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Production Arts: Costumes, Soundtracks, Props, etc


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Whew! I'm not the only one who thought there was something weird with those boots. I could never figure out quite what it was.

 

Serena, that just reminds me of Ichabod Crane buying his new historical replica clothes. Well, at least they're clean.  ;)

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Ichabod still dressing like he's in the Revolutionary War makes total sense for his character, for the reasons that article gave. He doesn't want to let go of the man he was and is clinging to that identity in the modern world. The idea of him buying replica clothes was brilliant because it answered the question of how dirty his clothes must be by now while letting him keep his old look.

 

But that's also the reason that Hook really does need a wardrobe change. He doesn't want to be the man he once was. He was willing to give up his ship in order to get to Emma, which meant he was giving up his old life for the hope of a new one. If he'd give up his ship, why wouldn't he give up his old, uncomfortable-looking boots?

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(edited)

Emmy nominations are out and Once Upon a Time snagged a nomination for costuming (as it should!) Here are the details:

 

Once Upon a Time - A Curious Thing

Eduardo Castro, Costume Designer
Monique McRae, Assistant Costume Designer

 

They are going up against Boardwalk Empire, Downton Abbey, Game of Thrones and Mad Men.  The Borgias won last year (and in 2011) while Game of Thrones won in 2012.  This is Once's third nomination in this category (every year it has been on).  This is Mad Men's first nomination, but Boardwalk Empire and Downton Abbey have also been nominated before.

Edited by kili
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I was just drooling over the costumes during my rewatch last night. When I watched the first two seasons, I didn't have HD. Now on Blu-Ray, there's so much texture and detail. The fabric in Red's cloak is just gorgeous.

 

Also, David's shoulder holster needs to make a return. I don't know what it is that's so hot about shoulder holsters.

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A & E have said that Hook's wardrobe would change and it would be symbolic. I'm a little surprised, considering he'd already traded away the Jolly Rodger, that it hasn't happened already, but maybe they just wanted to play it close to the vest (couldn't resist). I'm assuming this means a new look (possibly several) for him in s4.

OTOH, I can see his coat being a Thing (much as Spike's coat was a Thing for him over on BtVS). So maybe he didn't strip it off the body of a fallen Warrior he'd defeated in battle, but it might've cost him a pretty penny (custom work?) and it has served him well over the years. As a pirate, it would make sense that he'd have any number of secrets hidden in that coat, including a few small, easily transportable valuables. 

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I thought about the Jolly Roger issue as well. I would've loved to see his other vests on display in Storybrooke but I guess he must've left them on the ship when he exchanged it for the bean. I do miss those.

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(edited)
Visually I don't think the Rumbelle age difference would be so noticeable and jarring if they would just stop dressing Belle like a preppy sorority girl. Or I guess they can put Rumple in something else besides a 3 piece suit but he looks so dapper in them. Better to change hers.

 

 

I'm usually not into noticing the wardrobe stuff outside the EF scenes, but a couple months ago I saw a couple of gifsets of Belle's Storybrooke outfits on Tumblr, and I started to gain some appreciation for what the costumers are trying to do. 

 

Overall, I think the costumers pay a lot of attention to what her clothes say about where she is at any given point in her story. Belle has had more variation in her outfits than the other female regulars - much more than Emma and her usual jeans and jackets, MM in her pastel twin sets and Regina in her endless collection of jewel-tone power suits.

 

When she emerged from Regina's asylum in S2, at first she was dressed in a lot of artfully mismatched pieces - strong colors, discordant patterns. It spoke to the idea of her as someone who hadn't had the same experience of the curse others had had. She'd never dressed for this world, and her only new friend was Ruby, Queen of the Micro-Mini. While it's never shown outright, I think they also wanted to communicate that Belle was making her own wardrobe choices. With magic returned, Gold could have waved his hand and poofed up a closet full of perfectly matched couture. Instead, it's more like he gave her free rein in the shop pull from other people's cast-offs. 

 

After Gold gave her the Storybrooke library, she moved into a brown period, because apparently brown is the color of librarians.  Lacey, of course, went for blacks and purples, tight and sparkly. Post-Lacey, post-Going Home and during Curse 2.0, they've put her in more muted colors - someone in mourning for a lost love isn't going to pull out a lot of yellows and blues, they're going to go for blacks, whites, grays - and fewer patterns. While they've kept the short skirts, they put her in tights and hose more often, so she's been less frequently bare-legged than she was in S2.

 

While that short electric-grape thing she wore in a early Missing Year flashback is inexplicable, I think overall they used her EF outfits in S3 pretty well. It seemed right to be that 3a's VisionBelle was wearing the blue dress - Rumpel would, naturally, envision her in the outfit she was wearing when they first fell in love. As much as I hated pretty much everything about Quiet Minds, I actually loved her outfit - leather hotpants, uncombed hair and all. In terms of the timeline, this is the first time she's been in that room since the aborted TLK at the spinning wheel...but she's not the inexperienced princess in the girly blue dress anymore. That Belle was given no voice for reaction to being in that space for the first time in 30 years was part of the piss-poor script, but the costume helped paper it over. Somehow it made her look all-business, let's-get-on-with-this-resurrection-stuff to me. Even the hotpants.  

 

In terms of Rumbelle, I think their clothes show their different senses of themselves. Gold's three-piece suits, like his more flamboyant EF wardrobe, are a sign of his insecurity. He wants people to know he's powerful and wealthy, even though we know he knows it's an illusion - inside, he's still the same cowardly, frightened little man he was when he was a peasant. Belle's clothes, on the other hand, show her innate confidence. She's comfortable in her skin - which she indicates by showing a lot of it - and, more critically in terms of their relationship, she's not ashamed to be seen with him.

 

(The fascinating thing to me about her wedding ensemble is that she was literally covered from head to toe, and yet she still felt somehow under-clothed. I think that's because Belle is completely open and trusting in this moment, and it's going to come back to bite her.)

 

Part her costuming is purely functional: high heels and short skirts make her look taller and leggier than she actually is. Emilie is, like, Dwarf-short; at 5 ft 3 in, she's almost half-foot shorter than Carlyle, and even Ginny, Jen and Lana have a good 3-4 inches on her. Just from a filming perspective, giving her 3-4 inches of height with the heels puts her closer to eye level and probably makes blocking her shots easier... or at least keep them from having to have her stand on a box every time she has to have a conversation with someone. I think it would actually make her look even younger if she had to look up at everyone but Leroy and Henry-until-his-next-growth-spurt.

 

As to the older-man, younger-woman visuals - eh. Mileage varies and all that. They're 20 years apart IRL, and that isn't a huge gap for consenting adults, at least speaking as someone whose spouse is about 15 years older than myself. I find Carlyle just crazy-attractive (y'all can keep your conventionally pretty pirates and princes!) and he and de Ravin are much more striking to me than the other couplings just because they don't look like something that was spit out of a focus group..

Edited by Amerilla
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Your thoughts about Belle's costuming are really interesting.  I still can't stand her outfits and think she looks like a Catholic school girl half the time and a hooker the other half, but YMMV.  It would be nice if the costuming (as much as I dislike it) was given all of the thought and consideration that you have laid out in your  analysis!

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Your thoughts about Belle's costuming are really interesting.  I still can't stand her outfits and think she looks like a Catholic school girl half the time and a hooker the other half, but YMMV.  It would be nice if the costuming (as much as I dislike it) was given all of the thought and consideration that you have laid out in your  analysis!

I thought a hooker pretending to be a school girl.

 

It's not helped by how often she's tottering instead of walking in her heels.

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(edited)

And the rat's nest her hair often is.  Seriously, her hair in the hot pants episode.  What was that??  It was like an 80's style side ponytail puffed up with Aqua Net meets just-had-sex-hair.  It boggled my mind to the point that I didn't even notice the freaking HOT PANTS until my second viewing.

once+upon+a+time+3+154.jpg

Edited by angelwoody
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(edited)

I'm usually not into noticing the wardrobe stuff outside the EF scenes, but a couple months ago I saw a couple of gifsets of Belle's Storybrooke outfits on Tumblr, and I started to gain some appreciation for what the costumers are trying to do. 

 

Overall, I think the costumers pay a lot of attention to what her clothes say about where she is at any given point in her story. Belle has had more variation in her outfits than the other female regulars - much more than Emma and her usual jeans and jackets, MM in her pastel twin sets and Regina in her endless collection of jewel-tone power suits.

 

When she emerged from Regina's asylum in S2, at first she was dressed in a lot of artfully mismatched pieces - strong colors, discordant patterns. It spoke to the idea of her as someone who hadn't had the same experience of the curse others had had. She'd never dressed for this world, and her only new friend was Ruby, Queen of the Micro-Mini. While it's never shown outright, I think they also wanted to communicate that Belle was making her own wardrobe choices. With magic returned, Gold could have waved his hand and poofed up a closet full of perfectly matched couture. Instead, it's more like he gave her free rein in the shop pull from other people's cast-offs. 

 

After Gold gave her the Storybrooke library, she moved into a brown period, because apparently brown is the color of librarians.  Lacey, of course, went for blacks and purples, tight and sparkly. Post-Lacey, post-Going Home and during Curse 2.0, they've put her in more muted colors - someone in mourning for a lost love isn't going to pull out a lot of yellows and blues, they're going to go for blacks, whites, grays - and fewer patterns. While they've kept the short skirts, they put her in tights and hose more often, so she's been less frequently bare-legged than she was in S2.

 

While that short electric-grape thing she wore in a early Missing Year flashback is inexplicable, I think overall they used her EF outfits in S3 pretty well. It seemed right to be that 3a's VisionBelle was wearing the blue dress - Rumpel would, naturally, envision her in the outfit she was wearing when they first fell in love. As much as I hated pretty much everything about Quiet Minds, I actually loved her outfit - leather hotpants, uncombed hair and all. In terms of the timeline, this is the first time she's been in that room since the aborted TLK at the spinning wheel...but she's not the inexperienced princess in the girly blue dress anymore. That Belle was given no voice for reaction to being in that space for the first time in 30 years was part of the piss-poor script, but the costume helped paper it over. Somehow it made her look all-business, let's-get-on-with-this-resurrection-stuff to me. Even the hotpants.  

 

In terms of Rumbelle, I think their clothes show their different senses of themselves. Gold's three-piece suits, like his more flamboyant EF wardrobe, are a sign of his insecurity. He wants people to know he's powerful and wealthy, even though we know he knows it's an illusion - inside, he's still the same cowardly, frightened little man he was when he was a peasant. Belle's clothes, on the other hand, show her innate confidence. She's comfortable in her skin - which she indicates by showing a lot of it - and, more critically in terms of their relationship, she's not ashamed to be seen with him.

 

(The fascinating thing to me about her wedding ensemble is that she was literally covered from head to toe, and yet she still felt somehow under-clothed. I think that's because Belle is completely open and trusting in this moment, and it's going to come back to bite her.)

 

Part her costuming is purely functional: high heels and short skirts make her look taller and leggier than she actually is. Emilie is, like, Dwarf-short; at 5 ft 3 in, she's almost half-foot shorter than Carlyle, and even Ginny, Jen and Lana have a good 3-4 inches on her. Just from a filming perspective, giving her 3-4 inches of height with the heels puts her closer to eye level and probably makes blocking her shots easier... or at least keep them from having to have her stand on a box every time she has to have a conversation with someone. I think it would actually make her look even younger if she had to look up at everyone but Leroy and Henry-until-his-next-growth-spurt.

 

As to the older-man, younger-woman visuals - eh. Mileage varies and all that. They're 20 years apart IRL, and that isn't a huge gap for consenting adults, at least speaking as someone whose spouse is about 15 years older than myself. I find Carlyle just crazy-attractive (y'all can keep your conventionally pretty pirates and princes!) and he and de Ravin are much more striking to me than the other couplings just because they don't look like something that was spit out of a focus group..

I'm impressed by how much thought you've put into it--your analysis was an interesting read, and I thought it made sense.  I do see her latest outfits differently, though.

 

Personally, it's not necessarily the age difference that's an issue.  That's not why I complain about how they dress Belle. 

 

Far too often, they dress Belle like she's the high priced moll of an old-fashioned gangster.  For me, it doesn't emphasize that she's comfortable in her own skin, and therefore comfortable showing it--it seems more like it's there to emphasize that she's not her own person, but instead is Rumple's decorative bedmate and cheerleader.  Often, her skirts are so short they do not film her from the back, and many, many times her heels are so high she cannot walk stably in them. 

 

I've read that she's a trained dancer--if so, her trouble walking is most likely an acting choice, not due to inability by Ms. De Ravin.  People don't usually chose shoes they can't walk in if they are comfortable and owning it.  They chose shoes they can't walk in when they need/want people to think of them a specific way--often as sexy.

Edited by Mari
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Far too often, they dress Belle like she's the high priced moll of an old-fashioned gangster.  For me, it doesn't emphasize that she's comfortable in her own skin, and therefore comfortable showing it--it seems more like it's there to emphasize that she's not her own person, but instead is Rumple's decorative bedmate and cheerleader.  Often, her skirts are so short they do not film her from the back, and many, many times her heels are so high she cannot walk stably in them. 

Mari, you have hit the nail on the head.  She's not a Catholic school girl hooker, she's totally a gangster moll!!  I can't believe I didn't see it before but now that you've said it, I can't NOT see it.  Especially her wedding outfit with the cloche hat - total 30's style.   

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First of all, 5 foot 3 isn't that short. It's just a little below average height. Ahem. :-)

 

Far too often, they dress Belle like she's the high priced moll of an old-fashioned gangster.

Well, she kind of is. It's not even like she's ignorant of the things he's done or doesn't know that he hasn't stopped doing bad things.

 

For me, the freaky thing about not only the age difference but the fact that they dress her so much younger is the context. I wouldn't care about the age difference or making her look even younger if she seemed at all his match intellectually or emotionally. She's supposed to be so smart, but hasn't really shown it other than in liking books and being good at looking things up, and she's extremely naive. Then there's matching her naivety against his past. This is a naive, innocent woman who's not as smart as she thinks she is getting involved with a man who murdered his previous wife, which is a situation ripe for abuse. It's a classic case of "oh, I know he hurt his last wife, but he'd never do that to me." And women who get themselves into those situations tend to end up dead. Dressing her like a schoolgirl makes it worse.

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(edited)
For me, the freaky thing about not only the age difference but the fact that they dress her so much younger is the context. I wouldn't care about the age difference or making her look even younger if she seemed at all his match intellectually or emotionally.

This is the thing, for me. I think I do get, more or less, what they're going for with Belle's wardrobe--they want her wardrobe to be a sharp contrast to Rumpel's, to emphasize their differences and what she (theoretically) brings to his life (and I've also always thought that her wardrobe choices are a nod to the idea that Belle is "strange but special," because I would characterize her dress sense in general as a bit funky, and I don't mean that in a bad way)--but for me, it's a case where the very unfortunate and disturbing undertones to Rumbelle, the ones that the writers don't seem to realize are there (or are problematic), are really highlighted by the wardrobe choices. So, like, the wardrobe choices would really work if the writers were telling the story they think they're telling...but they're not, and so the wardrobe doesn't quite have the effect they intend.

Edited by stealinghome
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Her clothes also don't evoke anything remotely Belle-ish. I have no idea what they're going for but I swear the characters who are on those CW teen soaps dress and look more mature than she does, and they're supposed to be playing teens. It's only as modern Belle and Gold that the age difference becomes noticeably skeevy. As Rumple and fairytale Belle I don't even notice it so it must be a combination of her wardrobe and the suits.

I think they went too far with the naivete thing. You can be a good hearted person and not be a complete dim bulb who looks like they still haven't been given The Talk about the birds and the bees, which is what Belle exudes. It's Twilight the imp version. Hey and the men both sparkle too! And I honestly don't get the attraction. I get the idea that Rumple is so dark he needs the ultimate lightness but I'm thinking someone like Bandit Snow would be a better match. More "you're full of crap Rumple" vs. "you have a good heart."

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I'm amused by how often people bring up the hot pants as a fail, because I had the opposite reaction: "Awesome, short-shorts!"

 

Because, 1) Emilie's legs are gorgeous and 2) these are fairy tale characters, so their outfits are supposed to be a little bit bonkers. If you can't get away with this stuff on OUaT, then when? I love Blue's jellyfish dress and Snow's wedding dress too.

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De-lurking just to express a real sense of "GRRRR"

 

http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/236x/63/19/2f/63192fba1703d35ee8bbc874aa96800f.jpg

 

I really am wondering what is in people's heads.  As a mother of 3 who knows that the post pregnancy body is a delightful, awe-inspiring piece of work which should be revered, I do have a problem with the way they dress Ginny.  

 

MY GOODNESS - SHE IS NOT MY GRANDMOTHER!!! (On reflection, I do realise that she is a grandmother...)  I am in my early 40s and there is no way on this planet that I would ever think of wearing or dress someone as gorgeous as Ginny in this!!!  Check out the shoes.... perhaps I am being overly harsh and not fashion forward but sigh, can't the costume department give her something which doesn't look like it came out of my Grandmother's closet. 

 

edited to say, perhaps it's the Aussie in me.... perhaps in eastern Canada or in Fairytale come Storeybook, the fashion is spot on....

Edited by ShellinKL
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I'm pretty sure that look would be considered atrocious anywhere. Though honestly, as ugly as it is, it is at least more figure flattering than some of the other clothes Snow has worn throughout and post pregnancy.

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Think they do it on purpose, to show what they are in Storybrooke, in our world; out of place. So the fashion is (slightly) out of time, most noticeable with the women. As well reflecting on the character, Mary Margaret has become somewhat of a conservative grandma IMO. Agree though, they don't have to make Snow, uhm Mary Margaret look that dusty.

 

The shoes wouldn't be even that terrible, if in combination with trousers.

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I agree that it is dowdy, but I've also found many of the costumes they give Mary Margaret to be on that pristine school teacher dowdy level (no offense to any school teachers out there, but the nuns who taught me weren't exactly fashion plates). Plus, I actually like that they are dressing her as a postpartum mother -- much better than having some studio exec step in and make her go on some post-baby crazy diet to look skinny for the camera. Hell, I didn't even go back to work until four months after having my first one. I can't imagine what a trooper she is for working 14-hour days with a six-week-old baby. Although that may also be why the costumer dept. went for sensible and dowdy for now. Perhaps we'll see Mary Margaret in different clothes for season 4B.

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I think the oxford style shoes are actually making a comeback, I've seen them in stores.  But better with pants as you say, katusch.  I agree  the way they dress Snow and Belle is intentionally off, and yet Regina, well, need I say more? 

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They make up for Regina's generally kickass Storybrooke wardrobe with her Enchanted Forest get-ups, though. Some of those are mostly okay, but then some of them....

There are one or two headpieces that I just assume are evidence she's got some, well, issues.  No one in full possession of their sanity would want to wear some of the head bands or head ornamentation.  (Although there were a couple of hats I gimme-handed at.)

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They make up for Regina's generally kickass Storybrooke wardrobe with her Enchanted Forest get-ups, though. Some of those are mostly okay, but then some of them....

Instead of going to Narnia, Regina's wardrobe is a portal to Cher's closet.

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The wardrobe people have a wicked sense of humor. They should lend some of that to the writers.

This makes me wish we had gotten a feature of the wardrobe/costuming people over the other stuff.

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This thread is for discussing the soundtrack and music of Once Upon a Time.

 

I love the music on this show than probably any non-musical tv show to date. It's awesome how each character has their distinctive theme you can hear clearly. I hope the Season 3 soundtrack comes out soon.

 

My favorite track is probably "Magic" from episode The Land Without Magic that plays at the end. It's chilling. Second favorite goes to "The Hedge Maze", which plays in Hat Trick when Regina and Jefferson are navigating Wonderland.

Edited by KingOfHearts
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Yes! I love the music for this show. Snowing's theme and Regina's theme are iconic, and there are a handful of other songs (Rumpelstiltskin in Love, True Love, Emma's Song, Unhappy Endings, the song that played over the Rumbelle wedding in 3x22) that are just lovely--I smile every time I hear a variation on them. In fact, I understand why they can't, but I often find myself wishing they could release particular variations as separate songs--Snowing's theme from 1x16 or 1x21, the Rumbelle phone call from 2x16, and the Unhappy Endings variation from 3x11 come to mind.

 

I can't believe they've never released Charming's/Snowing's theme from 1x03, though. It's easily one of the best pieces of music they've done.

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Why can't they dress Belle? WTF was that see-through wedding sweater?  I can forgive the hotpants, but I can't forgive the sheer sweater.  I was also not a great fan of the very literal interpretations of the classic Beauty and the Beast costumes, but that top....

 

I actually thought this whole episode was lazy and sloppy.  That slit in Regina's skirt was distracting when she sat down (to high, really crooked). 

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I really hope they do something else with Elsa's costume for the rest of the Frozen run.  That outfit worked in the cartoon, and I understand why they went with it for her introduction, because it is her iconic outfit.  However, it looks ridiculous, overdone, and cheap.

 

Also, kudos to StrayCat80, who pointed out that with her trailing ice everywhere she goes, it makes Elsa look like a sparkly blue slug.

Edited by Mari
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Also, kudos to StrayCat80, who pointed out that with her trailing ice everywhere she goes, it makes Elsa look like a sparkly blue slug.

 

Haha... or snail (which is what came to my mind. I don't mind the outfit though.

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Yeah, I didn't care for Elsa's or Anna's signature clothes, so I hope Elsa at least--if not Anna, too--eventually changes into modern clothes. I think it's just difficult to bring an animated character's design to life well without looking like an ugly theme park mess, especially something like Elsa's ice dress.

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Yeah I liked last season's finale dress better but it was clearly a reimagining of it vs exact replica. I can only guess that Disney didn't even want them to touch the costumes.

 

 

Why can't they dress Belle?

I'm convinced someone in the wardrobe dept. was traumatized by Beauty and the Beast, and possibly Snow White too.

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Anna might end up in modern clothes if she was cursed along with the others, either with the original or second curse.  I never watched Frozen, but I really liked how sparkly Elsa's dress was in the night scenes.

 

There, I said it!

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Yeah, I haven't seen Frozen, but I didn't think Elsa's costume was bad at all, especially given that they have to copy the movie's look--tbh, I though Anna and Kristoff's were worse. Plus, that blue is a gorgeous color on Haig. It makes her eyes pop.

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