why should it focus on the princess? Even the live-action remake was called Maleficent, I think largely because there wasn't much to go on in Aurora's department.

But despite this, Aurora remains reasonably popular. This summer my family went to Disney World, and I met Aurora. The average age in the line was about twenty, and there were about 30-40 people in it. Time of day and location may have been major factors in this distribution, but I think it's telling that a consistent number of people want to meet this simple character. I attribute her popularity to three main factors:

First, age. Aurora is one of the classic Disney princesses. She was the last Disney Princess whose movie Walt himself personally supervised, and it shows. She has a soft, fairy-tale feel that is lost in later films. A lot of older people grew up with Aurora, and despite her flaws she is almost sacred because of this connection.

Second, the movie she appears in is fantastic. Even if you don't personally care for it, it's impossible to ignore how visually gorgeous the film is. The art sucked me in as a kid and still enraptures me today. The Tchaikovsky score is also a huge boon to the film, and the animation is so smooth and gentle--even comic relief has a sense of grace.

I always wanted to live in the woods after watching this movie ( © Disney, found here)

I always wanted to live in the woods after watching this movie ( © Disney, found here)
Maleficent is also a very well-designed villain. Although her motivation seems rather odd, after we see her outbursts, I don't find it hard to believe that she would kill a child just because she'd been snubbed. She is always big and dramatic.

( © Disney, found here)

Finally, I think the main reason that she is successful is precisely because she has so little meat to her. With so little to go on, the viewer can project his or her own needs on to her, or experience the film vicariously. For me, Aurora was how I pictured my ideal self. Her grace gave me a basis for building my own ideas and goals. Because we never learn that much about her, I could imagine that she and I were the same in every way. Was she a bookworm? Why not. Was she smart in school? Sure. Did she cry easily? Of course. Did she like singing and dancing? Ok, that was in the movie, but yes, yes she did.For me, Sleeping Beauty represented beauty and fantasy in its purest form. It didn't need to be complicated. It didn't need to be anything but a beautiful escape.

( Art © Disney, lovely .gif found here)

Thanks for reading.

Laurel Long

Today I want to talk to you all about one of my favorite artists, Laurel Long.

I was first introduced to her paintings through the book The Magic Nesting Doll, written by Jacqueline K. Ogburn. The book is a fairy tale about a young girl named Katya who goes on a quest to awaken an frozen prince who is under the spell of an evil vizier. She does so with the help of a magic Matryoshka from her grandmother, which, when opened, releases a variety of magical beings that help her out of tight spots. It’s a simple enough story, but Long’s illustrations are some of the most beautiful that I have ever seen.

A panel from The Magic Nesting Doll. Copyright Laurel Long.

Her art has this sort of porcelain-doll effect. The faces aren’t particularly expressive, but the sheer weight of the color and detail in the paintings kind of make you glad that they’re not too complicated. Everything is so gorgeous and intricately beautiful. I especially love the way that she paints fabric. I’m not sure how even to describe it, except that she can make burlap look as smooth and beautiful as silk.

                Long has also illustrated some novels, the one that I am most familiar with being The Legend of Holly Claus by Brittney Ryan. This is about Santa Claus’s daughter and her journey throughout the world as she attempts to define meaning for herself. Holly Claus is not a very complex character—her principal character traits are beautiful and kind—but coupled with Laurel Long’s illustrations, the story feels so much like a fairy tale that I never minded.

                I think that ultimately is what defines Laurel Long’s art. She makes images that are in themselves fairy tales, art that is primarily about feelings and inherent beauty, rather than about the logical difficulties of a story.

Laurel Long's website can be found here. I strongly encourage you to check it out.

           These are my thoughts on NostalgiaCritic's video, which are a bit too long to fit in a comment. I think that Critic kind of got to the right answer by the end, but there were some stops on the way that didn’t quite match up to my experience

                First of all, power vs. vulnerability. Yes, power and confidence are attractive, but they only carry you so far. Relationships, attractions, even sex are all about vulnerability. I know a lot of people compare Loki to Thor, but let’s look at the other Avengers. Every one of them is very vulnerable and broken (Except Thor). Steve is way out of his element and desperately missing those he left behind, Bruce is always on the edge, always scared, Tony is…Tony and Clint is fighting with frikking arrows/being mind-controlled for half the film. I mean, heck, I fell in love with Black Widow in her opening scene not so much because she beat up all of those guys (although that was super cool) but because her damsel (Clint) was in distress. Somebody had found her vulnerability. That vulnerability is not really there with Thor, except in fish-out-of-water moments, but Loki has it in spades.

                That vulnerability is what makes these characters relatable and interesting. For a lot of women, I think that it also helps produce a power balance and yes, inspires nurturing aspects (although Critic, you didn’t need to be so condescending about it.) The logic of “If I can heal him he’ll thank me and love me forever” is also problematic. First of all, it doesn’t really explain why the person wants his love to begin with. Second…There are plenty of women who like fantasizing about a domineering man staying that way. Look at 50 Shades of Grey or the romance section of the bookstore, or heck, even Beauty and the Beast. I don’t really know why this is, but I’m sure there’s plenty of research on it. Fantasies are a place where someone has complete control, and some people like to imagine being powerless. Let’s be honest, if Avengers-era Loki was coming towards me IRL I would scream and run. I don’t want to die. But this isn’t about realism; this is about some very specific emotions.

Vulnerability helps to keep a powerful person in check. It basically triggers compassion for him and means that he’s not just a scary monster, but a person. This gives an illusion of power for women who may be used to feeling very vulnerable. Culturally, women aren’t expected to be able to physically fight back, which means that the emotional realm, traditionally labelled “womanly,” is where they have to make their battlefield.

                Also, a quick note on the whole “he’s not that good looking” thing. I hear this all the time. First of all, remember that tastes vary, and that strapping, musclebound men aren’t necessarily that attractive. Sleekness and litheness are also attractive, and for some a lot less threatening, again bringing in that whole power thing again. Also, some things are just hard to translate across gender/sexual orientations. I don’t get why men find enormous, video-game balloon boobs attractive, but apparently enough do that manufacturers and ads continue to use them. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that being attractive, I just don’t get it. 

There are some things that I love about handwriting stories and papers. For one, there's less pressure. You can pretty much guarantee that anything that you write by hand will have to be typed up before you show it to someone else. Also, seeing your writing in neat little book-print can trick you. You think that you're reading a professional thing, and so you start to compare what you've written to the other things that you've seen. You need to have what you write be perfect and beautiful, and so you write nothing.

I used to hate handwriting my stuff because it meant that I would have to keep rewriting it. But now I think that that is one of the glories of handwriting. You have to write the same scene, the same paragraphs, over and over again, and in doing so you get to experiment, to see what works and what doesn't. You don't have to fit your new piece into what you've already written--often, you don't even have the other versions on you. There's a drive, for me at least, to make every ounce original and fresh each time. Eventually you combine what works best. I've written a scene for one of my stories five or six times, and I'm still not sure which one I like best. It's a scene where one character, a sort-of love interest, interrupts the MC's suicide attempt. In one version I gave the character bright blue eyes. In another, he's missing an eye. Sometimes I handle description and physical sensation well, and sometimes I focus more on my dialogue. In one version I focus on the MC's self-destructiveness. By focusing on these different aspects each time, instead of trying to tackle it all at once, I can slowly build a very effective piece. It takes time, but it breaks the daunting process down into little, manageable, enjoyable chunks.

Barbie Skirts!

I'm tabling European history for the moment (forever), and instead I have some pretty things to show you.

I found some patterns for easy Barbie clothes online and I made some skirts (here's the pattern I used). Hopefully more will be coming. I like doing this kind of sewing--It's less intimidating than a full-sized outfit, but you can make things that are absolutely gorgeous. Barbies are fashion dolls, after all. I also like that you normally don't have to use a sewing machine, although hand-sewing elastic is murder.

Here was my first attempt:

My orange lighting is a tribute to Zefrank, of course. The top is weird, but it was the only leotard that I have, and I don't have any shirts long enough to work with the skirt.



Here is my second skirt, significantly better than the first:

The skirt color is a light gold, but obviously that didn't transfer well.

Now that you've seen my creations, go ooh and aah over the amazingness of this Czech woman named Denisa.