Every person in the Universe loves to watch fairy tales filled with magic and wonders. Some people prefer our Russian folk or original stories, while others like foreign ones, for example, “Beauty and the Beast.”
It was written by a French writer in 1740, and in 1756 its long version was shortened and rewritten. This option became the script for the future cartoon, filmed in 1991, the plot of which was subsequently made into a film.
The main character is a girl named Belle, played by actress Emma Watson, who put a lot of effort into the image of the future princess with a lively and strong character.
A lover of solitude with a book in her hands, she goes to the monster’s castle to save her father from death. As a result, she becomes a hostage to a huge fortress with a beast enchanted by the sorceress, Prince Adam, who does not have humanity and empathy.To become human again and break the curse, he must meet a girl with whom he will find mutual love.
They eventually fall in love, break the spell, and dance in the ballroom surrounded by their new family.
It is in this lobby that Belle appears before us in her famous yellow dress, created by British costume designer Jacqueline Durran. Her professionalism and knowledge of her craft transport viewers to 18th century France. She tried to create an exact copy of the dress from the Disney cartoon, but in the musical it is still slightly different.
Symbolism of the image
The style and appearance of the girl in the cartoon and the film are similar only from the first impression. Jacqueline significantly redesigned the outfits of the main character in the fairy tale “Beauty and the Beast.”
The cheerful and sociable Belle would not be comfortable in the ballet flats from the animation, so Durran chose cozy brown leather shoes for her. She also worked on changing the apron: it added pockets. They also came up with beautiful knee-length trousers to go with a casual blue sundress, since the girl constantly tucks the hem of her skirt into her belt, exposing her slender legs, and this also makes her comfortable while moving.
In addition, changes were made to the shirt. Embroidery and drawing were added to it, which made the heroine more feminine and modern.
But the most famous and stunning outfit was the airy yellow dress that Belle wore during the scene in the rich dance hall. Unlike the cartoon, his hem began to be decorated with small Swarovski crystals in the amount of 2,160 pieces.
The costume designers did not have such a function as changing the color of the dress.If it is yellow in the cartoon, then it should be the same in the film.
Designers' work
A tremendous amount of work was done to establish the required shade. A bunch of experiments were carried out using the camera, determining the shine and transparency of the fabric, its shade, where and what it was made of, how it looked in the light and in pitch darkness.
In addition, changes should have affected the design of the outfit, namely:
- add material to make the image more realistic;
- make the skirt fuller and more voluminous;
- preferred the historical image of the 18th century;
- moved towards a modern style.
Ultimately, we came to the classic version of the dress, as depicted in a fairy tale. We only got rid of the rough corset to give freedom and ease of movement. In addition, they removed the gloves from the girl’s portrait and used a gold hair clip instead of a hair ribbon.
Nevertheless, the dress turned out to be light, flexible and graceful, emphasizing the thin waist of the main character. To create it, more than one meter of satin organza, a delicate and smooth fabric, was used, cut so that the hem obeyed Belle’s every movement. In addition, almost a kilometer of gold threads were used, with which several layers of the skirt were sewn.
The top two rows are painted with gold leaf and the patterns on them are reminiscent of the pictures on the floor of the ballroom, where Belle and the Beast, in the guise of a monster, twirled to the rhythm of a waltz.
The upper part of the outfit, in the bodice area, features a gold openwork print taken from a late 18th century velvet apron provided by costume designer Jacqueline Durran. An English painter was found to develop such a pattern.He used a floral pattern from the apron fabric, altered it a little, depicted it on canvas, added it and reproduced it in an electronic version. The development of this print was based on one of the scenes from the fairy tale, where the Wardrobe sprinkles gold on Belle's dress from the ceiling.
Preparatory stage
The yellow dress took more than 12,000 hours or 720,000 minutes to create. But it was worth it. Expectations turned out to be higher than expectations about him. It turned out bright and cute, luxurious and interesting with its own zest and originality. This delightful outfit was supposed to add a light and smooth gait to the silhouette, so that the heroine would not feel like a bird in a cage. But it's still a ball gown.
Of course, working on images in fairy tales is an interesting and creative profession. In addition, costume designers have room to develop and demonstrate their abilities. Therefore, when developing the main outfit in the film “Beauty and the Beast,” costume designers focused not only on a specific period of time, namely the mid-18th century. Despite being one of the most beautiful eras in history for costume design, this musical combined authentic, historical and contemporary elements. But the traditions of France itself were not left behind, of course within the framework of a fairy tale. These include amazing hats, coats with layered skirts, and dresses with aprons.
Do you like fairy tales where there is a presence of magic and witchcraft? Do you like the happy ending of the film? Or are you a future fashion designer and you need examples of beautiful clothes? Then be sure to watch “Beauty and the Beast” in the original version and in the form of a musical. Surely you will like Belle's famous yellow dress.
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