Construction Details:

The blouse was made out of a light, pale blue shirting fabric. I used a Mcall's pattern for it, only altering the cuffs on the sleeves. The bow was made of a blue Kona cotton, which I selected to be a half-way tone between the skirt and the blouse colors. It has a barrette hot-glued to the back of it so it can be put into the wig more easily. The corset is made of a faux suede which was reinforced with twill canvas, boned with plastic boning and lined with thin polyester. It has eyelets and a modesty panel, and is laced up with black cording. It was made with a New Look corset pattern, and was altered to lace instead of zip up. Lastly, the skirt was made of four yards of a turquoise matte satin that was simply gathered and had a waistband and zipper put on it. I chose not to make a petticoat for the dress, since in screenshots Ariel doesn't appear to be wearing one.

Personal Thoughts:

This cosplay probably took more time than any other since I made a corset for the first time by hand. This is also more than likely my favorite cosplay to date. Not only is Ariel extremely fun to be, but I feel wholly confident as her and love interacting with kids that I run into as her. It's like being a self-employed Disney Princess. I knew when I made the cosplay that I was going to keep it as true to the original as possible while adding realistic or more elaborate touches. Therefore, the neckline of the blouse is gathered and I made a boned corset with eyelets and a modesty panel in the back. I also was careful about selecting with colors and fabrics to work with. The colors for the movie are a pale blue for the blouse, sky blue for the bow, navy for the corset and shoes and turquoise for the skirt, though they've been done differently by others before. I, however, chose to keep the skirt, bow and blouse colors while changing the corset and shoes to black, simply because I like the combination a lot better.

Styling Notes

Came with beautiful curls and long bangs, which I simply combed to the side and held in place with bobby pins and hair spray for a more natural look.

Wig Review

I was inspired by the Little Mermaid Broadway to have a curly wig. On top of that, I wanted a wig more realistic looking than the average Ariel wig, but that held true to her original design. Therefore, I decided on a fairly bright red curled wig with simple bangs. It's possibly my favorite wig to date. It has beautiful color, beautiful curls, beautiful quality. It's easy to re-curl, doesn't tangle too easily and tangles come out of it pretty easily.

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