A VERY different Aurora....

This piece needs a lot of explaning (before the Sleeping Beauty fans rip my head off). Well, as most people have probably figured out, Sleeping Beauty's dress in the Disney film is anything BUT Medieval. I think it's beautiful, and maybe somewhere decaying in the earth is a dress just like hers decaying, but from everything I've read and studiedm it doesn't work. Once I started thinking about it, I knew I wouldn't be able to get it out of my head.... I wanted to draw Aurora, but I wanted to try TWO things: Draw her in the style of the Later Middle Ages, the time the movie takes place, and modify her appearence to fit the more cliche images of the time. AKA, she hardly resembles the Disney version (Though you'll see more similarities once I color it.)

Here's my reasonsing....

Style: In the middle ages, there wern't many artists accurately drawing the human figure. Disporportionate, rounded, simple, and the unfitted clothes did nothing to improve the vaugeness of the forms. I think this piece has a bit too much modern influence on it, but that's because of two things. One, it's hard to UN-learn something, and two, I couldn't stand how...well, ugly she was becoming! (The face is still less-than-beautiful, but I didn't want her to have the sallow look many of the women in the art had, so I simplified it to the brass rubbing version.) So it's all a bit tweeked. Her pose is taken, also, from many of the brass rubbings of women I've come across from the time. I was going to put symbolic things around her feet, but I thought Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather would be overkill.

Clothes, hair, etc.: Let me clairify againthat I am NOT a historical fashion expert, and nothing I say should be taken as absolute truth. If you find an error, please let me know how I went wrong! With that said.... The dress is fitted to her stomach beautifully in the Disney version, and they did not have a vast knowledge of fabric cuts to make that work, especially without laces or a belt (neither of which she has). Her hips come out much too far, as if she's wearing a crinolin or starched skirts underneath, which doesn't become popular to later (yes?). And only in a few pictures have I seen the sleeves perfectly fitted all the way down to the wrist with nothing over it. (Oh, and she would never have worn pink high heals, which is seen in some Disney pictures.... The idea is just hillarious. Poulaines would be more like it, especially when she finds that she's a princess.) Oh, and I've never seen anyone have bangs in the pictures.

I gave her longer hair, and braided paart of it (there will be ribbon going through it when it's colored) and part of it is pulled together in the back. I kept her blue cape, but turned it into a mantel. I kept the trademark white...."things" ont he shoulder for effect, and kept the sleeves, but added a point to them. I added bell sleeves over them, and had that piece become the surcote (but with sides) and connect to the once-decorative light pink points under her waist, but brought them down. Not 100% accurate, but the was partly because I was trying to authenticise it and still keep signs of Aurora in the piece.

I LOVE the movie Sleeping Beauty, and I LOVE her dress, so please don't think I'm trying to ruin her! I just wanted to have fun!