Charley’s Ariel Inspiration

Hello! I’m Sian’s oft-mentioned friend (mainly in relation to Disney and food … says a great deal about me, and our relationship, to be honest); holding down the fort for one-blog-minute whilst Sian gallivants stylishly around America …

I usually blog about film, theatre, literature shizzle, and scriptwriting (with a mild sprinkling of animal antics) over at The Gorilla, The Tortoise And Me, but today I’m masquerading as a fashion blogger, which is more than a little funny considering my normal attire consists of harem pants, various Kermit-themed items, and not much else. So I bring you (in my own specific fashion-bloggy-way) HOW TO DRESS AS ARIEL! As I did it once and have the photos to prove it – and let’s be honest, who’s more stylish than Ariel?!

Point 1: you don’t have to be ginger to be Ariel. It may help, but it isn’t entirely necessary …

Point 2: you also don’t have to have a fish tail instead of legs either. Despite what ‘some’ more ignorant Disney princesses might think when they don’t recognise the character you’re dressed as (despite the hours of effort, and clearly spectacular results) Ariel spent half the film as a human. Hence, it is entirely reasonable to dress as Human Ariel.

Body: ASOS (exact link)

Blouse: ASOS

Skirt: New Look

Bow: Handmade

She wears a pretty gorgeous blue dress for most of the film, which I managed to vaguely recreate by pulling together items from all over the place. The skirt began life as blue maxi skirt from the teen section of New Look (thanks to Sian for pointing me in the direction of that one) that I don’t believe is available any more but isn’t anything particularly special. Any beautiful, vibrant blue-coloured skirt will do, as you can easily do what I did and just take the scissors to it to make it the right length. In fact, it turned out quite well that way, as I used the material I had hacked from the hem to make into an over-sized bow for my hair – the only way, really, to make sure they coordinated perfectly, a la any good Disney princess! The told half was achieved by another little mismatch creation – a blousy, sheer top with nice billowy sleeves with a simple black leotard (I call it a leotard – the internet calls it a ‘petite strapless body’) – both from ASOS. Altogether it very nearly gives the same effect of Ariel’s clearly more expensive ensemble – the blue gown with the structured bodice – but here we have the budget version! Once you add the massive matching bow, you don’t really need to do much to the hair other than create yourself a massive sweeping fringe to match (hair-sprayed to death, to hold it perfectly in place, just like the cartoon version). I feel that with Disney hair you either go big or go home – fluff the heck out of it and spray it to make it stick in place.

And that’s how you dress like a Disney Princess. Yay. Princess J