Fairy Tale Fashion: The Snow Queen

One more post from Colleen Hill's Fairy Tale Fashion!

In her essay on Andersen's "The Snow Queen," Hill informs us that the fairy tale was initially conceived as a short, ballad-style poem about a young woman and her lover, a poor boy who was abducted by the Snow Queen. The Snow Queen was then more of a sexual predator. The story evolved into the tale we know today, of two children separated when the boy, Kay, gets a piece of an evil mirror lodged in his eye that turns him into a cruel boy who mocks the things he used to love and follows the Snow Queen to her ice palace.

The tale uses opposing imagery-the natural, warm beauty of the rose verses the stark symmetry of mirrors and ice/snowflakes. The mirror in this tale is unusual in that, while mirrors usually tell the truth (such as the mirror in "Snow White" that is bold enough to bluntly tell the Queen when there is someone more beautiful than she), this mirror is deceptive-it distorts reality, causing beautiful things to seem ugly. (In fact, I sometimes thought of this mirror when I was in my first trimester-when foods I usually loved became disgusting to me and activities I enjoyed lost interest for me because of the constant nausea-I felt like I could relate to Kay).

Mirrors usually represent vanity in stories. The theme of vanity is also developed in "Snow Queen" by the reference to Gerda's red shoes. When she goes to search for Kay, she intentionally puts on her new red shoes that Kay has never seen before, but when she goes to the river she is willing to sacrifice her prized possessions to gain information about his whereabouts (but the shoes are returned to her because the river does not know where he is). Interestingly, this tale was written just four months before Anderson wrote the infamous tale "Red Shoes" in which the desire for the colored footwear is completely and repeatedly seen as selfish.

From the "Snow Queen" section of the Fairy Tale Fashion exhibit at the Fashion Institute of Technology. Far left; white fur cape by J. Mendel, second to the left; not in the book, second to the right; Alexander McQueen Fall 2008 dress inspired by snowflakes, far right; Tom Ford Spring 2014 dress that imitates shards of a broken mirror

Hill interprets the red shoes as objects of pride, even for Gerda-saying that by wearing them she was initially hoping to impress Kay, but the difference between Gerda and Karen from "Red Shoes" was that Gerda was willing to give up her shoes. This may be, especially given Anderson's feelings about red sheos, but I didn't necessarily read it that way in "Snow Queen." It's natural for a child to be excited to show her friend a new toy or possession, without necessarily trying to impress or show off to your friend. If Gerda had taken a beautiful red rose and tucked it behind her ear with the intention of showing Kay, would that be interpreted as vanity? The rose would still be beautiful and displayed on Gerda, but fairy tale characters who request roses rather than clothes and jewelry are held up as the example of being non-materialistic, like Beauty in "Beauty and the Beast." Yet roses are a symbol of her friendship with Kay-when staying with the old woman, it was seeing an image of a rose that reminded Gerda of her quest to find Kay. Could the wearing of the red shoes even have been Gerda's attempt to remind Kay of their beloved roses, since a real rose wouldn't survive a long journey? The colorful roses of Kay and Gerda's childhood playdates are a stark contrast to the colorless white of the Snow Queen's palace.

Red Morocco leather shoes, from 1800-1810

Although, it was more of a natural assumption at the time to associate red shoes with luxury, since red dye was more difficult to produce, and therefore more expensive, so red was a color only the wealthier could afford. But it seems that illustrators to tend to intentionally bring out the contrast in warm colors associated with Gerda, her friendship with Kay, and her journey to find him, as opposed to the cold realm of the Snow Queen. See Arthur Rackham's illustration of Kay and Gerda in their garden, and Edmund Dulac's image of Gerda at the old woman's house:

Compared with the Snow Queen/her palace by the same illustrators:

Although, I may be too quick to defend the wearing of red, just based on our own modern culture, where bright colors are just as easily accessed as neutrals. If anything, we tend to associate good things with characters who wear bright colors, aligning them with bright, joyful personalities. What do you see as the significance of Gerda's red shoes?

Little Aqua Riding Hood

A little fairy tale humor for your weekend-one of the many LRRH parodies is "Little Aqua Riding Hood," which can be found in Jack Zipes' The Trials and Tribulations of Little Red Riding Hood. (It was originally a navy blue hood in the title, but for some reason Zipes translated it to Aqua-I personally think the more specific shade makes it more humorous.)

The 1977 story stars Little Red Riding Hood's granddaughter Lorette-incidentally making the "original" LRRH now the grandmother, and the wolf is also a descendant of the infamous wolf of the story, who now lives comfortably in a zoo while Lorette must take a bus to get to her grandmother's Parisian apartment. It plays with the tension between, do we learn from our past mistakes, or is history doomed to repeat itself? The answer is that some people never learn, while others get smarter-find out what happens here. Exerpt:

"I forgot to mention that ever since she had been young, Lorette had always been jealous of her grandmother's reputation. The entire world knows about the exploits of Little Red Riding Hood which have been told to children throughout the world for over two generations. 'Why shouldn't I become someone famous, too?' she always asked herself."

Eulalie*

(There are many other modern versions with the hood's color changed, such as Little Green Riding Hood, especially appropriate for St. Patrick's Day, or my personal favorite, The True History of Little Golden Hood)

*The images above have red hoods because when you search for "blue riding hood" images you get things like this:

Roses in Fairy Tales: Snow White

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When I posted on roses last year, Gypsy of Once Upon a Blog reminded me that roses are also very significant in the history of "Snow White", and referred me to Kate Forsyth's fabulous post on Snow White.

There's a 9th century Norse saga that includes the tale of "Snow Beauty." A king's beautiful wife died, but  her cheeks remained rosy. He became obsessed with the idea that she would come back to life, and neglected his kingly duties, sitting by her side. When his councillor finally suggested he allow them to change the bedclothes, they lifted the body up, "a rank smell of rotting rose with her, the body turned blue, and worms and adders and frogs and toads crawled out. So she was burned, and the King returned to his wits."

In Basile's "The Young Slave" (published 1634), arguably the oldest literary version of Snow White, the mother became pregnant with Snow White after swallowing a rose petal.

JDarnell

In the first version of "Snow White" that the Grimms collected (in 1808), there is no hunstman, but the Queen sends the girl into the forest to collect roses and abandons her there. (This is in the Grimms' earlier manuscripts, but by the first edition of tales in 1812 the story had become the version we have now with the huntsman).

I wonder why we've lost all associations with roses and Snow White in our current versions? I found it hard to find any images of Snow White with roses for this post, despite the general association of Princesses with pretty flowers. The stark color contrasts of red and white featured in "Snow White" do recall common rose shades to mind, such as in the fairy tale "Snow White and Rose Red." In that tale, the different shades represent the two sisters and their contrasting personalities.

Another interesting tale for comparison is "The Snow, the Crow, and the Blood." Though it  is more similar to Twelve Dancing Princesses than Snow White, it starts off with the motif of a Prince who sees the color combination of white, black, and red and decides he must have a bride of that coloring. Later in that tale, the enchanted princess shows the hero a rosebush-there were three hundred and sixty five rose bushes; all of them had a victim's head as the flower except one, and the Princess told Jack she hoped to have his head on the last rosebush.

It seems that roses, despite being the cliche and overly romantic flower we think of now, often had a history of being very morbid in fairy tales, especially those related to Snow White.

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The Snow, the Crow, and the Blood

During the month of March, I thought I'd share some Irish folklore! This tale, "The Snow, the Crow, and the Blood" is included in Surlalune's Twelve Dancing Princesses from Around the World collection in the Grateful Dead section. There are similarities to Twelve Dancing Princesses, such as following a Princess who goes to the netherworld by means of an invisibility cloak, and the title itself is also a reference to the tri-color theme most famously known in Snow White. (And some other interesting themes and similarities with other fairy tales, which we can discuss in the commments!) Enjoy-

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One winter's day, the son of the King of Ireland, Jack, went out to shoot. He shot down a crow, and when he saw the crow in the snow, he decided "he never saw anything blacker than the crow, or redder than the blood, not anything whiter than the snow round about." He decided he would not rest until he found himself a wife with hair as black as the crow, cheeks as red as the blood, and skin as white as the snow.

He told his parents the King and Queen of his quest, who tried to discourage him, because it might be impossible to find such a bride. But Jack insisted and set off with a hundred guineas.

Not too long into his journey, Jack came across a crowd fighting over a corpse. The dead man had owed a debt and the people to whom the money was owed didn't want him buried until they were paid. So Jack took the hundred guineas out of his pocket, paid the dead man's debt, and went on his way. Soon afterwards, Jack was approached by a little red man who offered him his services. Jack protested that he had nothing to pay him with, but the man insisted it would be free of charge. The little red man also knew of the one woman in the world with hair as black as crow, cheeks as red as blood, and skin as white as snow-the Princess of the East, and would lead Jack there.

First they came upon the Castle of the Giant of the Cloak of Darkness. Jack knew of the giant's fearsome reputation and wanted to move on, but the little red man insisted they stay the night. They entered the castle and the red man demanded food and beds. The giant threatened to kill them and Jack was very afraid. But then "in a flash, the wee red fellow whips out his sword" and fought with the giant, and killed him. After a good night's sleep and eating their fill, they left the next day with the Cloak of Darkness.

The little red man did the same at the Castle of the Giant of the Purse of Plenty, as well as the Giant of the Sword of Light-he killed the Giants and took their treasures.

The two men traveled until they got to the East, and Jack went to court the Princess. She was just as beautiful as he had imagined, but she demanded three tasks of any who might court her. If the men failed the tasks, she would take off their heads. She showed Jack her rose garden-there were three hundred and sixty five rose bushes; all of them had a man's head on the flower except one, and the Princess told Jack she hoped to have his head on the last rosebush.

She then told Jack his first task. He must take the gold comb from her hair during the night, but she would spend the night "neither on the earth nor under the earth."

Jack was troubled and told the wee red man his task, and the red friend told him not to worry. With the Cloak of Darkness, he followed the Princess into Hell, where she kissed the Devil and talked with him. The red man snatched the comb from her hair and returned it to Jack, who showed it to the princess in the morning.

She was upset, but gave him his second task; to retreive the diamond ring from her finger. The red man accomplished this the same way, as well as the last task, to retrieve the lips the Princess had kissed, which the red man did with the Sword of Light.

The Princess had to consent to marry Jack once he completed the three tasks. Before the red man left he gave Jack instructions for making his wife good, for she was possessed with devils.

It was then that the red man reminded Jack of the debt he had paid for the corpse that was being buried at the start of his journey. The man told him, "it was I whom you buried, and I have tried to repay you a little. Now, good-bye, and may you and your wife prosper ever after."

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Images and full tale text here

*I have also just added a tag for Irish folklore if you'd like to read more! A few others will, hopefully, come this month

UPDATE: Gypsy of Once Upon a Blog has shared some more insights and information into the tri-color aspect of fairy tales here, definitely worth checking out!

Red as Blood, White as Snow, Black as Crow

After posting the article a few days ago about the possible significance of Santa in white and red, I did a little more digging into color symbolism in fairy tales. I found this article, Red as Blood, White as Snow, Black as Chrow: Chromatic Symbolism of Womanhood by Francisco Vaz Da Silva. It's a really great in depth look into the subject of colors in fairy tales if you're interested-it is several pages long.

Caligari-87 deviantart

It looks specifically at the triad of colors that is most often found in fairy tales, white, red, and black. And while that usually brings Snow White to mind, there are other fairy tales Da Silva mentions that have that same combination; more specifically, in which the sight of red blood upon a white background reminds someone of ideal female beauty. Three drops of blood on the snow remind 12th century Perceval of his sweetheart, and the colors of a slain crow's blood and feathers on a stone remind the Prince in Basile's "The Crow" of what he would like his wife to look like. In another Basile tale, "The Three Citrons," a prince does not want a wife until he cuts himself while slicing cheese and decides he wants a wife who is "like ricotta stained with blood." A tale from Brittany, collected by Francois Luzel, features a man who, when seeing a crow and its blood on the snow, decides to marry the princess whose face is just as red, white, and black. Even in the Grimms' "Goose Girl," the princess' mother gives her a white handkerchief with three drops of her own blood on it, which will protect her as long as she has it with her.

The article delves more into the symbolism of the three colors and what they mean, but essentially, it boils down to the female cycle. Fair warning: the article discusses much about women and blood and I'll be talking about it too, so if that makes you uncomfortable you can skip the rest of this post. It's a common way of interpreting fairy tales so although it may be a little awkward I think it warrants discussion.

The three drops of blood are supposed to represent the three significant times a woman bleeds in her life, which all represent her transition into womanhood: her menarche (first period), deflowering (first time she has sex), and childbirth. This is a popular way that people understand this color trio; several other authors make connections like Sleeping Beauty pricking her finger to either of the first two.

This never really made sense to me. If you claim that this is "the meaning" of the colors, that would indicate that the authors intended the reader to make that connection, and that most readers at the time would also do the same. Yet, I consider myself to be a fairly intelligent person, but I would never, ever have connected the pricking of a finger, or red blood on snow, to women's periods. Sure, menstrual blood happens every month, but it's always hidden. Especially since, in several of the stories above, the sight of blood involved a man thinking of a woman, how would he make the connection? Men would rarely, if ever, see a woman's menstrual blood. (Basile, author of two of those stories, was a man himself.) I would think a more obvious connection to red blood would be war, in which blood was visibly shed, or red flowers.

winterious-deviantart

I think it might be safer to assume that red on white just means the blush of a cheek against white skin. In days when people farmed the land, white skin would indicate the ability to be indoors; it was desirable because it was unusual, and would also probably mean you were rich (for the same reason that people at the time would have desired curvy women rather than rail-thin models at the time-not everyone could afford to eat their fill, so that body type was more rare). It's clearly a sight we desire today, as evidenced by the fact that blush is still considered an essential part of any woman's makeup kit.

Yet, the meaning could have been vastly different hundreds of years ago. Today, a woman's cycle doesn't really interfere with her regular life. Just put on some protection, pop a couple of painkillers, and you can forget about it. But before drugstores made painkillers available and had aisles dedicated to "feminine products," it's possible that a woman's period may have intruded on her life much more. In Bible times, a woman was considered unclean when she was on her period. Anyone who touched anything she touched also became unclean, not to mention the hassle I assume there would be from laundry and just experiencing severe cramps without ibuprofen. Today we can afford to be discreet about menstruation, but in the days when families shared one room houses, bodily functions were less private, and it might have been obvious when a woman was having her period. (Although still, I don't know that men would associate it with the color red).

Bess Livings

And we can't argue the fact that red has been considered a significant color by virtually every culture. Da Silva cites a study in which they found that if a language has only two words for color, it's black and white. If they have three, it's always red, black, and white. Subsequent colors are always added in a similar order. (Frankly, it's hard to imagine a language that only has two or three words for colors; it's one of the first things we teach our babies, but here's the information from the study: "Berlin, Brent, and Paul Kay. Basic Color Terms: Their Universatily and Evolution. 1969. Berkely: 
U of California P, 1991"


Clearly, these colors are significant to humans. Maybe it is because of female cycles and their unique ability to bear children. What do you think?

Santa and the 'Shrooms

Haddon Sundblom-Coca Cola ad

A friend of mine sent me this article, Santa and the 'Shrooms: The Real Story Behind the "Design" of Christmas, by Holly McWhorter. Basically, the premise is that Santa's traditional red and white coat actually stems from old traditions of the Kamchadales and Koryaks of Siberia involving hallucinogenic red and white mushrooms, called "fly agarics".

Vintage holiday cards, via the article

Before passing it off as ridiculous, it's a pretty interesting article and they make connections not just between the colors of the mushrooms and Santa's coat, which in itself would be quite a stretch, but to many other traditions about Santa, from his reindeer to why he comes down the chimney. 

The article describes a solstice ritual of the Siberian people in which the Shaman would go out and gather these mushrooms, which were enjoyed by reindeer and people alike, and would give them a high, which could explain some of the stories about flying reindeer and such. McWhorter goes on to describe the actions of the Shaman:

"But how would he get into a yurt whose door was blocked by several feet of snow? He’d climb up to the roof with his bag of goodies, go to the hole in the center of the roof that acted as a chimney, and slide down the central pole that held the yurt up over the fireplace. Then he’d pass out a few ‘shrooms to each guest, and some might even partake of some of the ones that had been hung over the fire. Clearly, this idea of using the chimney to get in and pass out the magic mushrooms (and other goodies) had sticking power. Interestingly, even as late as Victorian times in England, the traditional symbol of chimney sweeps was a fly agaric mushroom — and many early Christmas cards featured chimney sweeps with fly agarics, though no explanation of why was offered."

The article claims that this ritual is the origin of the Santa myth, which got later mixed in with other traditions such as the Dutch Sinterklaas. I think that's maybe stretching it a bit much-many European cultures had some form of gift giving spirit, or mischievous house elf, or a possible relation to Santa. The influence of St. Nicholas can't be ingnored, because where this article claims that hanging mushrooms in a sock over the fire was the origin of stockings, that has also been attributed to a legend of St. Nicholas. It seems a little odd to me that the traditions of such small, isolated tribes should have spread and grown throughout Europe over the years; the article claims the traditions were carried to Great Britain by ancient druids. I'm sure that some elements of this tradition did get incorporated into the modern Santa, but I find it extremely unlikely that these traditions would have been spread all around Europe in bits and pieces, then later all brought together again when those descendants immigrated to America, where they were all joined together again in a remarkably similar way.

Sarah Andersen

Debating origins is pretty tricky and ultimately impossible to know for sure, but I found the article interesting. Red is such a significant color in Santa Claus history as well as fairy tales, especially "Snow White" and "Little Red Riding Hood". Could the use of this color in these stories could also be related to these mushrooms, which are also often pictured alongside fairies? I also posted earlier this year about the possibility that the traditions of witches flying on brooms were also caused by a hallucinogenic plant that would give the eater illusions of flying. It's not too much of a stretch to see that as a possibility, but at the same time, flying is a pretty universal human wish, and a common dream. I don't think we need to be high, necessarily, to create stories about flying.

Elsa Beskow

Selina Fenech

Also, I've done a fair bit of reading into the history of Santa and Christmas traditions, and this is the first I've heard of any of it being related to mushrooms and highs. 

Something else to keep in mind whenever looking at possible origins of either Santa Claus or various related fairy tales is that, statistically, some coincidences are bound to happen. If you compare our Christmas traditions with every ancient culture's Winter Solstice, you're more than likely to find some parallels, it doesn't necessarily mean they're related. Still, pretty interesting to consider!

Mushroom Sculptures-Carsten Holler

As Red as Blood

As Red as Blood, book one of the Snow White trilogy by Finnish author Salla Simukka, was one of the free options for Kindle owners a couple of months ago.

It's a young adult thriller with Snow White as the inspiration. The plot wasn't too complex and it was a fairly quick read, but be aware there are swears/a few f-bombs, plus references to the darker side of crime-violence, drugs, and murder, if you're considering recommending this to a younger reader. Other than that it's a good action story, easily readable yet still exciting and fun, with clues and plot unfolding at a good pace.

I wasn't sure if there would be only a vague Snow White reference (the main character's name, Lumikki, means "Snow White" in Finnish) but I was excited to find multiple fairy tale references all throughout the story-more than passing mentions, but allusions to certain plots, motifs, and symbols. The story culminates in a mysterious fairy tale-themed ball in a house in the middle of the woods.

The main character is the classic action heroine. She's not the most realistic or relatable, especially as a 17-year old high schooler, but the type of cool, level-headed, quick-thinking-in-a-tight-situation character that we all like to vicariously live through at times (I kept being reminded of Sydney Bristow from Alias). Lumikki is already an expert in disguise, physical fitness, stalking and shaking off stalkers, but you do learn throughout the book that she experienced some dark episodes in her past that led to her intentionally studying such survival techniques/martial arts.

It's a great book if you're in the mood for an exciting thrill that won't be too confusing or require too much time, but what made it most exciting for me were watching for all the fairy tale references (and Grimm versions too, not just Disney), and other themes Simukka highlighted. It seemed that she had really thought about "Snow White" and wanted to extend the same themes in a new story while still making use of the classic fairy tale.

Wonderlandnoir-etsy

One of the most notable aspects of Snow White is the importance of color, especially red, white, and black. I noticed what seemed like intentional references to color, especially these three (the titles of each book in the series is one of these colors). I also noticed that most of the characters, and sometimes the settings, were also characterized by certain colors. Elisa was pink and black, Natalia white, etc.

The significance of color also led into some of the other themes in the story. In "Snow White," beauty is an obvious theme, but linked to that is the ideas of identity and disguise. The Queen finds her identity in her physical appearance, so much so that she is willing to put on a disguise to trick Snow White. As scholars have pointed out, the things the witch tempts Snow White with-stay laces, pretty comb-are all forms of beautification/changing your appearance.

A. H. Watson

In "As Red as Blood," Lumikki realizes that colors and scents are all part of a person's identity, and because she wants to be invisible, blending in and adaptable, she intentionally wears neutral colors and no scents. The only times she wears colors are when she is in disguise. She muses-a little too judgementally, in my opinion-on the shallowness of other high schoolers, and the type of girls that wear makeup and fashionable clothes. But it does make you think about how much our clothes and preferences are part of our identity, and how much are they just masks that we wear? Is each character's "color" integral to them, or how they've chosen to represent themselves? Lumikki is able to slip on false personalities in her mannerisms and body language as well as clothing and makeup.

Andrea Clare, PhotoReverie-Etsy

At times, multiple characters fit the image of Snow White, but other fairy tales are referenced, especially Snow Queen, Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, even (I think) The Boy Who Learned Fear. I don't want to give any spoilers, but I kind of want to compare the fairy tale references I found with someone else who's read the book and see if anyone else caught some that I missed.
At times, Simukka cleverly subverts classic fairy tale scenes. For example, Little Red Riding Hood is known for her red cloak-as some people see it, the bright and bold color probably helped draw the wolf towards her and was part of her own downfall. In one scene in the book, Lumikki has borrowed another character's red hat, and some of the con men start chasing her, believing her to be the other girl (again, disguise). But she realizes that the hat betrayed her, and instead of being prey to the bad guys, she tosses the hat off in another direction and climbs a tree, leading her pursuers down the wrong path, and using the red as a weapon instead of it being her weakness.

Jessie Wilcox Smith

In another scene, she is trapped in yet another life-threatening situation, and is aware of the similarity between herself and her namesake:
"Snow White in a glass coffin. Sleeping her eternal sleep.
"No, she refused to let someone else write her story."

Anyone else who read this book, it would be fun to discuss more details in the comments!

Fairy Tales as Alchemical Stories?

Bess Livings

Alchemy is a topic I know virtually nothing about (unless you count Harry Potter, explained below), but a couple posts on other blogs have introduced me to a completely new way of thinking about/interpreting fairy tales.

A while back, Spinning Straw into Gold provided a link to this article, Snow White and the Philosopher's Stone, by John Patrick Pazdziora, which sheds light on the color symbolism in Snow White. Christie and her readers go on in the comments to consider the colors in Little Red Riding Hood as alchemical as well. From the article:

Arthur Rackham

"If you’ve read Harry Potter, you’ve encountered a great example of literary alchemy, though the tradition is hundreds of years old. Here’s a crash introduction.* Each color represents a different phase of the alchemical process, or Great Work as the alchemists called it. Black signifies the nigredo stage, where the lead or base metal is burned, to remove its impurities. White is the second stage, albedo, where the purified matter is washed repeatedly to transmute it into the final stage, rubedo, signified by (you guessed it) red and gold. The beginning of the rubedo is signified by the blossoming of streak of red on the white metal; the metal is put into a container, symbolised by burial or interment in a coffin, until the transmutation is complete. The elements in the metal that were in opposition—fluid and solid, female and male, life and death, and so on—become reconciled; this is called the alchemical marriage."

Eleanor Vere Boyle

Recently, reader Kelli Orazi of The Middle Page wrote an excellent post which looked at Beauty and the Beast as a potential alchemical tale.

As Christie and Kelli point out, this was not necesssarily the author's intentions when writing the tales, but something to consider, especially when looking at earlier versions of fairy tales. It would certainly help to explain why the colors black, white, red, and gold are so prevalent across stories from multiple cultures.

Color symbolism in Disney's Beauty and the Beast

 The filmmakers of Disney's Beauty and the Beast were very intentional about many of the details, including the colors of each characters' wardrobes.

For example, can you tell what color is missing from the picture below?

 I would never in a million years have picked up on this if I hadn't read it in Charles Solomon's Tale as Old as Time, but Belle is the only one in her village to wear blue, so that visually she stands out, because she's different from everyone else. I like this concept but kind of wish they'd used something a little more obvious. Who notices lack of blue?

 But another reason for Belle's wardrobe: In the words of Art Director Brian McEntee, "Beast starts out in very dark colors; Belle starts off in very cool colors. As the film progresses, her wardrobe warms up and his cools down. When you get to the ballroom, she's in gold, and he's in blue: they're falling in love, so they're at the same place."

But I'm convinced that the real logic behind each Disney princess' dress can be boiled down to marketing-so that when the princesses are displayed all together they create a nice rainbow effect 

By the way...this is my hundredth post with a Beauty and the Beast tag!

Possible color symbolism in Angela Barrett's Beauty and the Beast?

For new readers, my all time favorite picture book version of Beauty and the Beast is the one written by Max Eilenberg and illustrated by Angela Barrett. The writing hits the perfect mixture of being true to the classic French Villeneuve/Beaumont version, while elaborating to make the characters come to life in a relatable way. The illustrations are just breathtaking and wonderfully imaginative.

I noticed as I was perusing this book that, in the beginning, Beauty is set apart from the wonderfully colored world around her by wearing white. The narration also contrasts her to her sisters, for while they are overdressed and gaudy, Beauty's goodness shines through with a pure beauty that needs no extra ornaments.

(That's Beauty in the upper right corner)

I was curious as to whether Beauty's wardrobe in the rest of the book was symbolic. For several pages we don't see a clear picture of Beauty. When she arrives at the Beast's palace, ready to sacrifice herself, she is wearing dark and drab colors, for reasons easily imaginable. She believes she is getting ready for her own funeral.

As Beauty becomes more comfortable in the Beast's palace, she is seen wearing colors for the first time. Now she fits in with her surroundings rather than standing out-maybe because for the first time she feels like she has found somewhere she belongs? Or maybe, after her youthful innocence and naivety (white), she was disillusioned by loss of wealth, hard work, loneliness, and the threat of her father's existence, and this is represented by the dark colors. Only after she overcame that was she able to really experience the various colors of life-explore her personality and interests, not being confined by either her inexperience or grief.

I love this panel-each night at dinner the scene is exactly the same, except for the color of her dress.

I don't know how well my color theory holds up, though, because at the end of the book Beauty is in white again-as a nightgown and then in this beautiful picture (look familiar? From my header?) where she blends in with the snow. But I think the stark black and white of this picture, with a blue tinge, serves to capture the poignancy of the moment in a way color would ruin.

I may just be reading into things, but it's fun to think about the possible reasons behind the artist's choices!

Scans of the book available here