The Light Princess (Concepts)

Theatre costume concepts & designs for the heroine and hero of George MacDonald's 1864 fairy tale, "The Light Princess".

I developed the designs for these two characters, the Princess and the Prince, over a couple of weeks for "The Art of Costume Design" short course by NIDA Online.

The Princess is cursed to be "light of spirit, light of body", meaning she has no gravity and floats in mid-air. Her costume had to give a sensation of elfin, ethereal weightlessness, whereas the Prince was visually a heavier, more solid figure. Since I had in mind a theatre performance while designing, I also had to account for things like wire-flying, how the Princess's costumes would function and move while the actress was off the ground, etc.

I started with a number of Pinterest moodboards, and used these as a basis on which I could build possible designs and finish with some costume designs that I was very happy with.

I also explored a concept of the Princess's heart being so light that it (visually) trails after her rather than being inside her chest or having any resting place. The Prince, by contrast, would have an empty, heart-shaped cavity in his chest, indicating a sense of loss and/or searching.

At the climax of the story, when the Princess saves the Prince's life but mourns, thinking he has died, her 'heart' would come down to rest inside the space where the Prince's heart should be, thus effectively linking them, as one, in love.

After reviewing the 20+ possible dress designs, I asked for feedback from friends and other artists, and whittled down to about six designs that really seemed to suit the character of the Princess.

Based on this, I painted two sketches: the first is meant to convey the Princess's light-hearted, carefree character at the start of the story, while the second would be worn in the latter half of the tale, where the Princess falls in love and undergoes a key transformation.

I also drew a more solid design for the Prince and collected fabric samples from digital images.