Disney Princess — the words roll off the tongue like silk don’t they? In fact, they usually conjure up images of flowing dresses, romantic ballads, and doe eyed sighs… gak. A “classic” Disney Princess is definitely not my usual inspiration for cosplay. Of course this is not to say all Disney Princesses nowadays are alike (my favorite is Merida, of course), but it doesn’t get more classic than the first Disney Princess: Snow White. So why on earth would I make a Snow White cosplay?
Once there was a princess…
I spent my childhood in sunny Celebration, Florida, right on the doorstep of Walt Disney World. So naturally, I was a born Disney Princess. I went through a phase for nearly every Disney movie released between 1989 and 1997, and to this day I am a huge fan of “The Mouse.” Did I mention I also loved dressing up? Who would’ve thought…
That being said, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was never high on my list of favorite Disney movies. It was dated, unbelievable, and quite frankly, Snow White herself was just too docile. She was the epitome of a “perfect woman” in 1937. She was quiet and innocent, eager to keep house, and extremely trusting. I mean take a moment to think about it — this was eighty years ago. Society’s view of women has changed by leaps and bounds since then. What kind of modern woman just sits around for her “Prince” to find her?
Designing A Disney Princess Like No Other
The Snow White Knight was my first completely self-designed costume, meaning I didn’t have any solid reference for direct patterning. This proved to be a big challenge for me. I am used to having a game model to tell me what “little details” to add, and I really, really love the little details. I found myself going overboard more often than not, and had to decide what made sense with my theme and what did not.
To keep myself on-theme while designing the cosplay, I envisioned Snow White as a Game of Thrones character. “The Apple Knight of Goldengrove,” I liked to call her. This made it much easier to make decisions about my design. If it fit within this world, I added it in. This also helped me decide which armored pieces and details could be left off of the costume.
Once I had my theme narrowed, I went back to my main reference point: the Disney Princess herself. Taking inspiration from the 1937 film, I began designing my “High Fantasy” knight armor based on Snow White’s iconic princess dress. I also curated inspiration from various artwork, movie, video game, and tv sources on Pinterest. In the end, I decided to heavily accent the armor with key elements from the fairy tale, including apples, gems, and the magic mirror. All of which added up to a true “Princess Charming.”
High Fantasy Details
Most of the details on the armor consist of leaves and apples, laced together with an organic flow of “vines” or “branches.” It felt natural to reference the forest given Snow White’s story – lost in the woods, befriending animals, poisoned by an apple…wait. Well, you get the idea. In order to make the organic shapes stay true to the armored look, I decided they should be antique gold when painted.
I also wanted to make sure the “Seven Dwarves” were referenced in the design. What better way than with hundreds of crystal gem stones? All in all, I used approximately 1,380 red crystals on this cosplay. This isn’t including the three hundred golden gems that act as reflective “dew drops” on the leaves. My princely crown also holds exactly seven gem stones to pay homage.
A final detail I wanted to make sure I included was the “magic mirror.” Afterall, if it weren’t for the mirror, her story may never have come to pass. Since Snow White herself never actually sees the magic mirror, so I felt it was appropriate to place it on the back of the collar. This way, she would never be able to look in to it’s depths, confident in her position as the fairest of them all.
To craft my armor pieces, I used Worbla’s black art and craft foam. Accents on each armor piece are also made with Worbla’s Black Art. Construction of all the armor pieces took approximately 100 hours.
Disney Princess Finishing Touches
It had been my plan all along to paint the armor royal blue to match Snow White’s dress. But, when it came time to paint my completed Worbla armor pieces, I was extremely hesitant to apply the dark blue paint. I spent hours mixing acrylics and testing different hues, all to no avail. Every color I tried did not appear metallic, and it definitely did not look “High Fantasy.” What was I to do?
To accent, I used a warm, orange-red on all my armored stripes. I then added red crystals to all the stripes.
The Snow White Knight
The Snow White Knight is an idea I have had for several years, and I am extremely pleased with how the cosplay came together. I debuted this costume at DragonCon 2017, and was pleasantly surprised with how recognized the character was. I even got asked for a photo from the infamous Evil Ted!
The Snow White Knight is also surprisingly comfortable, so expect to see me wearing it to as many cons as possible in the upcoming months.
What do you think? Did I pull off “The Snow White Knight?” Drop me a line on Facebook or Instagram and let me know what you think!
If you’re interested in more pictures of my Disney Princess Armor, check out my Snow White Portfolio Page!
