Knee-deep in deadlines, the stress of third year and general life dramas, I sometimes question whether I’m actually successfully functioning as a human being. Let alone an adult human being. Bills, essays and postgrad options have convinced me that I don’t want to grow up yet, and as per, Disney came to my rescue last week with their release of up and coming films. As Snow White says, “You’re never too old to be young”. Disney has it so, so right. And, deny as you will, I know I’m not alone in thinking this! So, in true Disney style, let’s wish wish wish our deadlines away and hope our fairy godmother has the answer.
The 2015 Cinderella film gave me major dress envy. It’s as simple as that. To say that it is the thing of fairytales is not only kind of obvious, it’s also an understatement. Lily James (the actress who played Cinderella), girl, you’ve got it all! Vanity Fair hit the nail on the head when they summed it up: “genuinely magical”. Glitter and glam, the perfect colour and lots of layers, I’d really love to go to the ball! It seems Lady Gaga and Cinderella’s Fairy Godmother (bare with me on this one) share a fondness of sparkle.
Gaga says, “I’m just trying to change the world, one sequin at a time.”, and with Christmas just around the corner (again, allow me this one, I do believe and I need all the essay-writing motivation I can find!) I whole-heartedly agree with this sparkling appreciation. I guess the struggle comes when we realize that, try as we will, we are firmly rooted in reality (and currently don’t even have the time to re-watch, and thus escape into, our childhood classics). Again, considering that “In the end, nine versions of Cinderella’s ball gown were created, each featuring more than 270 yards of fabric and 10,000 Swarovski crystals. It took 18 tailors and 500 hours to complete per dress.” (Vanity Fair), I guess it probably isn’t practical. But a girl can certainly dream!
I guess even fairytales have their limitations… or maybe that’s a tad harsh, I’ll just call them “hiccups”, glitches which don’t quite work in reality. But hey, we can’t have it all! That said, I’m not going to lie, when it slipped out that the glass slipper just wasn’t glass, I questioned my childhood memories (the lies) and my adult dreams (the false hopes) were shattered. So, if the slipper wasn’t glass, does that mean it was just a slipper, because, I’m sorry, but I have issues with that. As much as I do love my slippers, and have contemplated bringing them to the library on a Sunday, because, well, simple things, there is a time and a place. Fear not, false alarm.
Cinderella hasn’t traded in her Louboutin equivalents for a pair of dinosaur feet! “Instead of using glass, Powell designed a five-inch heel made out of Swarovski crystal based on a shoe from the 1890s that she saw in a museum in Northampton, England. “The most important thing was the shoes had to sparkle, which meant it had to be made out of crystal because glass does not sparkle,” (Vanity Fair) – phew, fantastical imaginings can return, endless possibility has not been shattered by the very film that promised to bring it back to life. Swarovski crystals are just the a la mode way to “change the world, one sequin at a time”. And where books can pave the way, they can afford to make glass sparkle more than it does in reality, and thus, for Cinderella to really walk the walk, this girl needed a bit more glitz!
As for me, lusting over dresses and shoes, and knowing my time should be spent with Margaret Attwood, Foucault and Virginia Woolf, the ball is but a dream. Until then, I’m ready and waiting for the next Disney releases and holding on to the fact that “even miracles take a little time”. And, well, I guess ASOS will have to be my fairy godmother…I mean, next day delivery is almost the same thing…and they do have lots of sequin dresses…
