Olaf
DIS Cast Member
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Saw this article online, and thought of you guys on the wedding board. Sorry if it's already been posted.
WSJ.com/Europe
Disneys wedding dreams
Gown line inspired by fairy tales seeks to entice older crowd
By Merissa Marr
WALT DISNEY CO. has made a fortune out of turning little girls into princesses. Now it plans to turn big girls into princesses, too. In a move to expand the reach of one of its most popular franchises, Cinderella and her regal friends are moving into the bridal business with a line of wedding dresses and accessories. Disney has teamed up with couture bridal designer Kirstie Kelly to transform blushing brides into their favorite princesses, complete with billowing gowns and crystal tiaras. At a cost of $1,100 to $3,000 for each gown, brides will be able to walkdown the aisle in dresses inspired by Cinderella, Snow White, Belle, Sleeping Beauty, Jasmine or Ariel.
As Ms. Kelly sees it, Cinderella is classic glamourher dresses come in high-shine satin with ballgown skirts and make generous use of silver embroidery and crystals. SnowWhite has a slightlymore conservative look dubbed sweet elegance. Ariel and Jasmine models are considerably racier. Ariel, who played the title role in Little Mermaid, has a sultry allure and is comfortable showing her body. Jasmine, from Aladdin, is bohemian chic, and her dresses are big on sheath and lace.
Variations on each will also be availableAriel dresses, for instance, come with or without straps and Cinderella gowns have different patterns of embroidered crystals. In all, Disney will offer a total of 34 Princess designs.
The new wedding gowns, which will go on sale made-to-order at bridal boutiques in North America in June, are an effort by Disney to extend its line of princess paraphernalia to older consumers. Created in 2001 when the companys consumer-products division started packaging its female characters, Disney Princess has grown into a craze among little girls that is fast approaching annual sales of $3.5 billion from costumes, dolls, bedroom furniture and other regalia.
In thinking of ways it could reach outside the core princess crowd of 3- to 6-year-olds, Disney homed in on women who had grown up with the characters. Brides seemed an obvious target.
Most brides, even the cynical ones, want to be a princess on their wedding day and see their husband-to-be as Prince Charming, Ms. Kelly said recently at her bridal boutique in the upscale Brentwood district of Los Angeles. To date, there are no plans to offer prince costumes for grooms.
But dont expect the gaudy princess costumes that kids run around in. Ms. Kelly says her designs are more about capturing the mood of the princess than creating an exact replica of each of the cartoon characters outfits.
That means using more subtle colors than the startling pinks, yellows and blues of the mini-princess world. The Cinderella designs, for instance, come in refined ivory and champagne, rather than the bright blue of the original attire. That also means including only delicate features from the characters costumes. One of the Ariel designs has a subtle mermaid styling to the skirt, for instance.
By making the designs more subtle versions of the characters, the company hopes to appeal to more buyers. No bride wants to look like shes at her sweet-16 birthday party, says Sandy Ferreira, who has ordered the princess dresses for her Distinctive Designs Bridal boutique in Rockville, Maryland. There needs to be a sense of elegance.
Still, some of the dresses go places the princess costumes wouldnt dream ofnamely a sexier look. For the newer princesses, Ariel and Jasmine, the designs feature dropped necklines and backs and bare shoulders. (In an unrelated move, Disney also is using a sexy version of Cinderella in an advertising campaign that features starlet Scarlett Johansson in the princesss blue dress.)
The dresses arent Disneys first venture into weddings. The company has a popular wedding service at its theme parks. Thousands of couples have been married to such tunes as Someday My Prince Will Come, with their wedding rings offered up in a glass slipper before being whisked away in Cinderellas coach.
Until now, brides who wanted the full princess experience had to design their own gowns. In its research leading up to the decision to make the dresses, Disney found that brides tend to spend more on their dress than they plan to, which amounts to an average 10% of a $26,000 total budget.
To maintain a luxurious look at lower prices, Ms. Kelly found a Chinese factory three hours outside Guangzhou that was experienced at making wedding dresses.
The 38-year-old designer used cheaper materials in parts of the dress that dont meet the eye. The SnowWhite-inspired dresses, for instance, combine silks on the surface with polyester fabrics underneath.
In designing the dresses, Ms. Kelly says she spent night after night watching animated Disney movies such as Cinderella. Then she tried to imagine what the modern-day equivalent of each of the princesses would be.
She pictured Sleeping Beauty as a creative type and labeled her pretty romance. Her dress features an elegant A-line skirt with pearl-like beads and crystals at the hem. By contrast, Belle, from Beauty and the Beast, knows who she is and would be a doctor or lawyer. Her dress with stylish sophistication comes in taffeta and features her signature roses.
Ms. Kelly sketched out around six versions for each princess, which she plans to unveil at Bridal Week in New York in April. Disney hopes by the end of the year to offer the dresses in around500 boutiques in North America, and has plans to moveinto Europe and Japan as well. Its also launching a line of costume jewelry for each princess with pieces costing $45 to $295.
WSJ.com/Europe
Disneys wedding dreams
Gown line inspired by fairy tales seeks to entice older crowd
By Merissa Marr
WALT DISNEY CO. has made a fortune out of turning little girls into princesses. Now it plans to turn big girls into princesses, too. In a move to expand the reach of one of its most popular franchises, Cinderella and her regal friends are moving into the bridal business with a line of wedding dresses and accessories. Disney has teamed up with couture bridal designer Kirstie Kelly to transform blushing brides into their favorite princesses, complete with billowing gowns and crystal tiaras. At a cost of $1,100 to $3,000 for each gown, brides will be able to walkdown the aisle in dresses inspired by Cinderella, Snow White, Belle, Sleeping Beauty, Jasmine or Ariel.
As Ms. Kelly sees it, Cinderella is classic glamourher dresses come in high-shine satin with ballgown skirts and make generous use of silver embroidery and crystals. SnowWhite has a slightlymore conservative look dubbed sweet elegance. Ariel and Jasmine models are considerably racier. Ariel, who played the title role in Little Mermaid, has a sultry allure and is comfortable showing her body. Jasmine, from Aladdin, is bohemian chic, and her dresses are big on sheath and lace.
Variations on each will also be availableAriel dresses, for instance, come with or without straps and Cinderella gowns have different patterns of embroidered crystals. In all, Disney will offer a total of 34 Princess designs.
The new wedding gowns, which will go on sale made-to-order at bridal boutiques in North America in June, are an effort by Disney to extend its line of princess paraphernalia to older consumers. Created in 2001 when the companys consumer-products division started packaging its female characters, Disney Princess has grown into a craze among little girls that is fast approaching annual sales of $3.5 billion from costumes, dolls, bedroom furniture and other regalia.
In thinking of ways it could reach outside the core princess crowd of 3- to 6-year-olds, Disney homed in on women who had grown up with the characters. Brides seemed an obvious target.
Most brides, even the cynical ones, want to be a princess on their wedding day and see their husband-to-be as Prince Charming, Ms. Kelly said recently at her bridal boutique in the upscale Brentwood district of Los Angeles. To date, there are no plans to offer prince costumes for grooms.
But dont expect the gaudy princess costumes that kids run around in. Ms. Kelly says her designs are more about capturing the mood of the princess than creating an exact replica of each of the cartoon characters outfits.
That means using more subtle colors than the startling pinks, yellows and blues of the mini-princess world. The Cinderella designs, for instance, come in refined ivory and champagne, rather than the bright blue of the original attire. That also means including only delicate features from the characters costumes. One of the Ariel designs has a subtle mermaid styling to the skirt, for instance.
By making the designs more subtle versions of the characters, the company hopes to appeal to more buyers. No bride wants to look like shes at her sweet-16 birthday party, says Sandy Ferreira, who has ordered the princess dresses for her Distinctive Designs Bridal boutique in Rockville, Maryland. There needs to be a sense of elegance.
Still, some of the dresses go places the princess costumes wouldnt dream ofnamely a sexier look. For the newer princesses, Ariel and Jasmine, the designs feature dropped necklines and backs and bare shoulders. (In an unrelated move, Disney also is using a sexy version of Cinderella in an advertising campaign that features starlet Scarlett Johansson in the princesss blue dress.)
The dresses arent Disneys first venture into weddings. The company has a popular wedding service at its theme parks. Thousands of couples have been married to such tunes as Someday My Prince Will Come, with their wedding rings offered up in a glass slipper before being whisked away in Cinderellas coach.
Until now, brides who wanted the full princess experience had to design their own gowns. In its research leading up to the decision to make the dresses, Disney found that brides tend to spend more on their dress than they plan to, which amounts to an average 10% of a $26,000 total budget.
To maintain a luxurious look at lower prices, Ms. Kelly found a Chinese factory three hours outside Guangzhou that was experienced at making wedding dresses.
The 38-year-old designer used cheaper materials in parts of the dress that dont meet the eye. The SnowWhite-inspired dresses, for instance, combine silks on the surface with polyester fabrics underneath.
In designing the dresses, Ms. Kelly says she spent night after night watching animated Disney movies such as Cinderella. Then she tried to imagine what the modern-day equivalent of each of the princesses would be.
She pictured Sleeping Beauty as a creative type and labeled her pretty romance. Her dress features an elegant A-line skirt with pearl-like beads and crystals at the hem. By contrast, Belle, from Beauty and the Beast, knows who she is and would be a doctor or lawyer. Her dress with stylish sophistication comes in taffeta and features her signature roses.
Ms. Kelly sketched out around six versions for each princess, which she plans to unveil at Bridal Week in New York in April. Disney hopes by the end of the year to offer the dresses in around500 boutiques in North America, and has plans to moveinto Europe and Japan as well. Its also launching a line of costume jewelry for each princess with pieces costing $45 to $295.
