Concept
Every culture has some form of a Cinderella story. For this project, I decided to design costumes for Cinderella and her stepsister following traditional Korean clothing styles. I mainly drew from the latter half of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1897), particularly the 18th and 19th centuries. After designing costumes for both characters, I swapped the color schemes so that the design for Cinderella then became that of her sister and vice versa.
Cinderella
Korean culture has traditionally valued simplicity and balance in design. For Cinderella’s costume, I wished to honor this by designing an outfit with both of these elements in mind. Her jacked or ‘Jeorgori’ is sparcely decorated and her hair is adorned simply. I wanted to give her a natural line, so I began her skirt or ‘chima’ close to her natural waist and kept the sleeves close to her wrists.
Because Cinderella’s character is sweet natured and honorable, I put floral decorations in her hair and gave her a floral chima. Her whole outfit resembles the honesty and purity of her character, while still showing that she is dressed for a formal occasion.
Korean traditional colors were only vivid for royalty and those in high places of society for many centuries. Red was considered a risque color, so I decided when swapping the color schemes to color a good portion of Cinderella’s costume with it.
The costume is also primarily decorated with primary colors, making it look unsophisticated and busy. I also gave her makeup to add to the promiscuity originally intended for her Stepsister. Overall, the color swap worked very well and one could easily believe that this design was originally meant for the Stepsister.
Stepsister
To contrast with Cinderella, the stepsister’s outfit is all about show. Her gigantic wig or ‘gache’ is tilted to one side, giving her an over the top and unbalanced impression. The length of the stepsister’s Jeorgori (jacket) is shorter than Cinderella’s. As time went on, Jeorgori’s became shorter and shorter, but whatever time period- a shorter Jeorgori was considered promiscuous.
The collar on her Jeorgori is also pointier than Cinderella’s, which is something many of us associate with villains. I wanted to place the waist of her skirt higher and make it fuller in order to give her costume a slightly overexerted line.
Every part of her costume is decorated to excess in comparison to Cinderella’s. Her wig has too many ornaments on it, she is wearing rings and most of her fingers, and her Chima and Jeorgori are both patterned.
The stepsister clearly likes to be admired and show off her family’s wealth. I gave her two butterfly pins in her hair to capture these characteristics. I also believe that she is jealous and venomous like the snakes on her chima.
Swapping the color schemes for the two characters was also very successful on the Stepsister’s end (if one ignores the snakes at the hem of her dress). Because I was interpreting Cinderella as being naturally beautiful, I gave the stepsister minimal makeup and garden colors; soft pinks, blues, greens and yellows.
The whole color scheme is low in intensity, leaning more towards white, which traditionally symbolizes purity. The colors are also more evenly balanced than on Cinderella’s costume. With the heaviness of the rest of the court’s costumes onstage, the airy quality of this color scheme would make her stand out.
Costume Design 