What better way to get myself back into the blogosphere than a good old Disney post?
Now, unless you've been living on a Disney-less planet the past few months you'll have no idea about the new live action Cinderella film, and this whole post will be wasted on you. But for those who HAVE seen the film, well then you can swoon over Cinders spectacular blue dress with me (and boy did I swoon).
When I watched the film in the Cinema first time round with my sister and nieces, one; I thought the film was fab, and Lily James played Cinderella, or 'Ella', sooo well, two Helena Bonham Carter was fabulous, as always, and three Cate Blanchett was so wickedly evil as Lady Tremaine.
But what stole the film for me were the costumes. All of the costumes were incredible, but of course Cinderella's blue ball gown stole the show, and I found myself literally mesmerised during the ball scene where she dances with the prince. The way the material flowed and moved captivated me, it was the epitome of the perfect princess dress.
So of course when I see that Swarovski are putting on an exhibition in London showcasing the costumes and the set designs from the new film I knew I HAD to go.
And of course Mumma Drake came too.
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| The outside of the exhibition |
The exhibition was from the 21st of March till the 10th of April 2015 in the Leicester Square Gardens, and there were 22 amazing costumes and 100's of original props from the film.
The Heritage Gallery:
This was the first room of the exhibition and this was where they showcased Disney's animated version of Cinderella, and they had loads of original never before seen artwork and archive artefacts from the Disney Vault.
Cinderella's Home:
This was the second room, and this was where you saw the costumes that Lady Tremaine, Anastasia and Drisella arrived at Cinderella's home in, as well as her father's study, original props from when she is a little girl at the beginning of the film, and family portraits.
I love that throughout the film each stepsister has a signature colour for each of their costumes, pink/peach for Anastasia and yellow for Drisella.
What I particularly love about these dresses is that each flower was hand painted on. So it shows how much time an effort went into each costume.
Lady Tremaine's costumes are brilliant, because they are dramatic to bring out the evil stepmother character, but they are also elegant, so it doesn't make her seem pantomime-like.
Interesting fact about Lady Tremaine's costumes are that the colour green was a key theme in most of her dresses to highlight the envy and jealousy she feels towards Cinderella.
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| Cinderella's Father's Study |
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| Cinderella's childhood toys |
The Cellar:
This was where you saw Cinderella's first costume, her blue rags dress. Which I actually really like. I love the simplicity of the dress, and the detail at the bottom is a lovely touch, because it contrasts nicely with the stepsisters extravagant brightly coloured dresses.
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| Actual bells from the film |
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| Cinderella's mice friends. |
The Garden:
This was where the magic starts to kick in, first you see Cinderella's torn pink dress, along with the un-transformed Fairy Godmother cloak.
Then as you turn you see the Fairy Godmothers sparkling glittery white dress. The hair, dress and make-up shimmer with more than 10,000 Swarovski crystals! I wish it was social acceptable for me to wear sparkly crystals in my hair everyday. I somehow think certain people may not be so accepting of that desire.
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| The Palace Forecourt |
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| So magical |
As you came out the other side of the carriage you entered the ball, and midnight changes everything.
The Royal Ball:
Now here's the moment we've all been waiting for...
Cinderella's breath taking blue ball gown.
It's created from 24 layers of tulle, has a circumference of 11.6 metres and is embellished with over 10,000 iridescent Aurora Borealis Swarovski crystals.
I bet Lily James felt like a giant disco ball wearing that dress! But who wouldn't want to sparkle all night long.
Who knew someone could fan-girl so much over a dress?
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As I said earlier, the colours of the stepsisters ball gowns match the dresses they wear earlier in the film. Which to me symbolises how their characters do not change or grow. Where as Cinderella's change from the plain rags dress, into the beautiful ball gown shows how her dress now matches her inner beauty and kindness. (That is literally just my opinion, it is probably completely wrong, ha!).
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| Stepsisters ball gowns. |
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| Lady Tremaine's ball gown |
Then came one of the most beautiful sights I've ever seen. Coming from a girl who loves shoes and all things sparkly, these really were a treat for the eyes.
Considering they are one of the key elements of the Cinderella story I think that they are incredible, and having them made from solid Swarovski crystal really gave them the wow factor.
Sandy Powell designed the shoes and the costumes, and Swarovski created the slippers. They took 150 hours of design time and six versions were created before they got the perfect shoe. They are based on a shoe design from the 1890's. They're not an actual size, e.g. like a size 4 or 5, because they are apparently sculpted to Lily James' feet.
Once I'd managed to gather myself and drag myself away from all the sparkly dresses, we moved into the final room of the exhibition which was where they had some more information on the costumes, with pictures of the dresses in the film, with their design sketches next to them.
I love comparing design sketches to the final outcome. I find it so amazing how something on paper can be brought to life and look so beautiful.
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| I clearly did not want to leave. |
There was a gift shop, so obviously I had to buy something, mainly because I have no self control, but still. They had loads of beautiful Cinderella dresses, but sadly they didn't have any sizes to cater to a 19 year old, funny that. So I settled on this gorgeous statement necklace instead. It was £30, which was quite pricey, but my reasoning was that; statement necklaces are on trend, so I can be stylish and still feel like a princess. Win, win.
Plus you can literally pay like £20 for some on the high street anyway.
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| Princess necklace |
So that was the Cinderella exhibition, I'm so happy I went and I cannot get over how incredible all the costumes are. Round of applause for Sandy Powell please, what a talented woman.
That's all for now!
But remember;
'Have courage and be kind. For where there is kindness there is goodness, and where there is goodness there is magic'
Cheerio!
Hannah
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