Enchanted Giselle

Although I truly enjoy cosplay and love to see all the wonderful fan creations that come from the community, I have never considered myself much of a cosplayer. I love history and have always thought of myself as more of a historical dressmaker than a cosplayer. Nonetheless, when I saw the incredible dress that Giselle whips up from some curtains in the movie “Enchanted,” I knew I needed to make my own version! Everything about this dress is splendid, the gorgeous aqua color, the little pink flowers, the center front bow and long sash, little puffed sleeves, and the empire silhouette with split front and long, swishy skirt beneath. I had to make this dress!

I had one problem… where on earth was I going to find that fabric? It was so specific; aqua satin with a light colored vine pattern and flower buds (and hidden Mickey’s… it is Disney, after all!) It was years after this movie came out, and years of dreaming about this dress, when I came across some fabric that would be a very good start. It was a polyester jacquard in a spot-on shade of aqua, with a light colored vine pattern. The fabric had the perfect weight, drape, and satin sheen for this dress. It just needed the flower buds! Because I planned to wear this to a Halloween event and was short on time, embroidery was not an option. So, I began searching for flowers that could be appliqued onto the fabric, and accumulated a very nice variety of pink and yellow flower appliques in various sizes that I stitched on. 

I drafted the skirt patten for the dress by modifying an existing empire length gown. I created my own bodice and had a lot of fun with the sleeves… the pattern is a circle, with a second smaller circle cut slightly off-center from inside, and then gathered with elastic around both circles to create just the right puff to match the sleeves in the original costume.

The underskirt was made up in two layers; an upper layer in cream silk chiffon, and an underlayer in a light pink silk crepe-de-chine. I cut the skirt with as wide a hem as possible, to give it maximum swish. The split overskirt was lined in a matching aqua silk habotai, to cover the underside jacquard threads. I was also lucky to find a silk charmeuse in the perfect aqua shade for the bow and sash at the center front. Clusters of little pink ribbon flowers completed the bodice.

I wore this dress to the annual Halloween Party at Disneyland… twice! I felt like a true princess wearing this in Disneyland, where I made sure to stop in front of the castle to take some photos in Giselle’s natural habitat!

Scroll down to see process photos and the inspiration clip from the film!