Top 5 Cinderella 2015 historical influences

 Historical influences in cinderella 2015

Whilst Cinderella is technically a fantasy, the costume designers of the 2015 version definitely gave a huge nod to historical dress, with inspirations from the 17th century, the 1840s, the 1860s, and the 1950s to name a few!

 I LOVE the costumes in this film so much and I think they are some of the most cinematic, beautiful works in the history of film.

Let's have a look at some of these examples...

1. Cinderella's mother.

Here is Hayley Atwell as Cinderella's Mother wearing what looks like an 1840s/50s -inspired dress.

This dress from the 1850s has the same smooth wide neckline and short sleeves as Hayley's dress!

See the pointed bodice that too is a feature of Hayley's dress.

Notice that Hayley's dress had a smocked front, the smocked form was in high fashion in the 1850s.

Look! This dress has nearly all the elements of Hayley's dress, a wide low neck, short straight sleeves, smocked bodice, pointed waist, AND it's a FLORAL dress. The only big difference is in the fabrics, whilst Hayley's looks like some kind of cotton/linen more shiny silks and satins are in the other dresses but cottons/linens were used for the middle classes as well so it's still historically accurate!

* She wears a more yellow-based version of this dress too but I can't find enough good photos to analyse it fairly so I'll move on.*

2. Cinderella's work dress.

This dress has heavy Georgian influences, leading me to theorise that maybe this was supposed to be a dress of her mother or grandmother's youth! Or else it was just to give romanticised fashion backwardness to her so her step-sisters would have something to sneer at her about! But I like the idea that it was a family dress maybe something she found in the attics and thought was pretty and so adapted it to be her own!

 

This one has a similar thin cotton voile/ muslinish fabric, though the shape of the neck and sleeves somewhat varies!

This beautiful gown has more of a similar shape.

Cinderella's work dress is shorter than extant Georgian gowns giving a balletic feel to her scenes, emphasising the ethereal fantastical qualities that make her a fairytale princess.

Ballets have long been using the Georgian look for cinderella's work dress!

3. Cinderella's pink gown.

This gown is very very early Victorian. In fact so much so it actually has a similar shape to Queen Victoria's wedding dress.

Like seriously, all you have to do is look at it and without being vaguely interested in fashion history you can see the similarities!

The clever thing they did here was to use the fabrics to update the look from historical to fairytale. The soft flow and drape is something that makes Cinderella look graceful and floating.

4. Cinderella's ball gown.

The 1860s is the main inspiration for this wonderful gown with the elliptical hoops that are fuller at the back than the front and short puffed sleeves.

Here is a ball gown of the era in a similar tulle sort of fabric, albeit more decorated than Cinderella's.

Did you know? The costume designer used layers and layers of different shades of blues, greens and pinks under the dress to give a watercolour effect!

For more information as to how the dress is made refer to Bella Mae design's YouTube breakdown and series (the best part is that she is a homeschooler from a large family, so I'm also presuming the family is Christian, after all there aren't many huge homeschooling families who AREN'T Christian!)

5 Cinderella's Step-Mother

Okay here I'm going to talk about the stepmother outfits in general, they all seem to have a similar tone to them which is both sophisticated and dramatic. 

The dress she wears above has a tight black sheath skirt with a billowing embroidered net/tulle overskirt similar to the designs popular in 1950s gowns.

Like the one pictured below worn by Joan Crawford, who Sandy Powell quoted as being the inspiration for her looks. The look is also mixed with the high collared straight shouldered look of the 40s to make the stepmother even more imposing. The designer used an acid green in the bodice here, foreshadowing how the stepmother will eat away at the peace and happiness of the family.

The next inspiration I want to point out is for this ballgown she wears...

The style of the bodice reminds me so much of this 50s dress pictured below.

But updated to give it a more fairytale vibe. The imposing dramatic neckline and green colour show how the stepmother is still envious and domineering and portray her character well.

The final example I have is one of the best! It seems like the costume designer MUST have been inspired by this photo I found of Joan Crawford!

It has such a similar collar detailing!

Anyway that's all for my top five!

Other notable influences are the ugly sisters' 1830s style dresses through most of the movie except the ball where the influence is the classic 1950s ballgown, and the mainly 1850s and 1950s background characters at the ball.