Esmeralda is featured in this video.
It’s a fun video.
Disney characters Cosplay is a major presence at Fan Conventions (Anime, Gaming, Video Game, Comic etc). Groups of with these classic characters are big attention grabber but a group can deviate from it the characters traditional to make their both fun and a stand-out.
Here are some Ideas of what you can do to jazz up any Disney Princess/Heroine group. Some have been done before and some haven’t.
– Princesses to Extreme
Yaya Han as Mulan
Basically, you take basic design of the Disney Princesses & Heroines dresses and make them even more opulent. You can use beading, fancy fabric anything you want to push it in to super ultra fancy.
– Bollywood
Rework the costumes into a chiffon sari. Don’t forget the bangles, tika and lots of kohl.
– Steampunk
Put a Victorian spin of the costumes and then add a leather corset and googles.
– Zombies
Zombie Disney Princesses
Shred the costumes, add blood and ghoulish make up.
– Hipster
Hipster Jasmine, Ariel, Alice and Snow White ComicCon2012
Modernize the costumes, add big black framed glasses and a clever phase about how you were ahead of the mainstream or just cooler in general.
– Can Can
Can-Can dancers’ costume are all about the skirt that is covered with colorful ruffles on the inside. It’s a costume that is both fun and sexy.
– FFX-2 Dress Sphere
Disney in Final Fantasy X-2 Dress Sphere inspired costume
The Dress Sphere was the Battle System in Final Fanatsy X-2. Basically the main characters change their clothes and they have a different set of abilities. The group was based of Fan-art by Skirtzzz but given the variety of Disney Characters and Dress spheres the options are endless. What would a songstress Esmeralda look like?
– Mermaids
Rework the Disney Princesses & Heroines costumes into mermaids like Ariel. Tails would match skirts, So, for explain, Esmeralda would have a purple skirt (if based on her normal look) and a white top. But how would you add her corset? There is a lot of creativity with the details with this idea.
– Warriors
Instead of dainty and pretty costume toughen up the Disney Princesses & Heroines into ass-kicking ladies.
– Superheroes
Superhero Disney Princesses by Heykannaya
Like the Warriors idea the Disney Princesses & Heroines would be more Kick ass looking but with capes and masks.
– Sexy
Sexy Disney Princesses
Shorten the hems and drop the neckline and you can sex up the Disney Princesses & Heroines costumes.
– Haute Couture
Designer Disney Princess Cosplay Collection by Street Angel
Instead of big poofy gowns rework the costume is sleek and elegant fashion inspired creations. http://street-angel.deviantart.com/art/Designer-Disney-Princess-Cosplay-Collection-335017438
– Gender benders
Tinkerbell in more boyish clothes
Rework the Disney Princesses & Heroines costumes into male-ish costumes.
– Magic Girls/ Sailor Scouts
Manon Yapari did a Fan-art of the Disney Princesses & Heroines as Sailor Scouts (from Sailor Moon), this would be an attention grabber at any Anime Con but you could take the classic Magic Girl Costume tropes and apply them to Disney Princesses & Heroines costumes.
–Wedding
Rework the Disney Princesses & Heroines costumes into wedding gowns. I know Disney has dolls of the Disney Princesses in wedding gowns but pending of you own style you can make an amazing gown for the princesses and/or the heroines What would Esmeralda wedding gown look like?
– Ballerinas
Rework the Disney Princesses & Heroines costumes into Ballerinas. You can design wo get a pancake tutu, a classic or a bell. This would a great group for those who can stand on pointe or just fans of ballet.
If you do any of these ideas with or without Esmeralda send them to me ^^.
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Esmeralda is the most divergent character in the Disney version from the book in both looks and personality. I already talked about her personality, now let’s look at her looks.
The Disney Esmeralda looks 100% a traveler*. She has a darker complexion, dark hair, and light green eyes (with no glint). Her eyes also do not change color pending on how much light is in the space, which kind of makes them look witchy. She keeps her hair pulled back which it creates volume. This bigger hair makes her look older. When her hair is down she looks younger. Her hair also has a slight curl. Though in the middle of the epic running away from Frollo, her hair looks straight but that could just be inconsistencies in animation or the wind, take your pick. But it does look straight. However it also fair to point out that this voluminous hairstyle was on trend in the late 90s.
Her age is very vague. Most of the Disney characters have a rough age range or they just say how old they are like Ariel and Jasmine. With this shift in Disney heroines being somewhat more independent and less dreamy, they appear to be older than the typical “Disney princess” (except Tiana, I would say she is like a compromise between the archetypal Princess and the confident independent heroine of the late 90s).
The question is how old is Disney’s Esmeralda? With the age inflation that Disney implements, I’d say she most likely 22 at the youngest, which is “old” for a Disney heroine. The long and short of it is, Esmeralda is meant to be older like “she’s been around.” This is not my phasing, watch the commentary, it’s the scene where Esmeralda is helping Quasimodo from the pillory. To listen to the commentary, The DVD.
One reason why this version made her older could have been to help establish her relationship with Quasimodo as more maternal, more like a big sister than romantic. This could have made her pairing with Phoebus appear more palatable for the audience, though given a lot of bad-faith internet discourse it didn’t really work that way.
Against the original novel by Victor Hugo, Esmeralda’s looks are very different. Esmeralda is never described in graphic detail but she’s described as very beautiful frequently by many characters. Disney Esmeralda is meant to be beautiful certainly but she is never called beautiful in the movie. The closest mention to her looks is Clopin saying she’s “The Finest Girl is France.”
Esmeralda in the book is not genetically a full traveler*. Her mother is a French women and while her Father could have been a traveler, it is never actually mentioned who was her father.
Esmeralda has a golden skin tone, black hair and black eyes. Part of Esmeralda’s charm in the book is her innocence and her total unawareness of her own beauty. Disney’s Esmeralda is the complete and utter opposite; she knows her appeal, exploits it and given that quote by the director Kirk Wise that I mention earlier, I’m not sure how innocent is in the movie. So it safe to say that Disney did not use Hugo for even a basis of Esmeralda’s design.
Looking at the concept art, Esmeralda started off looking more youthful and somehow along the way she lost the youthful look. My guess the vocal inspiration turned the tables on the character design. Alas Demi’s Moore doesn’t sound youthful, at least not when the film was recording the voices. For More Concept Art of Hunchback
It’s actually not Disney’s fault that Esmeralda’s looks/acts sexy whereas Hugo’s Esmeralda did not. The fault lies in the film history of Hunchback movies.
Esmeralda has long been depicted as sexy or at least no stranger to feminine charms. Esmeralda has also been depicted by actresses who are more known for their sex appeal. Such actresses have been Stacia Napierkowska, Theda Bara, Gina Lollobrigida and Salma Hayak. Also Disney models their characters after the voice actor playing them, so with the choice of Demi Moore it was inevitable that Disney Esmeralda was going to be sexy and follow the line of sexy Esmeraldas.
In a featurette of the movie, Moore said she could see herself in Esmeralda’s animation. While Disney took their cues from the 1939 version, I think Esmeralda’s look was based somewhat on Gina Lollobrigida’s Esmeralda as well as Demi Moore (maybe, I can’t really tell, I haven’t seen a ton of Moore’s films discern her mannerism and/or acting style in Esmeralda’s animation.)
*Since 2021 the blog has been using the words Travelers or Nomads to convey the group of people that Esmeralda is associated with while trying to be respectful. You can read that post here. I do tend to favor the travelers usage.
Next Time Phoebus
