The start and finish of her enlightening adventure to Oz.

Causing the turn of events that is core to the story, and showing her dreamy, innocent, naivety.

A constant reminder of why she keeps fighting for life and where that courage began.

The item that was central to the whole adventure and evoked a power struggle that tested his character.

Showcasing her excited curiosity over the human world.

Symbolizing the coal mining District 12 she came from, who she became in the eyes of the ostentatious District 13, and the struggles overcome throughout the story.

Make it pink, or make it blue? For her iconic birthday dress, either color works, though pink is the most recognized.
(Despite her wearing blue for half of the movie… Smsh, marketing!)

But who says using both colors couldn’t be an additional option? 🙂

In this instance, color is the only thing that really differentiates the costumes (Besides the small details of the shapes that enclose their cloaks at the neck), so it’s the most important part to get right. Flora = Red, Fauna = Green, Merryweather = Blue.
Would Merryweather still be recognizable wearing pink?–Nope!
(Except by those who remember this scene!…)

…But Merryweather hates pink… So i think she’d beg you to not vicariously dress her in it. 😉

Hogwarts Houses, Harry Potter series.

Ever wish you could attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry? You can express this fairly easily through sporting the colors of your favorite house or the house of your favorite character.
Gryffindor = Scarlet-red and Gold, Hufflepuff = Yellow and Black, Slytherin = Emerald-green and Silver, Ravenclaw = Blue and Bronze.

Sadness, Joy, Anger, Disgust, and Fear, Disney Pixar’s: Inside Out.

This is another one that uses color as the most defining aspect of the costume designs, this time using basic color psychology symbology to define each character. Sadness = Blue, Joy = Yellow, Anger = Red, Disgust = Green, Fear = Purple. Though, choosing purple to signify Fear was a surprise to me. What do you think?

Color was a big part of the costuming decisions in Star Wars. A lot of thought was put into it. George Lucas wanted to make a visual statement that well contrasted good from evil. Evil = Harsh, Dark and Technological. Good = Humble, Light and Earthy.

Pretty certain that at least like 60% of her outfits contained plaids (and/or faux furs!)–starting with that iconic, yellow blazer-miniskirt suit set. Pure 90’s prep.

What’s a ragdoll without rags? Sally is a sweet, curious, hopeless-romantic. Her patchwork dress both is adorable, with its mismatched colors and prints, and a little bit spooky, with its dulled, grey-toned colors, rough stitching, and ripped fabric, to go with her setting in Halloween Town.

I think it’s safe to say that Wendy probably doesn’t usually wear her nightgown everywhere. So it’s worth it to consider what she might wear instead. Maybe you’re visiting the Disney Parks and would like to Disney Bound as her, but would rather not run around in sleepwear. Adding elements of the shapes present in her nightgown could help you get as close to her costume as possible, whether you’re replicating or just hinting at her look.

Innocent, nurturing Wendy is both playfully imaginative as she holds tight to the childhood she loves and responsible as she looks towards the adulthood that lies closely ahead. Her flowy, boatneck, puff-sleeved, empire waist nightgown is both whimsical and elegant.

Boldly enlargened, chunky shapes give him a cartoonish look, inspired by Mickey Mouse, and emphasize his silly, innocent, child-likeness by giving him a smaller appearance in his oversized clothes.

Obviously, it would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to scale your whole costume to perfectly fit his silhouette (I know i’d certainly trip wearing his shoes!)–But at least grab some baggy pants. 🙂

Minnie’s bows and flouncy skirts emphasize her playful, flirty, sweet and sassy attitude.

Marie could be difficult to come up with an inspired outfit for, since she’s an unclothed cat. You can use the white color of her coat and add her pink bows, but what next? Consider her personality.

Her sugar and spice attitude calls for something classy but sassy. Chic and put together, but playful and girlish.

I don’t know about you, but i can totally see sweet, bashful little Piglet cuddled up in a big, soft, fluffy, pink sweater, hiding away from the cold and trying to smother away his fears.

• Merida, Disney Pixar’s: Brave.

She is boldly adventurous and doesn’t possess the qualities that are traditionally “feminine”.  Being that Merida longs to take control of her own destiny, i wager that her fashion sense wouldn’t be one that aims to follow trends.

She leans towards comfort and practicality in what she wears: particularly fancy clothes are not practical for horseback riding, archery, and climbing mountains, so they’re far out of her comfort zones (especially considering the dress her mom wanted her to wear).

• Peter Pan, Walt Disney’s: Peter Pan.

Can you imagine Peter Pan in a suit and tie? He certainly couldn’t!

Peter, if he were to try to imagine himself wearing a TIE!

• Diana, Princess of the Amazons, Wonder Woman.

On Themyscira, an island populated by female warriors, it makes sense to wear clothing that looks powerful, is easy to move in and is semi protectant: strong colors, lots of metallics, short and/or flowy hemlines, metal and leather.

Furthermore, Diana’s dreamed of being a hero since she was a little girl,

So, similarly to Merida, it’s not surprising that Wonder Woman is drawn away from clothing that is impractical for battle.

Tiana is a very inspiring, hardworking, and determined individual. It would be easy to say that she’s that way in part because she’s an African-American woman set in the 1920s, a time still rife with racism as new freedoms began to bloom in both black rights, and women’s rights.

Of course, all people are capable of having determination and a good work ethic (Cinderella is a pretty fair example)…

They’d probably be besties. Or at least really great work friends.

But Tiana has extra to prove, and more effort needed to exert. So her story and character have extra strength because of both her ethnicity or “Race” and her gender.

But please, please, be wary of going so far as painting your face black. That can be, and usually is, disrespectful.

Mulan didn’t feel capable of fitting into her role as a woman in ancient China, where she was expected to “bring her family great honor in one way: by striking up a match”, and being the most beautiful bride and perfect mother one day–and in very specific ways.

In a desperate attempt for a new chance to bring honor to her family, and save her father (who wouldn’t have survived in another war), she chopped her hair, threw on her dad’s armor and escaped on his horse in the middle of the night to join the war, courageously, though illegally, pretending to be a man.

So her ethnicity and culture, and especially her gender (and challenging the roles and stereotypes she didn’t fit into), are a huge part of her identity. You can easily be costumed in her female-roles version, or her “male” soldier version.

What does it mean to be a woman? What does it mean to be a man? Mulan challenged the traditional roles and blurred the lines between what a man or a woman is expected to be capable of.

With 16 years as “Briar Rose”, the peasant girl in a cottage in the middle of the woods, she had very humble beginnings, not knowing she’s a princess. She was even disappointed–devastated–when she found out.

With this in mind, it may be a good idea to think again about what her comfort zones might be, since it may not have been clear without looking at the whole picture of her story. Certainly, the disappointment had more to do with realizing her life was made up for her, and she felt she lost all choice in any matter–But this still may be something to consider, particularly when thinking of how much or little to glam up her look in light of what would be appropriate with her story. How much is too much change for Briar Rose?

The first Nancy Drew book was written in 1930, the original classic series ended in 1979 (Though new books are still being written), and the illustrations that are most well known were drawn (or re-drawn) starting in the 1960s.

Using trends and styles from these time periods could help you get some ideas if the information given in the books wasn’t enough.