The Frozen franchise has been taking over the world since it began in 2013! Viewers love its strong female characters and its connections to nature and the world around us.
Anna and Elsa’s costumes are two of the most important aspects of the movie. Children everywhere love to dress up as these empowering princesses. But do you know how the costumes came to the big screen? Here are 10 facts that you didn’t know about the princess costumes in Frozen and Frozen II.
1. The costumes in Frozen aren’t exactly historically accurate. The creators of the movie modernized Anna and Elsa’s looks to appeal to the audience, and make them easier to franchise and turn into costumes! For example, Elsa and Anna would be wearing much wider skirts than in the movie. They would also have very fancy jewelry because they’re royalty!
2. Who’s the real Rapunzel? Frozen’s animators used new technology to give Elsa 420,000 single strands of hair. That’s more than Rapunzel in the movie Tangled! Both characters actually have more strands of hair than the average human—we only have about 100,000.
3. The technology for Frozen II was much more advanced, especially for their costumes. The animators could even show the individual threads on the embroidery on the characters’ clothing! And each bead on Elsa’s dress was originally rendered so it could interact with the light on its own and be more realistic.
4. In both movies, Anna and Elsa have many differences. Those differences start right at their inspirations: while Anna is inspired by Norwegian culture, Elsa is inspired by Icelandic culture. This gives them each distinct costumes while separating them and adding historical elements. Pretty cool!
5. In Frozen II, Elsa’s dress is shorter than in her original costume. This represents her call to adventure—it’s much easier to jump around in a shorter skirt! The animators also had to figure out how to animate feet, because they weren’t shown in the previous movies.
6. When designing Anna’s costume for Frozen II, the wardrobe artists did some hardcore brainstorming. They had 122 ideas for Anna’s travelling outfit before they decided on one! They played with colour palettes, accessories, and so many other combinations. Anna ended up with a purple cape and deep black dress.
7. During “Into the Unknown” in Frozen II, Elsa isn’t wearing her signature ice blue dress. She’s wearing a dark purple instead, which represents her inner conflict and the new darkness of this story. Elsa goes on a big journey in this movie, and comes into her own. She faces her own darkness and looks great while doing it!
8. Another difference between Elsa and Anna are the ways that they both share aspects of the movies. Anna’s costumes represent the fairytale side of the stories. She’s much more playful and colourful. Elsa’s costumes are inspired more by the myths and legends of Nordic culture, and she wears simpler and more mysterious clothing.
9. Anna’s hairstyle changes between the two movies. In the first, she was wearing braids, to symbolize her ties to childhood. In Frozen II, she has her hair half-up and half-down, to represent that she is maturing. Anna’s story is much more serious and solemn in the second movie, and it’s pretty amazing that her hair represents this.
10. The costumes in Frozen II were greatly inspired by autumn, and incorporated the colours and tone of fall. Frozen was more inspired by winter, so it’s amazing to see the second movie branching out and becoming more colourful! As well, even though fall turns into winter, it also represents rebirth, which suits the movie and its new starts.
The designers put so much work into creating the costumes for this film—and we’re so glad they did! Which costume from the movies is your favourite?
Image via Instagram.com/disneyfrozen
