Once Upon A Time Costumes

I'm Fyre, and I shall be your host for this blog. It is specifically to look at an analyse the costumes of Once Upon a Time. I hope you enjoy the mental meanderings I offer.

[ouatcostumes]

A Regal Look Something I couldn't help noticing in the newest episodes of Once is how much Emma and Henry's clothing seems to echo Regina's look. I don't think this is accidental, because Regina was the one to plant the happy ending ideal on them. Not just a happy ending, but her idea of what would make them happy: a nice home, a happy son, playing together, doing stuff together. And some of that has carried over into the taste in clothing, because the Emma we saw in season one and two would never have worn skirts and heels like that, except when working. We saw her in a slinky dress, and that was as part of a sting. She rarely wore skirts at all. She was also inclined to fitted trousers, boots, and more masculine clothing. Now, her clothing is not just feminine, but high-collared, dark, ruffle-edged. It's almost Evil Queen-ish in tone and colour. Emma in Storybrooke in S1 was all pants and vests and red leather coat. When she found her family, it was softer layers of clothing, but still fitted and trousers, and no skirts that I can recall. But this? This is not her clothing style at all, as far as we have seen. And look! Black leather gloves! And the colours: all black and red. That's old school Evil Queen colour. Even Henry is wearing a lot of red in his wardrobe. It's a sign that some part of Regina is still there with them. She imprinted the happy ending on them, and it's her ideal happy ending, so a little bit of her has carried through into how Emma is living that happy ending, if only in the wardrobe.

[ouatcostumes]

Nova and the Blue Fairy

I was going to do just Nova, on request, but the more I looked at both these costumes, the more I found the comparisons interesting. Nova and Blue's costumes are very similar in basic design: tutu's love-child with a jelly-fish. However, it's the difference that caught my eye, from even just the shape and size of the flowers right down to the shoes they both wear. The way I interpret the costumes is a lot to do with symbolising age and/or power: Blue has large, blooming flowers that almost entirely cover her shoulders, her necklace is equally large and impressive, and then we have the high-heeled shoes, which are definitely classed as adult shoes. Nova on the other hand is small and dainty: her flowers are little, her shoes are flat little ballet slippers, and even her necklace isn't as big and ostentatious. Everything about her is dainty and childlike, while Blue comes off as big, showy and making an impression. Then we have the colours as well. Pale blue is traditionally seen as the peaceful and serene colour, but there are also overtones of coldness in the colour. The Blue Fairy may be serene, but she's also as cold and distant from humanity as the star that is her namesake. Pink is stereotypically a sweet, warm, feminine colour, and I think this was used to emphatically beat us over the head that Nova is meant to 'typically' feminine (which bugs me, since I hate pink, but story for another day) but also the soft shades, not dark passionate pinks, indicate there's an innocence there as well. This is the soft fluffy pink of gentleness and cotton candy. It's also the rose-tinted glasses pink; seeing the good in everything and everyone. There's something childlike about her. She's not a big fairy yet. She's just a little girl fairy, just like Dreamy is a little boy dwarf. They're both young and naive and innocent. It's also very telling that when they meet in Storybrooke that Nova is wearing the severe blues and greys of the Nuns. Dark blue is the colour of sobriety, gravity and knowledge. It's as far from frilly and pink and ballet-slippers as possible. She even is wearing heeled shoes. It's not just the curse that stripped her off the sweet pinks of her youth. It was the loss of her love too.

[ouatcostumes]

It's come to my attention that I haven't posted here for a while and that it's my anniversary. So if anyone has any character they would like to see me look at, please don't hesitate to pipe up :D Who would you like to see examined?

[ouatcostumes]

Regina’s Identity Let us talk for a moment about how smothered Regina’s identity is. Almost every scene we saw of her in FTL showed that she had little opportunity to forge her own identity, to the point that she would dress herself according to the people around her. The first time we see young Regina, she’s dressed much like her father, in breeches and a high-collared pale coat, with a similar cravat at her throat. She’s seeking her father’s praise and approval, and he grants this, because he loves her. However, he does not love her enough to defend her from her mother. When she chooses to flee this life of oppression with Daniel, she not only downscales her wardrobe, but chooses colours almost identical to his: neutral browns and dulled blues, instead of the soft, gentle shades that her father wore. She wants to make it clear that she is bound inextricably to him now. But when he is gone, when she is to be a Princess, she dresses to match the child who will be her step-daughter, because that is what is expected of her. She wears the dresses of a lady and a soon-to-be Queen, pure and pale and chaste and modest. (let’s not forget the scene in the crypt where both she and Daniel are dressed in pure, unsullied, innocent white) Only once, in all of this do we see a glimpse of who she could be: when she tries to flee the palace and her mother’s influence. The riding tunic and breeches are the only time that she is not actively choosing to dress like someone who has influenced her. It is deeper red, and stronger colours than we have seen before, a sign of growing strength and passion. For a moment, she is almost not oppressed. And then, she stumbles into the path of the man who will be her mentor and guide, and all at once, what he wears, she wears: brown leather waistcoats, soft shirts, fabrics bordering on dark and dangerous. She wants to please him, so she mimics him, dresses herself first in the golds and browns of his training room, and then in the blacks and hides that he favours as he does darker magic. And when all of that fails her, she becomes like her mother, following the footsteps of the woman she did not wish to be like. After all, her mother was strong, so if she is like her mother, how could anyone hurt her again? But now… now, she has the potential to become someone new, someone who does not depend on those around her to help her create her identity. Now, we might actually see Regina the person, instead of the masks she puts on to try and win favour or make her look as strong as she wants to feel.

[lillysbitchfest]

I have to say something to what I bolded above. I love this blog but I have to call bull shit on that. Henry sr. Doesn’t defend Regina from Cora because he physically can’t! He has no magical power to make Cora stop, he’s like an 80 pound wafe married to a 350 pounds of muscle wrestler! He’s terrified of Cora and with good reason! She’s heartless and doesn’t give a damn about him! This is like saying a woman who has been beaten into submission by her husband isn’t protecting her kids because she doesn’t love them enough! It’s totally unfair! It’s more likely he doesn’t want to be murdered in front of his daughter! He wants to stop Cora, watch the scene in The Stable Boy where Regina is up in the air again, he marches over to stop Cora but then Cora gives him one look and he shrinks in on himself like a kicked dog! He’s terrified of her! This isn’t about amounts of love, this is about an abused spouse fearing his abuser is going to kill him and keep abusing his child anyway! It’s not like the fairies ran a shelter for abused spouses of magic users he could have run away with Regina to! 

[ouatcostumes]

I have answered this point on my other blog. My point here is that this is how Regina sees it all:

In Henry’s case, from Regina’s POV, she blames him entirely. She has a line in “The Thing You Love Most”, when the curse fails the first time she casts it: Oh, now you’re trying to protect me.

To me, this screams of the fact that she saw him as completely ineffectual when she was in trouble in the past. She couldn’t see her mother as being evil, because she loved her mother, but she could see her father as being weak, because as much as he loved her, he didn’t love her enough to do anything.

In her eyes, he’s the person who should have defended her from her mother, but instead, he just stood by as Cora pressed her into marrying the King. He backed away when Cora was torturing her. He was always passive and submissive, first with Cora, and then with Regina when she went down darker and darker roads. Look at the way she treats him in The Thing You Love Most.

No matter how bad she got, no matter how deep and dark she went, she believes the only times he tried to protect her (from other people and herself) was when things were far too late (ie. when she was locked up by Snow and destined for execution or after she had tried to cast the curse) or when she was threatening harm to him as well.

Maybe Regina didn’t think her mother was hurting her father too. In fact, he probably hid it well. Victims of long-term abuse are often very experienced at that, and Regina does have a tendency to think she’s the only victim in the whole scenario, so wouldn’t believe Henry was being treated as cruelly as she was.

To her, a parent is meant to protect and shelter a child. A parent isn’t meant to stand by or do nothing, which has been shown time and again in the way she tries to shield Henry from any danger. Unfortunately, her parenting style takes after her mother a lot more than she realises, and because of the erratic writing in S2, it’s not clear if she is still consciously aware of this (we had hints of it, but then the second half of the season happened and goodness only knows, because the characterisation of everyone went out the fricking window).

[ouatcostumes]

Regina's Identity Let us talk for a moment about how smothered Regina's identity is. Almost every scene we saw of her in FTL showed that she had little opportunity to forge her own identity, to the point that she would dress herself according to the people around her. The first time we see young Regina, she's dressed much like her father, in breeches and a high-collared pale coat, with a similar cravat at her throat. She's seeking her father's praise and approval, and he grants this, because he loves her. However, in Regina's eyes, he does not love her enough to defend her from her mother. When she chooses to flee this life of oppression with Daniel, she not only downscales her wardrobe, but chooses colours almost identical to his: neutral browns and dulled blues, instead of the soft, gentle shades that her father wore. She wants to make it clear that she is bound inextricably to him now. But when he is gone, when she is to be a Princess, she dresses to match the child who will be her step-daughter, because that is what is expected of her. She wears the dresses of a lady and a soon-to-be Queen, pure and pale and chaste and modest. (let's not forget the scene in the crypt where both she and Daniel are dressed in pure, unsullied, innocent white) Only once, in all of this do we see a glimpse of who she could be: when she tries to flee the palace and her mother's influence. The riding tunic and breeches are the only time that she is not actively choosing to dress like someone who has influenced her. It is deeper red, and stronger colours than we have seen before, a sign of growing strength and passion. For a moment, she is almost not oppressed. And then, she stumbles into the path of the man who will be her mentor and guide, and all at once, what he wears, she wears: brown leather waistcoats, soft shirts, fabrics bordering on dark and dangerous. She wants to please him, so she mimics him, dresses herself first in the golds and browns of his training room, and then in the blacks and hides that he favours as he does darker magic. And when all of that fails her, she becomes like her mother, following the footsteps of the woman she did not wish to be like. After all, her mother was strong, so if she is like her mother, how could anyone hurt her again? But now... now, she has the potential to become someone new, someone who does not depend on those around her to help her create her identity. Now, we might actually see Regina the person, instead of the masks she puts on to try and win favour or make her look as strong as she wants to feel.

[amuseoffyre]

Here’s something I had never noticed until I was doing some screengrabbing, but really, look at the parallels in this scene. It’s practically a mirror image, which tells you everything about what Regina is seeking.

She wants a strong father figure who can help her. Henry can’t do that, and Rumpelstiltskin knows it, so he plays on her needs by dressing like a darker, more shadowy echo of her father, even down to the colours and the style of his clothing. He offers her the means to take her freedom in the way her father couldn’t.

He always knew how to recognise a desperate soul after all. He dresses the part, and plays on her needs and fears and lets her make the choices that damn her.

[ouatcostumes]

So, about Rumpelstiltskin wearing a high-collared coat, button-down golden waistcoat and cravat the first time he met Regina. About the fact her father wore exactly the same thing for all the scenes in Stableboy and We Are Both. About the fact Rumpelstiltskin is playing the powerful father-figure for her, when she needs it most, while dressing like her father.

This costume department kills me dead.

[ouatcostumes]

Emma - Softening the Edges I'm fascinated by the costume choices given to Emma. In series one, she inclined to pants, knee high boots, wifebeaters, and her series of various leather jackets. She was stuck with this in the beginning of S2, after she was sucked back to FTL, but here, in The Cricket Game, we see Emma dressed as we have never seen her before. For the first time, she's got people looking out for her in Storybrooke. She has family. She doesn't need to pull on the armour of her badass leather jacket. She's even started drawing her hair back from her face, symbolically showing more of herself than she has before, when she let her hair hang loose. The very first time the family go out together, she's wearing loose, soft wools (and her dad started life as a shepherd. How about that?), with shading of colours, which she hasn't worn since she was a runaway with her boyfriend so many years ago. She feels safe, for a brief moment, and comfortable enough to put aside her tough-girl persona. Unfortunately, it doesn't last. Archie is found dead, and Emma feels wary and threatened again, so she dons her leather. Not her dark red or black leather, but a softer, neutral off-green coat, that is looser and more flexible. It isn't armour yet, but it's the first hint that she's feeling wary. And she confronts Regina while wearing this, backed up by her father in his leather coat. Daddy is on the warpath, but Emma's not sure yet. And instead of going back to the leather, when everything falls apart, when Regina seems to be evil, when Archie appears to be dead, when Gold blackmails her into helping him, she dons a high-collared black wool coat or wraps herself in layers and scarves, a wall to hide behind. Her armour was all well and good, when she was in a world she understood, but she isn't in that world anymore. Armour won't work. She can't be strong enough, be hard, not anymore, not when she's got people she cares for, not when she cares. So she puts up a wall, black and big enough to protect herself, a little Princess in a frightening world, and with that as her security, she can face it, no matter how it scares her.

[ouatcostumes]

OUaT Costume Analysis - Masterlist thus far

I figured it's about time I did a masterlist of all the costume analysis I have done so far for Once Upon a time, divided by character, and arranged into sequential order, based on their character timeline, rather than when they appear in the show:

Rumpelstiltskin

The Weaver

The Spinner

A Dark Father

The Crocodile

Not Quite the Blue Fairy

The Queen's Corrupter

The Doctor's Assistant

The Beast

Not a Monster

The Regretful - not technically costume, but props too

The Love story of a Beast - in costume sequence

The Sorcerer/Mad Scientist

The Troll

The Devil at the Feast

Mr Gold

Mr Gold and the Colour Purple

Milah

The Unhappy Wife

The Pirate Queen

Jefferson

The Realm Jumper

The Raggedy Man

Regina

Her Mother's Mannequin

The Secret Wife

The Stableboy's Widow

The Queen in Waiting

The Runaway Queen

The Maiden Fair

The Hopeful Apprentice

The Monster

The Gracious Queen

Is that what you would do mother? - A Regina and Cora comparison

Belle

The Golden Girl

The Little Maid

Cora

The Miller's Daughter

The White and Bright Bride-to-be

The Queen Mother

The Heartless Mother

The Queen of Hearts

The Queen's Mask - A Comparison

Is that what you would do mother? - A Regina and Cora comparison

Miscellaneous Others

The Gentle Giants

Maleficent - The Dragon Witch

Anita - The Alpha Female

Killian Jones - Showing his Heart

I didn't realise I'd done quite so many, but I'm still having fun with it :) If you want to nominate anyone to be analysed, drop it in my ask.

[ouatcostumes]

Cora - The Queen of Hearts Sequentially, the last pictures are the first costume we ever saw Cora in, way back in Hat Trick. Canonically, it's the second last of Cora's new line of Evilwear. I find it very interesting that on both occasions where she has infiltrated a world where she does not belong, this is the look she goes for: a deep red dress and a mask/veil over her face. The first time she used it, she was unmasked as a peasant girl and shamed and derided. But in this mad little world called Wonderland, this is accepted even seen as the norm, judging by the number of people in her court who hide their faces. The symbolism of the mask/veil itself is simple: she's playing a part, hiding who she really is behind a golden facade. And then we have the red dress. Red is the colour of passion and danger and a flashing great warning sign that this is someone who will draw you in but might well cut you to ribbons before you can escape. The former dress incorporates the motif of hearts throughout it. This is the earlier Queen of Hearts, based on the timeline. This is just after Regina has managed to drive Snow into exile, but before the whole true-love thing has happened. Cora would have taken a couple of years to consolidate power, so the hearts motif is significant because this is really when she's beating her the Queendom over the head with the imagery: I am the Queen of Hearts and if you do not bow, then I will take yours. The latter red dress is an echo of the dresses she wore in FTL, which were in turn an echo of Rumpelstiltskin's costumes themselves: a pale underlayer, a V-cut neckline and corsetry, a high collar. Even the cuffs of the later dress reflect the heavily-cuffed sleeves of Rumpel's leather coat. The heart motif is still there, but this time, it's only in the mask. I think it's very telling that even after all this time, Cora still dons the same apparel to play a part and hide her origins. She has never forgotten where she came from or how she got there, and her clothing shows that. Even if she is a Queen now, it takes a red dress and a mask to make her believe it.

[ouatcostumes]

The Queen's Mask

I only noticed this parallel while gathering screencaps for the Queen of Heart's costume, and I find it very interesting that Cora dons a mask to gain access to a Palace, which is where she first gains power.

And now, in another world, where she has become a Queen and is the most powerful person in the realm, she once more puts on a mask.

To me, this is Cora playing a part in both scenarios. In the first, she simply wanted to prove herself, to be accepted and not spat upon or looked down at.

In the second, she never expected to be a Queen in her own right. Regina was always meant to be her puppet Queen. And so, as she has no puppet, she dons a mask and playacts as this strange and magical ruler of this strange and magical land.

It is not true Queenship, for Wonderland is too strange for that, but she wears the mask and plays the part and people see what they want to see, just as she did when she slipped the rose into her hair and stepped into the ballroom.

It is only when her mask is stripped away - literally and metaphorically - that you see the Miller's daughter whose ambitions have all shattered around her.

Just as the King shattered her brief hopes by baring her face and her identity to his people, Hook  ruins her hopes of seeing her daughter's greatness, when she realises that Regina has not come to kill her herself.

Cora may be a terrifying tyrant, but she's a fascinating character.

[ouatcostumes]

Cora - The Heartless Mother Let me start by saying I want to marry the costuming department for their costume choices. I want to marry them and have fat costume-geek babies. Because stuff like this? Is my bread and water. My milk and honey. My salt and pepper. My miscellaneous mixed condiments. Look at that costume in the top picture. Just look at it. The colours (darks red, browns, blacks), the layers, the v-neck design with a secondary layer of glittering, scale-like beading on top of it. She is shamelessly a lady, but her costume design is entirely borrowed from her master, the man she loved and the man who "taught her everything she knows". Cora and Rumpelstiltskin both respond the same way to people who give them something powerful. When Rumpelstiltskin took the power of the Dark One and took control of his life, he started dressing like the Dark One in hoods and ornate cloaks with flowing sleeves and elaborate decoration. When Cora got what she wanted - ie. the child who would be her puppet Queen - she stopped dressing like the pale and modest and fair maiden Princess that was expected of her. Instead, she too started to dress herself in a style influenced by the man who first gave her power: Rumpelstiltskin. Browns and deep reds, the colours he wore when he first came to her, with deep V-necked corsetting over a deeper coloured shirt. Glittering gems that look like scales. Layer upon layer of ornate clothing. She may have taken out her heart and her love for him with it, but that doesn't stop him from leaving his mark on her. Everything she has become, she has become because he helped her onto that road. But aside from the design, the colours are fascinating too. Where 'Princess Cora' was all pure and pale and pastel colours, this is Cora as she strove to be, dressed in strong, dark jewel tones. These are the colours of expense, but they are also the colours of danger (deep red) in the scene where she tortures Regina, power and knowledge (purple) when she manipulates Snow, and envy (green) when she murders her daughter, taking away the chance of love that Regina had. And in every one of these costumes, there is an underlay of black. She might look warm, bright, inviting, with delicate lace and pretty floral patterns woven into the fabric, but beneath it all, there is a darker soul. I find it very telling that Henry, Regina, and Daniel (the last, only in part) are the only characters who see her dressed entirely in black from head to foot. They see her for what she is, while others see the illusion provided by the bright, warm colours. Regina and Henry both know how terrible Cora can be, and she sees no reason to hide it from them. And when she breaks out her glittering, reptilian, brown and beaded Rumpelstiltskin dress, that is when you know she has succeeded. She wears that dress the day she kills Eva. She wears that dress the day she forces her daughter to become a Queen. That is her tribute to the man who taught her. She is wearing his colour, his appearance, because he gave her the means to become what she is and get what she wanted, and she will not forget that, even if he is no longer in her heart.

[ouatcostumes]

Cora - The Queen Mother This costume interests me for the simple fact it's the last time we see Cora in the pale and demure shades she started wearing in the lead in to her wedding. We have seen her in peasant-wear, then the red dress of sexy danger, and from then, she was in whites, creams, ivories and soft, pastel tones. Yet this dress is the most ornate piece of frippery we've seen her in. It's even more expansive and over-the-top than the wedding gown, with lace and layers and decorated sleeves, and goodness knows how many tiers of skirt. This isn't just a dress for a Princess. This is the dress for a true Royal, a Queen in all but name. The colour interests me, because when we see Cora later, this is the same colour she dresses Regina in to present her to Leopold. Blue can have a myriad of meanings, but this shade of blue is the colour of passiveness and peace. It's a gentle colour, and I find it very telling that by the time of the Stableboy arc, Cora's passive, meek, softness has given way to dark jewel tones and blacks. While Regina genuinely was passive while wearing a dress of this colour, Cora was using it as yet another costume. She knew she would never be Queen herself, but she could play the part to get what she wanted, and at this point in the game? If she needs to be the docile, gracious Princess, that's what she'll be, because she has her heir and daughter, and one day, that little girl will be a Queen.

[ouatcostumes]

Is that what you would do, mother?

I hadn't realised until now just how much Cora had dressed up her daughter to be like her. And that's why that moment in the stable with Daniel was a trigger point for such violence from her: her daughter was dressing herself down, regressing to who Cora once was, and Cora could not and would not allow that, not with her ambitions so close to fulfillment.

Throughout their interactions, we see that Cora is the one running the show, even dressing her daughter to catch the eye as she once did. She had to be bold, but her daughter must be passive. If Regina is to be Queen, she must look like a lady, a Princess, gracious, elegant, dripping with wealth and refinement.

Regina is the name Cora gave the child, and that is all she saw in the girl: Queen. Not a daughter. Not someone to love. An avatar for her own ambition and nothing more, a cypher for her desires to dress up and present as she saw fit. She could not be Queen herself, but she would make her daughter rule in her image, and she would be a glorious Queen.

But the trouble with creating a child and sculpting them and shaping them and training them to be just like you is that just when you want them to be the most obedient, that is when they do exactly what you would do yourself and turn on you.

Cora raised her daughter to be the Queen she failed to be. And her daughter in turn showed her exactly who she was: Regina became Cora's mirror, reflecting her actions back on her. That was what led her to being nothing but Queen of a paltry little Kingdom of fools.

[ouatcostumes]

Cora - White and Bright Bride-to-Be

I do find this particular set of costumes striking, especially given the direction Cora ends up going. She says herself "a bride is meant to be snow white", and she's embracing the symbolism entirely for the part she's playing. Given her own choice, she would dress in scarlets for passion and desire and danger, but to be fifth in line to the throne, she must appear virtuous and gracious, a lady all in pale and chaste colours (Yes, the wedding dress is ivory, but I'm assuming that's because pure white clothes are a nightmare to keep clean around Rumpel make-up ;D) It's all decoration, as ornate as the mask she wore at the Masquerade. She is decorating herself in silks and veils and jewels, all the things a would-be Princess and bride should be seen in. Everything about the bridal gown is luxurious and over-the-top, just as everything about her seducey-heart-rippy-slinky dress is. There is beading. There is lacing. There is embroidery. THERE IS EVERYTHING. Her peasantwear had decoration, but it was tame, pretty and simple, and this has been ramped up to eleven because she knows she has to make an impression. She can't just be the Miller's daughter who spins straw into gold. She has to be the Princess, and the Princess will have soft pale colours and rich fabrics and furs. Incidentally, on the subject of the pale colours, while coarse peasantwear was often pale colours because they couldn't afford dye, it would be the rough, dirty colours. Only the wealthiest of people could afford the fine, expensive fabrics that came in purest whites and ivories. By dressing all in whites and pastels and pale colours, Cora is showing off the wealth that she is surrounding herself with. She's making herself stand out, white and bright and there to be admired. She is making herself a shimmering jewel, and is ready to shine.

[ouatcostumes]

Cora - The Miller's Daughter I'm merging Cora's first two costumes in this one, because they are both part and parcel of her identity as the Miller's daughter. To start with our first sight of her, we're shown her home, her father, and given a very clear display of her lifestyle. However, interestingly, her clothing tells another story. Compare her peasant-wear to Rumpelstiltskin's - she's wearing clothing not unlike Rumpelstiltskin's before the ogre's war. There are multiple layers, even small gloves, and the fabric that the cloak is made of is fairly sturdy stuff. This suggests that her family were once reasonably prosperous, especially given that she lives in the expectation of eating regularly and being treated with respect. Somewhere along the line, her family's fortunes failed, and that's why her clothing - while high quality at one point - is now frayed, ragged and torn (it actually reminds me a lot of Milah's style - dressing herself up as best she can with what she has, because she's too proud to be seen as poor). There are small details, intricate lace and ornate buckles, suggesting its worth. It's still elegant compared to barrel-scrapingly poor people (see lame Rumpel, just pre-Dark One), but there can be no mistaking the fact that she is poor and working class, no matter how well she tries to draw herself up. She is all about presentation, even when poverty stricken. She might be poor, but she has her pride, and she will not be cowed. Which leads neatly into our next costume: the red ballgown. In a courtly world where everyone is dressing in subdued tones and hues and pale fabrics and patterns, Cora is making a statement. She is basically saying "I am here and you cannot simply step on me, like I'm dirt". She wants to be noticed and acknowledged positively. She doesn't want to be the rag-clad woman, kneeling and apologising to spoiled children. If she is going to be a lady, she is going to be the most vibrant, colourful, dynamic woman in the room. The colour - of passion, danger, desire - is a flashing great sign that she is not just the Miller's daughter. It is a dress to seduce and entice and dazzle, implying sensuality and wildness and passion in a bland little world. And that is why Henry actually falls for her, this Miller's daughter, this feisty, glorious, sassy, independent fierce woman who stands against his father and who calls a spade a spade, so different from the pretty, tedious, bratty princesses that have been trotted out. He wasn't unhappy to marry her, because he saw in her what Rumpelstiltskin did: a strong, proud, fierce, smart, passionate woman. It's just a shame that wasn't enough for her.

[ouatcostumes]

Belle - The Little Maid While Belle's costume choices in Skin Deep are definitely acknowledged as an homage to the Beauty and the Beast look for Belle, this costume is very much a practical ensemble. The skirts don't sweep the ground, the sleeves are out of the way, and it's neat and compact and not a floaty piece of frippery that a Princessy lady would wear (see Cinderella's dresses - all gauze and light fabric). This is clearly being shown as Belle's working dress, but it's also made to look comfortable and something she wouldn't feel out of place in. Again, Belle's practicality shines through. She wore her golden dress at first, but I get the feeling that after the whole Robin Hood fisaco, she found herself with a nicer room and a selection of dresses that weren't her ball gown. As much as Rum liked ogling her in that dress, he wants her to be able to move freely and do as she pleases. The golden dress was very much a "I'm a sparkly trinket" dress. Her shoulders, arms, neck, and chest were all bared by it. It was confining and constricting, so long that it would have hindered any movement or work. So the fact that she ends up in something much more modest, comfortable, and practical shows that she's not being viewed as that sparkly trinket anymore. It's also interesting that her golden dress is a sign of her status within her father's land, and she can't remove it herself: it's laced at the back and is basically a symbolic prison for her. Whereas the blue dress allows her movement and freedom, and it unlaces at the front, so she doesn't even have to depend on anyone to free her. Symbolism ftw ;) The fact that Rumpelstiltskin comes to truly love her when she's dressing down is lovely. He didn't fall for her because she was a Fair Princess in a grand, tight gown that served to show her off. He fell for her because she proved herself to be a good, practical, thoughtful woman. He didn't need her showing shoulders and chest and bare arms. All she had to do was be there and smile at him. And the colour: light blue is the colour of tranquility, calm, grace, and understanding. How very, very fitting :)

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Costumes, costumes, everywhere...

Been a while since I updated. I have plans to continue the Regina stuff, but since they get very little interest, who would you like to see?