The principal girl

Principal girl

Not so hard is the principal girl who just has to be coated in prettiness and we all know what a princess should look like don't we?  A word of warning though, I have seen many amdram productions think that by putting a bridesmaids dress on a girl they look like a princess and I would argue that!   To put it bluntly, the bridesmaid is there to accompany the real princess....the bride.  Take a look at brides and their bridesmaids and you will see what I mean.  They may be nice dresses but generally they are pretty plain and certainly not made to outshine the beautiful bridal gown.  The bridesmaids dress may work for most of the production, but not the end, not the part where all the little girls are sitting waiting to go ‘ooh ahh’ as the princess appears in her gorgeousness, not the end when she has to outshine the world and make everybody believe this is possibly the happiest ending ever!  Look to the bride for ideas, think of Belle in her froth of gold after her simple blue gown for the rest of the Disney film.  Think of Kate in her lace concoction when she married Prince Andrew and compare with the dress worn by her sister. 

I have some sage words of advice concerning the actress playing the princess!  I have discovered that if she is a teenager you may be getting a bit of a pout from her about having to wear something so pretty. I have also discovered that they may moan a lot about it but actually love dressing up like a princess.  So my sage words of advice are...ignore a teenager pouting about wearing a pretty dress because they will love it really.

 Beautiful teenage Marion

Don't forget the principal girl can always do with her own kind of bling.  Not the trashy overload given the Dame, but a more subtle variation, glittery bits that attract the lights and send sparkly bits of magic across the stage (I’m gushing here)

For Snow White I got carried away on her relatively plain costume for most of the panto.  She had a floral bodice, cream skirt with gold overskirt and a white peasant blouse underneath.  But it didn't seem princessy enough so I sat and sewed loads of little red beads onto the red flowers so it would sparkle a little under the lights. 

 Snow White still talks to birds 

My first princess was in Sinbad and her end gown was ivory jacquard with gold lace and ruffles, it looked really pretty and proved that you don't need to have a meringue to make a statement.

Marion got more than she bargained for (one of those teenagers) when she ended up with three pretty dresses.  I put them all over one lilac chemise with a silvery pattern on it.  First dress to go over it was a dark teal jacquard which was sedate yet pretty; the second dress was a jacket with big fur trimmed sleeves and a fur collar to go over the same chemise in the same fabric.  The wedding at the end featured a floral lilac delight with gold thread throughout that caught the beams of light on stage.  Each of the dresses had one hook and eye fastening and were quick and easy to change into without a lot of messing around.

Please try to take into the body shape of your princess.  My own daughters would look ridiculous in the dresses this years Marion looked gorgeous in.  Marion is all willowy and slim, my daughters are slightly better endowed up top and the renaissance style dress just doesn’t suit that style!

  You may have a thought in your head that just won’t work with the princess that has been given the role so you must change it, don't ruin the prettiness by sticking with something that wont work!