Hello friends!

A few years back, I wrote a post called Fairy Tales and identity, and to this day it is one of my most consistently-viewed posts. It was also one of my favorite posts to write. Ever since then, I’ve been wanting to revisit that theme but have not known exactly how. But then I learned about Disneybounding and have been dying to try it out!

The idea with Disneybounding is that you dress in a stylish, modern, everyday outfit that represents the character as opposed to a full-on costume. I decided to try it out for Cinderella!

I found this powder blue and white polka dot sundress as the main piece—symbolizing Cinderella’s classic iridescent blue ball gown. Of course I needed the famous black choker to complete that look. Instead of wearing my hair up in a bun I kept it down in loose curls, as the live-action version of Cinderella does for most of the time. While I wish I had clear jelly’s or silver flats to represent the magical glass slippers, I kept the footwear casual with purple sparkling flip-flops. But I think I captured her essence!

Why Cinderella?

I decided to start with Cinderella for a few reasons. I consider Cinderella to be one of the “founding fathers” of all fairy tales. Her story has ancient origins and the rags-to-riches trope has been replicated in nearly endless versions since. When Disney took a stab at in 1950, Cinderella became a Disney icon. Her castle is even the main symbol for Walt Disney World and is featured in the opening intro of every Disney movie today! While I’ve always appreciated elements of Disney’s adaption—the pumpkin carriage, talking mice and glass slippers—I didn’t fall in love with Cinderella until the live-action version.

Cinderella has since become one of my biggest role models. Most of her story is filled with loss, struggle, hard work, disappointment and lots of waiting. Not only did she experience to pain of losing both parents, but her days are spent with hard labor, poor treatment and no appreciation from the evil stepmother and stepsisters. It would be perfectly understandable and even easy for her to grow bitter, cold and hateful towards her nasty step family. Instead she takes care of the house and even her step family out of reverence for her parents’ legacy. She could have found ways to get revenge on them and make them pay—putting dirt in their food perhaps or refusing to do any more work. But she remembers that her mother taught her to always have courage and be kind. So she continues to be faithful in the little things each day and finds ways to appreciate and enjoy life by befriending the mice!

We know what happens next….Cinderella receives help and hope from her Fairy Godmother to get the chance of a lifetime—to attend the royal ball and meet the prince! Apart from Fairy Godmother, who saw Cinderella’s stunning kindness and hard work, Cinderella would never have gotten this opportunity. All it took for her was this chance—and her life would be forever changed.

The story, with all of it’s drama and suspense, eventually has a happy ending. Cinderella goes from a lowly servant who slept by the cinders to keep warm each night into a magnificent princess! I admire Cinderella so much, not because she becomes a glamorous princess, but because she is incredibly and unrelentingly strong. And not a hard-shelled kind of strength, but the kind that allows her to be content, patient and kindhearted even in the face of continuous poor treatment and difficulty. To me that is the most admirable strength there is.

At the end of the day, she didn’t need to get revenge to prove herself—the fact the Fairy Godmother saw her worthy of help and that the prince wanted her above everybody else said enough. At the end of the live-action movie, when the slipper fits and Cinderella finally gets to leave her very jealous and angry stepmother, Cinderella chooses to take pity on the woman and simply forgive her. If that doesn’t make her a solid role model, I don’t know what does!

More Disneybounding Ahead

I had so much fun with this post! I really love talking about Disney and my favorite tales and am always down for dress up. The good news is that there are so many wonderful Disney characters to “bound” so the fun doesn’t have to end here. Stay tuned for more adventures!