"Its a girl!!" -Lumier "I know its a girl!" -Cogsworth

I remember as a little girl watching Beauty and the Beast with my big sister. She would always put on her homemade Belle dress and we'd sit two feet from the screen staring up into Belles beautiful face, wishing we could be her. My sister actually grew up to be Belle in many ways. Ariel grew into a headstrong bookworm with amazing looks. she spent all of her time reading adventure books, like The Savage Damsel and the Dwarf by Gerald Morris, and watching fantastical movies. when the rights to  Disney's Beauty and the Beast Musical became public our acting troupe became the first high school to perform it. we were actually one of the first acting troupes in America to perform it. Ariel, of course, played Belle and it fit her perfectly. I on the other hand was a napkin. obviously this fantabulose story didn't effect me nearly as much as Ariel, or at least not in the same way. Ariel was effected by everything in the story. I was effected by the dress. The Yellow dress that almost every little girl in the early 90's wished she could wear. Ariel became Belle, I became a Ballgown designer. 

Belle Dress by LAurel Ellis

As a teen overly obsessed with historical clothing i soon realized that Belle was in a castle. If i was in a castle and got to wear a ballgown i would choose the most amazing one. Frankly the fact that her dress was yellow bugged me because a duchess or baroness could wear yellow but this is a castle with a prince! there should be a ballgown of the queen's should there not? and what are the royal colors? Red, Gold, and Purple. i therefor decided that my Belle  would wear a ballgown of Red and Gold. the red is a deep Burgundy that fades into black. the Roses and the embroidery on her bodice are a dark, almost brass, gold. i didn't include purple because i couldn't find a purple cloth that would go well. I am Currently working on making this dress. I shall post the finnished dress when it's  done. =]