Alice in Wonderland dress facts for kids
Alice in Wonderland is one of the most famous characters from 19th-century children's books. People instantly recognize her by her special clothes. Many artists have drawn Alice in different ways. However, the first drawings by John Tenniel are the most well-known. These drawings have been used in most books and movies about Alice.
Tenniel's drawings showed Alice wearing a headband. This headband became so famous that it led to the term "Alice band".
Tenniel's Original Alice Look
John Tenniel's black-and-white drawings for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland show Alice in a specific outfit. She wears a knee-length dress with puffed sleeves. Over her dress, she has a pinafore, which is like an apron. She also wears ankle-strap shoes.
The author, Lewis Carroll, gave Tenniel some ideas for Alice's dress. Tenniel first drew Alice to look like a chess piece. But Carroll asked him not to add too much "crinoline". Crinoline was a stiff petticoat often worn under women's dresses back then.
Tenniel also changed Alice's dress slightly in different books. In Through the Looking-Glass, he drew Alice with striped stockings. He also added her famous headband in this book. For The Nursery "Alice", Tenniel redrew some pictures. He made Alice's clothes look more like the fashion of that time. He even colored her dress yellow and added more bows and pleats.
The Famous Blue Dress
The original Alice's Adventures in Wonderland book did not say what color Alice's clothes were. The first time Alice's costume was colored was for a stage play in 1886. In this play, Alice wore a white dress. Lewis Carroll liked this choice.
The very first colored drawings of Tenniel's art were for The Nursery "Alice". Tenniel himself watched over the coloring process. In this edition, Alice's dress was yellow.
After Lewis Carroll passed away, other artists colored Tenniel's drawings. They used different colors for Alice's dress. These colors included red, orange, and chartreuse (a yellowish-green).
However, a blue dress became the most popular choice. In 1903, an early edition by Macmillan Publishers showed Alice in a blue dress. A deluxe edition in 1911 also featured Alice in blue. Many other artists, like Helen Oxenbury, also drew Alice in blue.
The blue dress is now the most common and famous version of Alice's outfit. You can see it in many movies and books that are based on Tenniel's original drawings. This includes the 1933 movie, Disney's 1951 movie, and the 1972 movie. While some movies have used other colors, like orange or yellow, the blue dress remains the most iconic.
Alice's Influence on Fashion
_(14765514504).jpg)
Around the 1880s, it became popular for young girls to dress up as Alice for parties. By then, everyday girls' dresses had changed. This made Alice's outfit from the books look very special.
Clothing companies like Joseph Love, Inc. often made dresses inspired by Alice. This happened from the 1930s to the 1960s. The "Alice" style became very popular in the USA when the Disney movie came out in 1951.
Alice's dress has also influenced Japanese fashion styles. You can see hints of it in music videos by artists like Mizuki Alisa and Kawase Tomoko.
- A book called Fashioning Alice: The Career of Lewis Carroll's Icon, 1860-1901 by Kiera Vaclavik was written in 2019. It talks all about Alice's clothing and its history.
