It’s a truth universally acknowledged: kids like to dress up. Elsa, Peter Pan, Ariel, Jasmine, Cinderella… Few of us passed through childhood without at least one bogey-faced, chocolate splattered picture of ourselves in a Disney outfit at our BFF's birthday party. But then we grew up and started to look elsewhere for fashion inspo - the pages of Mizz, The Spice Girls, (or All Saints, depending on how cool you were).
But for some women, well into adulthood, that inspiration still comes from Disney. They’re called the DisneyBounders.
For the uninitiated, DisneyBounding is the art of wearing clothes that are inspired by Disney characters. Think colour blocking, accessorising and subtle nods to Walt Disney’s creations. Leslie Kay, the 27-year old attributed with starting the movement, describes it on her Tumblr as ‘where Disney fans and fashion nerds collide.’ Kay started her Tumblr - often cited as the founding moment of DisneyBounding when she and a friend visited Disneyland Florida.
Under Disneyland’s rules visitors over the age of 14 are banned from wearing costumes when they frequent the parks - for two reasons. One, no one wants their kid running up to strangers thinking they’re the ‘real life’ Snow White/ Cinderella/Peter Pan… and second, imagine if Snow White got caught having a fag or swearing next to Space Mountain. That’s just one big branding issue right there.
Having said that, DisneyBounding is very much a grassroots movement, and the men and women who do it aren’t trying to subvert the rules of Disneyworld, just show an appreciation for it. ‘Dapper Day’, where Disney fans go to Disneyland parks around the world bounding as their favourite characters, is a fan-organised event born out of a wish to show this appreciation.
Most of the women in the UK DisneyBounding team, whose inaugural event will happen in August this year, met at Dapper Day at Disneyland Paris last year. The UK DisneyBounders hope that Kay, who’s moodboard Tumblr spawned millions of Tumblr posts and uses of the #Disneybounding hashtag, will make an appearance at the UK event. Here are some disneybounding ideas if you're into that kinda thing.
Disneybounding as Ariel ideas
Disneybounding as White Rabbit/Alice in Wonderland ideas
When you start looking for DisneyBounding, you see it everywhere. Real life princess Blake Lively is a pin-up for the Disney Bounding community - and if you look at her Cannes 2016 outfits you can see why. It was impossible NOT to draw comparisons to Cinderella with one of her gowns, and with another - she looked every bit the IRL version of Elsa. She knew it too, posting an image to Instagram with the caption ‘Let it glo.’ We see what you did there, Blake.
Disneybounding as Cinderella ideas
Disneybounding as Elsa ideas
And Blake isn’t the only celeb in the DisneyBounding game. Cailli and Sam Beckerman, the twins behind the Beckerman blog, have been Disney’s fashion ambassadors since 2012 and recently shared a picture of themselves bounding as Alice for a Through the Looking Glass party.
Whereas Blake’s references to the Disney princesses are explicit, Cailli and Sam have gone down the true DisneyBounding route; using colours and accessories to reference their favourite characters; the key to a great DisneyBound according to the UK bounders I spoke to. 'In my opinion it should be normal clothes, ideally things that are not custom made or costume like' explains Karen Thistleton, who regularly bounds with her children and husband. 'To most people it just looks like a well put together outfit, it's the finer points that often differentiate it, like the jewellery or accessories.'
Karen is what you may describe as a mega fan, having visited Disneyworld Paris with her family fifteen times since 2006. 'As a family we love Disney holidays' continues Karen. 'My husband and daughter love the rides, my son loves the characters, parades and shows and I love the attention to detail in the design.'
Another volunteer, twenty-six year old Bexx Ford, said finding out about DisneyBounding online inspired her to join the movement. 'I just liked looking at what other people had put together' explains Bexx. 'I’ve always been a huge Disney fan. I usually watch a film a week - if I’ve had a crappy day nothing picks you back up quite like Disney does.'
Together with a group of volunteers, Karen and Bexx administrate the Disneybound UK Facebook page - where users regularly post the DisneyBounds they’re wearing - to work, on a night out or just messing around at home. Fellow members congratulate each other on the cleverness of their DisneyBounding: the subtler the references, the better.
So just think, next time you pull your favourite blue pie-crusted top and white jeans out of the cupboard, you’re not just putting some clothes on - you’re subliminally DisneyBounding as Alice in Wonderland.
Getting dressed will never be the same again.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.