Disney's Frozen

I watched Frozen yesterday with my two nieces, despite being set in Scandinavia and inspired by an HC Anderssen tale it didn't get to Sweden until now. Anyway I was totally awestruck by the costumes in the film. For the first part I just sat there gaping and thinking about how I would be able to recreate them. I definitely think Frozen is something new when it comes to attention of details on animated costumes, and I would recommend reading this interview with the costume designer Jean Gillmore. I loved the colours and how they mixed elements of the Norwegian bunad with fairytale fantasy fashion.

The bunad is broad term for Norwegian folk costume. It actually evolved in the 19th century when when national romanticist wanted to revive traditional folk customs and clothing. I'm from Sweden so I don't really know the story about the bunad, and if it's similar to the history of the Swedish folk costumes.

This is a picture from the wiki article about bunad and shows the modern wearing of it. This picture is from Trondheim, which is fitting since a lot of the inspirations for Frozen was taken from Tröndelag, the region surrounding Trondheim. Anyway you can see that the general style of bunad is very similar to Anna's dress in Frozen, the only thing missing is the apron.

There was one costume that I loved even more, probably because I felt that Anna's dress was a bit too young for me, and that was Elsa's coronation gown.

I have already gathered quite a few reference images of it, and it doesn't look too complicated. The gown itself would be a corset with a sweetheart neckline. It has two distinct seams on the side of the bodice, so I would possibly make the strength layer as a traditional corset and cover it with the outer fabric with those steams. The main thing is to decide if I should paint or embroidered the motifs on the skirt and bodice. I would love to use a proper wool, but the important thing is to get a fabric with a nice and heavy drape to it. For the cape I would be able to use the leftovers of my silk velvet from my Amidala gown. It's not enough left to make the train as long as in the original, on the other hand that will make it more practical to walk in.

The main problem as usual would be to fix the hair ad the little tiara.

As for wearing it. Well that is the problem, and I usually don't like to make costumes that I can't wear. he HSF has a challenge for alternate universe due around Halloween, and this would definitely fit that. I could also bring it to the annual sci-fi con in Stockholm in early December.