Disneyland, a place that is not “a little town” or “quiet village.” “Every day” is certainly not “like the one before.” Therefore, you don’t have to dress like you do “Every day like the one before.” You aren’t expected to be “provincial,” shoot for the exceptional and do a little something called “Disney Bounding.”
As you can tell by my lyrical references, Belle from Beauty and the Beast may be my favorite Disney Princess and character of all time—okay my inspiration in life as a whole. She is witty, pretty, adventurous, and has a thing for books—what more can you want in a role model? For this specific purpose, I decided to dress like her in the Happiest Place on Earth: Disneyland. This phenomenon of dressing like your favorite Disney character while still looking like you’re wearing regular clothes is called “Disney Bounding.” Stay tuned for a how-to on the way I made this look-a-like possible.
My inspiration for this look came from the opening number of Beauty and the Beast: Belle. This was when our heroine roamed the streets of her French little town in blue and white peasantry attire with her hair up and book in hand. The beautiful thing about this look: I was able to recreate it with items already in my closet.
To stay true to Belle’s outfit, I decided to not only stay within her color scheme, but find pieces that looked similar to hers. Luckily, I was able to dig a puffy, three-quarter inch sleeve cream top from the back of my closet that looks like Belle’s cotton one. In place of her blue dress that settles on top, these light blue denim overalls do just the job.
Next, I included the key to any outfit: accessories. Belle capitalizes on her blue bow and more importantly, book that is practically an extension of her arm. My mother managed to have some spare blue ribbon lying around the house, and as a bookworm myself there was no shortage of the written word for me to choose from. To finish it all of, I wore some black flats that look just like those in the movie.
In this outfit, I was able to live my dream of being a real life Belle for a short period of time. You can bet that her theme song was running through my head as I walked around Disneyland. Even Belle recognized me as her long lost twin, which would be a huge deal for any fan.
Keeping it Krishic,
Kristin Vartan
Keeping it Krischic 