Haus of Villains Style Challenge Look 2: Anastasia and Drizella

Sing sweet nightingale...

The evil step sisters from Cinderella have to be some of the most fun villains of all time, and I'm not just talking in Disney's version. Across the board these characters are iconic- whether it be in one of Disney's many versions of Cinderella, in Sondheim's Into the Woods, or in Rogers and Hammerstein's Cinderella on Broadway, these two sisters will have you rolling with laughter.

Now this Anastasia and Drizella bound is one of the only bounds I've ever done that I can not take full credit for. It truly was a collaborative effort between myself and my friend Autumn, @autumnontuesdays. A few months back (far before the Haus of Villains challenge was even a glimmer in my mind), Autumn messaged me saying that she wanted to do a collaborative bound and that she was dying to do the step sisters, and so began one of the most fun bounds I've ever done. The difficulty with this bound in particular was finding outfits that matched but also came in both pink and green.

The piece that we decided to base our outfits around was our enormous sun hats. Wearing enormous sun hats as part of a bound has been a dream of mine for so long, and I've attempted to incorporate one to many looks, but it has just never worked out. The particular hats we settled on were from Amazon and can be found in myAmazon Storefront. Since the hats were going to be such a statement piece, we then decided that we would go with pants rather than dresses for the look. My pants were from Pinup Girl Clothing, and Autumn's were from Unique Vintage- we're sisters, not twins. for out tops we layered some cute tie up tops from Le Bomb Shop with cropped sweaters from MAK so we could really achieve the two toned look that is so iconic from Anastasia and Drizella.

Haus of Villains Style Challenge Look 1: Evil Queen

You all asked for it so here it is! An official style challenge for the short remainder of the month of October. I don't plan to do every single Disney villain as that would be a monstrous task that I am just not up for. Plus, I have to leave some of them for next year, right?

In all honesty, this style challenge started completely by accident. I was on my way to Disneyland with nothing to wear, so I looked in my car and tried to see what I could pull together and low and behold- it was an Evil Queen Disneybound. It was a definitely a sign from the gods that the Haus of Villains series was an absolute necessity and would be my gift to the world for this Halloween season.

Something I love about the film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is that it wastes zero time with exposition. You get a 30 second book scene in the very beginning that establishes our villain and our hero immediately, cut directly to the Queen demanding Snow White's death upon seeing the Prince proposition her, and that's really all you need to know about these characters, and honestly- all you will know. So far we haven't gotten any type of canon backstory for the Evil Queen or her motivations. We know that shes' fueled by jealousy for her step daughter- but why? In the film it isn't even established that Snow is her step daughter, it just says she's the Queen and Snow White is the princess, so we can only assume they're blood related. However, if you ever meet the Queen in a Disney park, she refers to Snow as her step daughter, which really I can only assume was an after thought when Disney realized that it's a little too morbid to have a mother try to murder her own actual biological daughter because she's upset that she's no longer the most beautiful person in the world. But we've all been there right?

Regardless of whether or not the Evil Queen is the fairest of them all, she's still an absolute hottie. She has the ability to be completely covered from head to toe with the exception of her face and still be drop dead gorgeous, which is something Snow White does not have going for her. Also, the Queen must be a science wiz because she has all sorts or equipment in the basement of her castle- she has Bunsen burners and beakers and she can make potions to make herself ugly and to poison apples so she definitely got the smarts in the family. Meanwhile Snow White is getting nearly murdered, basically exiled from her kingdom for fear of her life, and chased by anthropomorphic trees and she APOLOGIZES- so she has next to no brains let's be honest. She's a great baker, she's got a beautiful voice, but she is for sure not the shiniest diamond in the mine if you know what I mean.

For this Disneybound I started with an eggplant jersey dress which reminded me of the Evil Queen with its color, length, and classic cut. To represent her cape I used a modern faux leather jacket. One of my favorite pieces of this outfit was the true vintage belt, The outfit screamed for a belt and this one in particular reminded me so much of the Queen's magic mirror. I decided to accessorize the outfit with apples, using both a poison apple brooch and am apple purse. I have always disagreed with using an apple as Snow White's symbol because it's literally what's used to try and kill her? So I just don't understand? For my hair I went with a classic bouffant to represent the Queen's cowl, and I added a zig-zag gold headband for the crown to top off the look.

ADDITIONAL AUTHOR'S NOTE: The quote goes "Magic mirror on the wall" not "mirror mirror on the wall" so please just stop. I've seen them use the incorrect quote on actual Disney merchandise sold in the parks and it's beginning to drive me absolutely bananas. If I see or hear anyone misquoting this, I will personally come and cut up your annual pass. You have been warned.

Summer of Pixar Look 20: Edna Mode- Incredibles 2

Edna Mode: the epitome of style, a fashion icon, an absolute game changer. What better way to wrap up this entire series dedicated to fashion and self expression than with an homage to easily the most fashionable and expressive character in the Pixar universe. Edna Mode, of course, is modeled after famous designer Edith Head who won eight Academy Awards for best costume design, more than any other woman in history Edith was, of course, noted for her carefully constructed "uniform" which always included a blunt bang and large, round glasses which obviously provided inspiration for the character. Edith's works will forever live on, but the character of Edna Mode is a wonderful homage to this real-life hero.

Throughout this series I felt a bit like Edna Mode, having to create actual, workable fashion representing so many different characters and so many different styles. I had such an amazing time getting t explore different types of fashion and pushing my personal style in a way I otherwise wouldn't have. Exploring these different fashions honestly helped me to explore different facets of my personality, and sometimes almost felt like taking on a new character or persona. All in all, for this project, the good far outweighed the bad.

Since this was my very last bound for my Summer of Pixar series, I decided to truly "go big or go home" and wear my Monica dress from Pinup Girl Clothing to Disneyland. Let me tell you, this dress is absolutely one of my favorite things that I have ever purchased. It's beautiful and extremely flattering on all body types. It just makes me feel sexy and confident. Over this, I did not add a cape, but I opted for a sequined blazer to add a little pop. Because Edna is all about style and functionality, for shoes I went with a simple black peep toed kitten heel. To pull thewhole look together, I topped it off with none other than The Artist Formerly Known as Prince's actual raspberry beret.

Summer of Pixar Look 19: Coco- Mama Imelda

The second I saw Hector walk on the screen, I turned to my boyfriend next to me and said "that's his grandpa" and he was like "no the other guy is his grandpa" and I was like "you absolute fool, do you know nothing about screen writing?" and anyway I was right and now I'm single.

Coco is, without a doubt, one of the greatest Pixar movies of all time, and coincidentally Pixar's only musical to date. But is that a coincidence? Or do people just like musicals and maybe, just MAYBE Pixar is FINALLY catching on to what audiences want. This film is so important in so many ways. It's the first full length Pixar film to star a person of color. Which is actually ridiculous if you consider how many Pixar films came before it, but we can't complain when people learn from their mistakes. This film really opened my eyes to Mexican culture in a way I never experienced before. At risk of sounding entirely racist, I never liked things that revolved around Dia de los Muertos. I didn't like the look of the skeletons- it felt overall too spooky for me. But I was just another ignorant white person who waited for a cartoon movie to change my mind. Leaving the theater, I was completely in tears and reveling in the deep rooted history that the Mexican culture had to offer. How beautiful it is that family is so important regardless of whether they're living or dead. This film is phenomenally moving, and although it's a lot more fun when I have things to complain about, I really have nothing negative to say.

The character I most identified with in this film was, without a doubt, Mama Imelda. If anyone can hold a grudge for hundreds of years beyond the grave, it's me. So I knew that she would be the only choice for this Coco inspired Disneybound. For this look, I didn't want to simply wear a dress similar to the one that she wore in the film, I also wanted to show how much i related to the character by truly exemplifying how dead inside I am, so I started this outfit with a skeleton top. I added a purple ruffled skirt over this to represent Mama Imelda's dress. Instead of Mama Imelda's apron, I added a brown faux leather belt to exemplify the fact that I actually have zero organs in my body. For shoes I went with a simple black bootie, and I accessorized with black and purple chokers. This entire outfit can be found on my Amazon Storefront. To give a nod to the Mexican culture, I added a purple floral headband as I oftentimes see similar headbands used in traditional celebrations like Dia de los Muertos. Overall, this was close to the top of my list of Disneybounds that I've done over the course of my Summer of Pixar challenge, and one that I felt the most inspired to do. In fact, this was one of the first bounds I did and I've just been waiting to share it with everyone!

Summer of Pixar Look 18: Cars 3- Jackson Storm

Life IS a highway and I absolutely want to ride it literally all night long. I finally understand what Rascal Flatts meant in those infamous lyrics. I never once thought that the highway of my life would twist and wind down to a road where I would find myself doing 3 Cars themed Disneybouds ever, let alone over the course of a few months. But here we are. Life can be so interesting like that.

If I haven't been clear previously, the Cars franchise is probably one of my least favorite things that the Walt Disney Company or any of its subsidiaries has ever had any part in. I just have never and will never be interested in talking cars and they beat it to death over the course of 3 films and a spin-off film (lest we forget Planes). But despite all of this, my Cars themed Disneybounds have turned out to be some of my favorites over the course of this project. I felt so good about myself in Lightning, and I got to live my farm girl fantasy as Mater, and now with Cars 3 Jackson Storm did not disappoint. I am not exaggerating when I say that upon trying on this outfit, I walked around my house for 3 hours saying "I'm- JACKSON STORM" and flipping my ponytail. Was I more than likely delirious after having completed 3/4 of this project and finally being in the home stretch? Probably. Did that make it any less fun for me? Nope.

Cars 3 as a film was probably my favorite out of any of the Cars movies, though that isn't saying much. I still didn't like it, it's still not up there on my list of Pixar movies, but I didn't cringe as much as I expected. I thought the themes were fairly solid. I liked that Lightning knew when it was his time to retire (something Pixar needs to learn when it comes to retiring franchises), and I loved how the real and true villain in the film was youth and technology because honestly that's the true villain in my every day life.

After much debate with myself and everyone else I know over which character to bound for this film, I settled, as I've said, on Jackson Storm- because sometimes it's good to be bad. I had such a fun time creating a completely modern look for Jackson Storm which I felt was integral to his character since his whole story line revolves around the fact that he's a new kind of racer who uses new technology to train in a way that we've never seen before. Pulling from Jackson's blue and black color scheme, I thought that a really good way to exemplify how slick and modern he is would be leather, so I went with some faux leather pants and a faux leather jacket- which looked really cool and I loved, but also caused me to nearly pass out from the heat. You can find the jacket on my Amazon Storefront. I added the touch of blue with a casual blue crop top from Forever 21. I think that the key to this look was to make it simple and streamline, which is such the opposite of what I usually go for in my vintage kitsch, and part of the reason I loved it so much. To accessorize the look I added two mis-matched earrings, an idea that I pulled from one of my favorite YouTubers, Kandee Johnson. I love this idea because it's subtle but it's extremely modern, and it's also great for someone like me who can never find a matching pair of earrings.  For shoes, I added a suede bootie for texture. Though this outfit is absolutely stellar, I think that we can all agree the true star of the bound is my incredible Ariana Grande inspired ponytail. I have to say I was living my absolute best life with all this glorious hair on my head- I felt like a true star, and all thanks to my amazing friend Lisa Fabio at Little Penny Lane on Etsy. She is absolutely incredible with hair and is the only person I will trust with any of my wig needs.

Summer of Pixar Look 17: Finding Dory- Dory

Finding Dory is what happens when you take a complete cast of supporting characters and just throw them all together in a movie with no strong lead. I don't think it's a bad movie, I found it to be really entertaining, but I just don't exactly understand the concept. Dory was the comic relief side-kick character in Finding Nemo, an otherwise really dark and fairy traumatizing film about a man who loses his wife, his unborn children, and then eventually his only son, and she served that purpose really well. Dory had some of the most hilarious lines and also helped to drive the plot forward in many cases. She did her job as a side kick. But the problem with side kicks is that typically they have a fairly niche personality. They serve one purpose, to support our main protagonist who, typically, has a well-rounded, multi-faceted personality. Dory doesn't really have that, and they didn't really even attempt to give her more of a personality in this sequel that was completely about her. Yes, she has a little more of a back story in that she actually came from somewhere, but is that really a well thought out back story? "I have a mom and a dad!" Like- yes, literally everyone has a biological birth father and mother. Is that a well thought out story line? I guess? Am I overthinking a children's movie? What do you think I've been doing for the past several months on this blog?

Anyway, Dory, as well as every other character in this film, is a side kick. Dory has memory loss, that's her shtick- she can't remember anything and for whatever reason that's very funny and not very, very sad like it would be if a real human person couldn't remember anything. I understand that she's a fish and therefore this is funny because "haha, actual fish have very short memories" and that worked for me in the first film, but in a movie that's main thesis is coping with your disability, it just doesn't fly? This movie relies very heavily on Dory's flashbacks, which to me is strange considering she isn't supposed to have the ability to retain any memories. If this were to be a real film that was actually about working through your disability, I feel like it would stand to be mentioned that if you have actual memory loss, it doesn't work like that. It's not like in very difficult situations where you REALLY need to remember something, you just DO. Bailey, the whale who can't echo-locate, also "overcomes" his disability by, when he REALLY needs to echo-locate, just not being disabled anymore? Hank has PTSD and then when his friends REALLY need him, he's just very brave? Destiny is the only one with a creative work around when she enlists another whale to be her seeing eye whale so she doesn't keep swimming into walls.

I don't know why I'm so bitter about this, but I really do wish that they actually made a movie about coping with disabilities rather than just having the characters just not be disabled when they really needed to not be.

So, anyway, for Finding Dory, I Disneybounded as Dory. For this look I started with an off the shoulder, royal blue roper that I found, you guessed it, on Amazon. And wouldn't I be darned if I didn't throw it on my Amazon Storefront so you could create the look for yourself? I added a black belt from Pinup Girl Clothing to represent Dory's blue stripes. For Dory's yellow fins I added a big yellow sunhat, also from Amazon, as well as these adorable yellow shoes from B.A.I.T. Footwear. 

Summer of Pixar Look 16: The Good Dinosaur- Arlo

For this next blog post, we're all going to play a group participation game. For every time I say the word "dinosaur", everyone takes a shot, the last person to not be hospitalized wins.

This Good Dinosaur Disneybound is the perfect example of when someone gives up but tries to make it fashion. Coincidentally, the movie The Good Dinosaur is also the perfect example of when a movie studio gives up but tries to make it look like quality content. Disney has yet to make a high caliber dinosaur movie to date, which is weird because The Land Before Time nailed it on the first try. You win this round, Universal. Actually, between The Land Before Time, We're Back! A Dinosaur Story, and Jurassic Park, Universal has really cornered the market on dinosaur films while Disney seems to not even be trying. Between Dinosaur and The Good Dinosaur, I'd honestly rather take a razor scooter to the ankle than subject myself to a Disney-made dinosaur film.

Surprizingly, I had a very difficult time deciding on a character to bound for this movie. Obviously it was between Arlo and Spot, but I had pretty solid outfits picked for both so maybe there will be more Good Dinosaur bounds in my future- wouldn't that be incredible. This time, however, I went with Arlo.

Because Arlo is a big ugly green dinosaur, I hated every moment of this. But I did it for the Vine and for my fans that are constantly showing me their love and support on my Patreon. This one's for you, Allison Zeller. For this look, more than anything I pulled inspiration from Isabella's costume at the end of the Lizzie McGuire movie because I had to find something to pull inspiration from that didn't make me want to step on a Lego. Sing to me, Arlo. For the base of this outfit I went with an easy breezy bright lime green dress- which would not be flattering on anyone and is not flattering on me. To distract from this dress, I used a green faux snake skin jacket to represent the texture of a real life dinosaur. To accessorize the look, I used green sunglasses, a green headband and these beautiful sparkly green leaf earrings from Summer Blue Jewelry. On my feet I went with a tan colored crystal bootie for a little extra sparkle.

I did feel the need to mention the one and only time that Disney seemed to get anything right regarding dinosaurs, which is, of course, the Sunglass Shack from the original plans for Disney's California Adventure. In a Sleeping Beauty like situation, I could not decide whether I prefered the dinosaur pink or green, so here are pictures of both. RIP Sunglass Shack and RIP the original "thememing" for California Adventure.