5 Fun Facts on Costume designer Sandy Powell Cinderella Dress #Cinderella

The spectacular blue gown that Lily James wears to the royal ball in Disney’s new live – action film Cinderella is visually stunning and captivating. Although Cinderella is a beloved classic fairy tale, Disney’s new rendition story is brought to life by the wardrobe.  Award-winner Sandy Powell’s master piece collection not only includes Cinderella’s lush blue gown and elegant wedding dress but hundreds of other elaborate costumes.

I had an opportunity to speak with the designer, about the steps she took in order to create such a dramatic wardrobe collection. From our discussion, I thought it would be neat to share with you some fun facts. Please feel free to share with your friend by pinning on Pinterest, retweeting on twitter or clicking on of the share button to the right.

5 Fun Facts on Costume designer Sandy Powell Cinderella Dress

Let It Flow:

1) The dress needed to seamlessly float behind Cinderella as she ran down the stairs to her beautiful carriage before midnight. In order for the gown to have a romantic glow in the moon light and appear weightless. It required months of creating numerous prototypes, fittings and trials, which involved moving and dancing.

Light It Up:

2) One of her original ideas was to have the dress light up from the inside, however that wasn’t possible.  Therefore more than 10,000 Swarovski crystals are sawn onto the gown illuminating in the night

Picture Credit: Walt Disney Studtios

Layers and Layers:

3) At first glance you would assume the gown huge and quite heavy but it’s only an illusion.  Made of more than 270 yards of fabric, the layers virtually float around Lily James “Cinderella” as she danced at the ball.

The Gown is Fabricated Using:

• Crinoline cage, which gives (the dress) the silhouette
• Over the top of the cage are a couple of petticoats with lots and lots of frills on the bottom. That you see when she dances and jumps. As well as frills on the inside of the Crinoline cage
• The final top layer is Silk Crepeline, which is a little bit heavier than a chiffon with layers of really light polyester fabric underneath. The base fabric of the gown is a iridescent pale white fabri, mix with a bit of blue, that the light bounces off.

picture credit: Walt Disney Studios

The Glass Slipper:

4) Originally Sandy Powell did not go to Austrian crystal company Swarovski to create the  unforgettable glass slipper. However, after looking at several different options, they realized the stunning sparkle of shoe could only be accomplished by using crystal.   So they partnered with Swarovski to create a shoe based off an original a shoe from the 1890s, that She found in a Northampton shoe museum.

5) There were eight pairs of Glass Slippers created which were never worn because crystal has no movement, of course. However, they were put to good use as prop for the scenes where all the maidens in the kingdom are trying it on or as different models to be broken on camera.

About Cinderella:

A live-action feature inspired by the classic fairy tale, “Cinderella” brings to life the timeless images from Disney’s 1950 animated masterpiece as fully-realized characters in a visually-dazzling spectacle for a whole new generation.

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	At the Red Carpet Premiere of Disney Cinderella

“Cinderella” in theater’s on March 13, 2015

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