Creative clothing design inspired by descriptions of Cinderella's clothing recorded in 322 Cinderella story variants

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to design and create artistic, contemporary women’s garments that creatively illustrated the themes expressed in descriptions of fairy tale heroine Cinderella’s clothing as recorded in traditional Cinderella variants. Descriptions of the clothing worn by the Cinderella character in selected variants of the fairy tale were analyzed, and the 6 most frequently occurring themes found in the descriptions were identified. These themes were metallic clothing, clothing resembling or ornamented with celestial bodies, clothing resembling the sea, clothing ornamented with jewels, musical clothing, and clothing resembling or ornamented with flowers. Using these themes as sources of inspiration, 6 original designs for contemporary women’s clothing were sketched. Three of the proposed designs were created in fabric as finished garments. The study concluded with a public exhibition of the finished garments, sketches, and a brief explanation of the thesis design project. The thesis paper was typed and produced according to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Fourth Edition, copyright 1994.