Fall Dapper Day '18
For this fall’s Dapper Day at Disneyland we were inspired by the It’s a Small World Attractions in Anaheim and Tokyo. We love to Dapper Bound (Dapper Disney Bounding) and we wanted to honor the beloved ride originally designed by Mary Blair, Rolly Crump and some of the most beloved Disney Legends.
Heidi represented the original attraction in Anaheim and Ella dressed as the Tokyo Version
In order to do this project justice, Heidi spent a lot of time researching the history of how It’s a Small World came to be. We talk a lot about it on the Pod and we hope that you will get a chance to listen to Episode 25 where we go into detail about what we learned. Heidi listened to interviews of Rolly Crump, as she sewed on appliques, glued parasols and designed their clutch purses. It was interesting to discover that Mary Blair originally designed the facade to be brightly colored with rich pastels. But the WED designers were concerned by how challenging that would be to maintain. So they asked that the facade be white with gold accents. Walt Disney was the one that suggested that anything gold be gold-plated, to further assist in the durability of the exteriors.
This is roughly the section of the facade that we decided to put into the applique
Initially, Heidi was going to wear a white dress. But as she got into the design process she realized that the applique would not stand out enough and would get lost on the dress. She embarked on a search of sky blue dresses and was relieved to find a blue and white striped dress on sale at Unique Vintage. This was a happy accident because the Cast Members that run the Attraction, wear blue and white attire. The good news was that the dress was listed at a discounted price. The bad news was that she could only order a dress that was 2 sizes too big for her. Would it need to be altered or would there be a simpler way to make it work? Thankfully, a tight belt corrected the over-sizing issue. It was still enormous, but the belt helped tremendously.
The dress from Unique Vintage, on sale for $63. (Photo taken from the Unique Vintage site)
Designing the applique was intimidating for Heidi because Mary Blair has been a huge artistic influence for her. She didn’t want to do anything that would make Mary roll her her grave. The facade is very geometric and falls into a grid-like pattern. The gold elements needed to stand out and deserved more than just gold puff paint. Kit Kraft is a wonderful hobby store in Studio City and the girls hit literal gold when they decided to explore their incredible jewelry findings section.
Prepping the applique. The gold findings helped this design stand out.
When we first came up with the idea to do a two park, international take on It’s a Small World, we were going to do Paris’s version. But it became apparent that the Anaheim and Tokyo’s facades actually have more in common. And since visiting Disney Tokyo is at the tippy-top of our bucket lists, we decided to shift gears.
It’s a Small World, Tokyo
It was interesting to learn that Mary Blair originally wanted the colors of the facade to be much closer to the Tokyo version, than what ended up happening in California. In studying the facade, we felt like a pink dress would be the best background for Ella’s dress. We found a perfect option on Amazon. We scored this vintage inspired dress for only $19.95.
Comfortable, stretchy and a steal for less than $20! (Photo taken from the Amazon site)
We decided to make Ella’s applique the same design as Heidi’s, just with different colors. The gold findings really accented this color scheme nicely.
The bright pastels were a fun celebration of Mary Blair’s original vision
There were several other elements that we wanted to incorporate into our outfits. And it would not be It’s a Small World without the instantly recognizable clock, designed by Rolly Crump.
The iconic clock face. Disneyland Anaheim, California.
It was exciting to find out that Tokyo made this same face a part of their Attraction. In Paris, it is not the same, and is rather a sun/moon face.
Disney Tokyo
Clock face, Disneyland Paris
We decided to make brooches to emulate the clock faces. They were constructed using wood circles, gold findings and vinyl cutouts designed on a Silhouette Cameo. After the vinyls were applied, a layer of Mod Podge was added to secure everything. We chose a glittered version to give the brooch an extra pop.
Brooch #1, in the works
Brooch #2, also in the works
Our clutch purses were a lot of fun to create. We purchased two acrylic handbags from Amazon and then adorned them with vinyl images that we created on the Silhouette Cameo. We also wore fascinators that alluded to the hats that the Cast Members wear.
These were inspired by motifs around the Attraction in California.
We were honored to have Gabe and Milo join us for the weekend. Naturally, we wanted to make their outfits coordinate with ours. We got them some suspenders and bow ties. It was a tremendous amount of fun.
It is much harder to take a solid pic with 4 people. Especially before dinner, after a long day.
We decided to try taking a Tintype photo while at the Expo. If we were to do it again, we would take two, 2 person photos. Four people in the frame seemed like too many. It is fun imagining us as a family in another era, coming home after a long walk to and from church.
The kids seemed to have a much better handle on the theme of this portrait than Gabe and I did.
The final touch was what has become a Dapper Day essential for us… the parasols. This was an opportunity to incorporate the umbrellas that the Cast Members rest under as they welcome guests on their journeys around the world. Ella never got to use her parasol which was pink and adorned with gold tassels, as she had a conflicting event and was unable to participate in Sunday’s Park stroll. Thankfully, Milo was willing to keep on being Dapper.
Me and my Sunday stroll partner in crime
Overall, we are exceedingly pleased with how are outfits turned out. We are excited to start planning Spring Dapper Day ‘19!
At the Disneyland Hotel, on our way to the Expo
We decided that adding a white sweater to Ella’s ensemble would add some needed contrast
See ya in 2019!