Ideas for Fairytale Fashion

Everyone please welcome Helen Hobden to Try Handmade! She’s a seamstress, artist, writer, renovator, pyrographer… The list goes on – I think she’ll really fit in here. Please leave her a comment on her first post and let her know if you know of any great alternative fashion she should feature. Other than her own shop of course :)

I’ve been wanting to watch Red Riding Hood for ages and I finally have this weekend. I loved it! It was everything I hoped it would be; the snowy village scenes, the mysterious atmosphere; Grandma’s fantastic cabin in the woods, but especially the costumes. (Credit to Cindy Evans for costume design.)

Due to films such as this one and fairies being the new vampires in the literary world, fairytale fashion is getting bigger and better than ever and there are some fantastic outfits on the market. I have never really grown up as far as clothing is concerned and I relish any opportunity to dress up just like I loved doing as a kid. I just wish invitations to fancy dress parties came my way more often!

This is one of my absolute favourites made by Enlightened Platypus; it is surely the ultimate Red Riding Hood coat. Made entirely out of recycled jumpers, this must have taken her hours and hours to sew together all the different pieces in various shades of red. I know her work sells very quickly, so if you’re after one these coats, watch out for new listings regularly.

If you’re on the look out for the perfect fairytale dress to wear beneath the cloak, then don’t be tempted to buy a horrible polyester number in a cellophane wrapper that you’ll feel uncomfortable wearing. Instead look for a creation that will make you feel special and stand out in the crowd.

This lovely medieval style velvet dress with its large bell sleeves and decorated belt is beautiful. Yes, it’s blue, so may not be your first choice for Red Riding Hood, but this is actually quite similar to the dress Amanda Seyfried wears in the beginning of the film. You could easily wear this one to another party without a red cloak and go as a different fairytale character!

This cloak has my favourite hood – I love the pixie-ish shape of it. Although it doesn’t look like it in the picture, it’s actually made from lightweight wool and trimmed with black lace. I bet it takes the chill out the wind when out walking in the woods on the way to Grandma’s.

If dressing up to such an extent isn’t your thing, then there are several t-shirts with really cool designs that give nod towards the Red Riding Hood trend. One of my favourites is this one from limeyts.