Can you date Disney princesses Put these princesses

Can you date Disney princesses? Put these princesses in order chronologically

Disney’s Cinderella 1830, Cinderella, 1830 s Disney’s version was intended to be based in or around the 1830 s (though for some reason, I always envisioned her as solidly 18 th century, but what do I know? ). If that’s the case, then the right is what a real princess would have looked like in the 1830 s, all fancied up and ready for some historical dancin’ with a handsome prince (or a mutant Habsburg cousin, for all you know). You should also know that I had a hell of a time finding a portrait of a blonde woman from the 1830 s. Apparently, it was not a particularly fashionable hair color in that era. María Cristina de Borbón of the Two Sicilies, by Vicente López y Portaña.

Disney’s Pocahontas Princess Matoaka/Rebecka Rolfe, c. 1616. Pocahontas, early 17 th-century America/England Since no one thought to make a visual record of what Matoaka (aka Pocahontas) looked like before she was taken to England, we’re just going to have to settle with the c. 1616 portrait of “Rebecka Rolfe” as she was known after her arrival in the English court and marriage to Thomas Rolfe. Notice how they also gave her a white girl makeover. In this one case, Disney actually gets points for historical accuracy. Although we just won’t bring up the fact that Matoaka was, like, 4 years old when John Smith arrived on her doorstep, or the fact that she died tragically young of smallpox. Nope. She lived happily ever after with her raccoon buddy!

Disneys’ Princess Jasmine Young woman of the Ottoman court, late 16 th century. . Jasmine, Ottoman Sultanate Some internet sources claim that Aladdin was set in the 800 s, but I cry error on that, since the Ottoman Sultanate didn’t come into existence until the late 12 th century, and if we’re sticking to Disney canon and not the actual history of A Thousand One Arabian Nights, that places the film somewhere in the region of the years 1200 to 1900, give or take a few decades. Yeah, it’s a big swath of history. For the hell of it, I picked circa 1600, mainly because there’s a ton of visual sources from this period to chose from, and something tells me Disney animators didn’t do a lot of digging into early medieval Islamic manuscripts.

Disney’s Belle 1756 Madame de Pompadour by François Boucher, Belle, 18 th-century France Since Belle was essentially a kept woman, I decided the easiest equation to make here would be the most well-known kept woman of all time, Madame de Pompadour. Look, she’s even got a book! Pompadour was a nerdy book lover just like Belle! In all honesty, Belle is one of my least favorite Disney princesses. I blame the fact that I was going through my cynical late-teenage phase. In reality, Belle and I probably had a lot in common at that age… Except she didn’t have to suffer the indignity of teenage acne. Maybe I would have liked her better if she had a zit or two.

Disney’s Snow White 1564 Portrait of a woman by Lucas Cranach Snow White, 16 th-century Bavaria Disney outfit doesn’t really match up with the location for her story, deep in the forests of Bavaria. The portrait by Lucas Cranach shows how a fashionable wealthy woman would have dressed in Saxony, which is quite a bit north of Bavaria, but the silhouette is similar to Snow White’s, so I’m going with it

Disney’s Rapunzel 1525 Anna Meyer by Holbein Rapunzel, 16 th century Rapunzel’s outfit is pretty much generic 16 th century-ish. I thought the sketch of Anna Meyer by Hans Holbein the Younger would be a good real-life analogy for her, however, since it shows what an unmarried young woman looked like in the 16 th century. When Holbein sketched this study of Anna, she had not yet been married and was shown wearing a beautiful gown with her gorgeous blonde hair loose and hanging past her hips. When the portrait was finished by 1528, Anna had been married off and was repainted with her hair up, as a young married woman would be expected to wear it.

Disney’s Princess Aurora Queen Elizabeth Wydville, artist unknown Sleeping Beauty, 15 th century There’s some debate as to whether or not Aurora is from the 14 th or 15 th century, but I’m sticking with 15 th century, based on the neckline of her gown. On the right is Elizabeth Wydville, queen consort of England from 1465 to 1470

Disney’s Tiana 1938 Young African American woman, Tiana, 1920 s New Orleans by Addison Scurlock, photographer. As an adult I loved The Princess & the Frog more than pretty much any other because Tiana is the first “real girl” of the bunch who works hard, has a good relationship with her parental figure, has a healthy friendship with a girl her own age, and gets to have an epic adventure. Oh, and yeah, there’s a handsome prince in there somewhere who spends 7/8 ths of the film as a frog so, by the end of it, you feel reasonably comfortable that Tiana is well aware of what she’s getting into. T. just feels more fleshed out than any of the other princesses. Anyway, I chose the photo above to represent her real life counterpart, an unnamed African American woman photographed in Washington, D. C. Though the date says 1938, it looks about a decade earlier to me, what with the flattened bust and drop waist.

Disney’s Mulan 10 th century Mulan by Zhou Wenju, Mulan, 8 th- to 10 th-century China Not surprisingly, there’s actually a ton of visual resources from this period of China that show pretty clearly what a woman would have worn. And, as usual, Disney has streamlined the basic idea of 10 th-century Chinese garb for your average cross-dressing rural peasant girl

Disney’s Merida OH, INTERNET. WHY DO YOU VEX ME SO? ? ? , Scotland, ? ? I will cut Disney a little slack here in the clothing research department… It’s hard to find visual resources for medieval Scotland, especially from the Highlands, which was far from the cultural centre of the Scottish court. What little there is that’s out there is also pretty nondescript when it comes to clothing, especially clothing for women. And just FYI, if you search Google with the terms “medieval Scottish women’s clothing” you’re going to turn up thousands of images of bad Ren Faire-esque costumes with a tartan thrown over them. “Scottish illuminations” also turned up a bunch of Celtic music compilations, too. If anyone out there has some good primary source research on Scottish women’s dress circa the 14 th century (that isn’t just a rehash of what they wore in France and England), drop me a line in the comments, because this b*** has lost her patience with the interwebs today.

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Put them in chronological order https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v= c 3 Fr 5 w. UZL 2 A