Sweet, sweet fantasy, baby…so deep in my daydreams. Oh, sorry, I was just singing along with Mariah, since we’re about to discuss the fashunz of my favorite fantasy-film queens. Why do these chicas have truly badassical clothing? Well, they live in worlds that exist only in our imagination, so obviously they aren’t going to be wearing beige slacks and a T-shirt. Costume designers dream of these kinds of movies—the opportunities are endless—but you can also work some of their enchanting style into your own wardrobe any old day of the week.
In The Neverending Story (1984), Bastian (the name of my future first-born) is a contemplative dude who gets bullied a lot by his classmates. One day while trying to outrun them, he ducks into a bookstore and borrows a seemingly regular book, which he reads cover to cover in his school’s attic, because it is that absorbing. It’s a really dark story about a terrifying force called the Nothing that’s destroying Fantasia, a world ruled by the Childlike Empress from her seashell bed in the Ivory Tower. Where can I get a bed like dat? We don’t see the Childlike Empress a lot, but I will always remember her coolest accoutrement—a pearl headpiece featuring one bead that dangled right in the middle of her forehead. Obviously, I’m not the only one, because you can find a near-replica of it on Etsy, or a similar piece like this one from ASOS. And it’s pretty easy to channel the empress’s precious, softly lit vibez with a floaty white dress and a pair of ballet shoes.
Legend (1985) features more than one of my favorite otherworldly creatures: Tim Curry, and a unicorn. Princess Lili (Mia Sara) and her friend Jack (Tom Cruise) decide to do some spying on unicorns while gallivanting in the forest, and Lili dares to touch one of them, which is forbidden. Everything goes bananas, some goblins chase after them, and Lili is captured by the Lord of Darkness (Curry) and falls under his sinister spell. She turns from a fair maiden into a serious goth queen: long black gowns, black lipstick, and a widow’s peak to rival Eddie Munster’s. Obviously, we love Dark Lili’s look the best, but I doubt we’d be able to get in and out of a car with that thing on, so I suggest looking for a black dress with some exaggerated oopmh, like this one from Romwe. And you will definitely need some black lipstick—everyone is going crazy over the radness that is Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Lip Tar, which comes in lots of cool colors, though Tarred is ideal for your inner-goth goddess.
In The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (2005), four siblings discover a magical closet that leads directly to Narnia. (After reading the book by C.S. Lewis when I was nine, I’d hold my breath and slowly open my closet in the hope that some fantasy land of mythical beasts and talking animals would be there waiting for me.) The kids soon find out that the White Witch, played by Tilda Swinton, has put a curse on Narnia and turned it into an eternal winter. OH HALES NO. That sounds like my worst nightmare. Still, I can’t hate on the White Witch—I mean, look at her threads! If an endless winter means nothing but icicle crowns and elaborate gowns, sign me up. To achieve some of her flave, find some faux fur in pastel blue, like this coat, and make it even chillier with some crystal bracelets and sparkly accessories, like this constellation crown from Catbird. If you want to be RULL LEGIT, get an icicle crown like this one from Etsy.
The Sleeping Beauty (2010) is French director Catherine Breillat’ s feminist take on the classic fairy tale. The princess Anastasia is cursed to sleep for 100 years after pricking her finger on a spindle, and in her sleep state, she embarks on a series of whimsical adventures: she hangs with Gypsies, eats cake with albino royalty, rides a deer across a snowy landscape, and chases after the queen who kidnapped her crush. Eventually, she wakes up to reality as a teenage girl, still aching for her old beau. WE ALL KNOW HOW THAT FEELS, ANASTASIA. The interpretation may be new, but the clothes she wears are befitting of a princess on a journey (fur coats with matching hats, long lace gowns, and tutus), and you can mimic her style by finding your own ballerina-style dress and fashioning some lace into a mask, like this one from Etsy.
Now I hope you’re ready to make all of your fantasies a reality, especially the ones that involve crowns, because let’s face it, you’re the badassest of them all. ♦