novel dress: fairy tales

the little mermaid by hans christian andersen // esmerelda lace dress

Like many of you, I have received the majority of my folktale education from the workings of Disney. While Disney undoubtedly brings all kinds of magic to life, they don't have the best track record for translating their tales with any accuracy. Not that I'm complaining - I generally prefer their sugared down versions of these beloved fairy tales to the tragic and occasionally gruesome originals.

Even so, I am fascinated by them. I love that some of them have been circulating for centuries, their creators forever anonymous because they were oral storytellers. I have always been drawn to these adventures, even the macabre ones. I have vivid memories of poring over a beautifully illustrated book of Irish Legends that my dad bought us when I was a kid. Some of those stories are absolutely horrible (lovers beheaded, trapped for eternity, cursed, abandoned, etc.), but I loved them all.

These are the inspirations for this novel dress installment. Enjoy the nostalgia of these well-loved stories and their matching dresses on this rainy Monday morning.

(Click here to see all of the novel dress posts). 

thumbelina by hans christian andersen // beach stroll floral dress

goldilocks and the three bears by robert southey // golden age asymmetrical dress

beauty and the beast by jeanne-marie le prince de beaumont // loyal love floral dress

little red riding hood by the brothers grimm // finding love lace dress

hansel and gretel by the brothers grimm // corner shoppe gingham dress

jack and the beanstalk by steven kellogg (orig. by benjamin tabart) // mont rose striped dress

sleeping beauty by charles perrault // cheer me up lace dress

ali baba and the forty thieves from arabian nights // maura paisley dress

rapunzel by the brothers grimm // asymmetrical tank dress

love is not a triangle

I think my first cognitive experience with a fictional love triangle was in 1998.
All of my fellow 90's-kids will join me in a collective groan when I mention that this love triangle was set in a snowy cabin on a little show called Boy Meets World. The triangle participants? Beloved Topanga Lawrence and brillow-headed Cory Matthews and the forever-after despised Lauren what's-her-face.

I honestly can't even see Linda Cardellini in anything without giving her the stink eye. She destroyed a piece of me I didn't even know existed at age 10. I am forever damaged by her home-wrecking. Unfortunately this plot disaster was not the end of young adult love triangles in TV and literature alike. And I hate it. With a fiery passion that I can scarcely contain.

Here's why:

1. Love Is Not A Triangle.

I won't judge those of you who totally buy into the cheap-ploy that is the love triangle. (Yes, I will).
But love is not a triangle. You cannot be in love with two people at once. And if you say that you can, all that means is that you need to redefine "love". Because there is absolutely no love involved when someone is torn down the middle between two people, leading them both on and completely at a loss about which one to choose. The answer should be neither because both of those peeps deserve better. A love triangle thrives on selfishness and jealousy. It's pathetic and upsetting at best, and downright evil at worst. That's not how love works.


2. People Have More To Offer

A really common story arc is for a girl to be torn between the "good guy" and the "bad guy". Or a guy who is the best friend, who has been there for her for all of time (a.k.a. the "safe" option), and the bad boy who is exciting and usually horrible. She can't decide, she's so confused. Gordo or Smooth Italian Guy, Lizzie? Topher Grace or Tad Hamilton, Rosalee?

The truth is, people don't function in those extremes. People (and yes, that includes teenagers) are complex beings. I have no appreciation for a 17-year-old who has no clue who to choose between a leather-wearing, parents-hating rebel and an argyle-wearing valedictorian. I'm not saying that hormonal teenagers don't date around and have different crushes every week, but don't paint a portrait of a passionate love story with a character who has two opposite choices that they "love" equally. That's not a thing, and it makes me hate everyone.

3. Girl Power

Love triangles are the worst because they completely strip my heroines of their strength and respectability. They play upon a really terrible stereotype of flaky, cruel, mindless, indecisive females. The reason why love triangles so often hang on a woman who is love-struck and dumb is because nobody would believe a man to be that fickle and obnoxious. And if he is, he wouldn't be the hero! A man in that situation is a jerk. You can't have your heroine be a jerk! Do not support this behavior in our fictional representatives.

I want to read about young women who are strong. The way Katniss should have been. Instead of playing on her strengths and bringing out the hear me roar potential in her, the series dribbled her down to a shell of a person who had no social skills, was intent on killing herself, and whose only interesting plot design was whether or not she would choose Gale or Peeta. What a waste.

Especially in reference to YA fiction and literature, I want characters that are smart, engaging, relatable, and revolutionary for our young people. I want to read about young women (and men) who are good. Who struggle, sure, but who are loyal, especially in love. That's what I want out of a love story. Love. Is that so crazy?


4. Today's "Love Triangle" Isn't Even Right

The current teen drug of a love triangle somehow evolved from the original triangle, which was A loves B who loves C. That I can appreciate. There is heartache and unrequited love, which is always compelling and actually realistic. Take The Holiday, for instance. Iris is in love with Jasper, who is in love with somebody else. But he loves to tease her and torment her and stay "friends" because he is a jerk. People who can't decide and have two love interests are jerks. They're unfaithful and miserable fictional morons. Nobody roots for Jasper, amiright?

There are countless examples of brilliant, heart-wrenching stories of unrequited love. I will take the brilliant, tragic Sydney Carton from A Tale of Two Cities any day. I can root for those people, I can emphasize and grieve and cry with those people. I've met those people. I've been those people!

5. It's Lazy Storytelling

You know what stories I love the mostest? The ones that don't utilize lazy, immature plot devices to hook me. Ones that have authentic gumption and content and don't need to throw in frilly sex drama to fill time. I want characters and worlds with real plots and real stories to tell. I guess what I'm saying is that Harry Potter is king. To quote my friend Bonnie,

"You know why Twilight and Hunger Games had love triangles?

Because Harry Potter didn't need one."

Word. Good stories don't need love triangles, which create this weird, perverse, and unhealthy conflict in young people (and middle-aged women). The character core of Harry Potter was even made of two guys and one girl, and there was no triangle-ing. That is fantastic. They were too busy actually living. Growing up, fighting evil, and showcasing bravery, friendship, loyalty, strength, intelligence, fortitude and all of those other great adjectives. Those are heroes, ma friends. 

To sum up: love triangles are the living worst, and they ruin stories. 

I would love to hear your thoughts on love triangles and their prevalence in YA fiction nowadays, and if you adore them I promise I won't hate you... but you won't be able to convince me that they're cool. 

where dwell the brave at heart

And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places.
Those who don't believe in magic will never find it.
Roald Dahl

When I was little, the highlights of my life were the moments of uninterrupted imagination.

Why deny it? I loved stories, and I still do.

My dad was the most wonderful storyteller. He was a visionary, molding us into an epic adventure straight from our bedsides. I would bolt downstairs into the territory of my three brothers, and we would all gather around to hear the latest tales of us. Our magical encounters, terrifying battles, beautiful friendships. Wizards and dragons and flying treehouses, oh my!

Imagination is more important than knowledge.
For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.
Albert Einstein

What a beautiful time that was. How extraordinary is the imagination? 

Ask the brothers who played with a small toy helicopter as children, which sparked their interest in flying. Who later closely observed the wings of birds in flight, and applied that to the invention of the airplane. 

Ask the young boy whose curiosity for the world made him naturally sensitive to poetry, art and music, which was encouraged by his mother. And later, when his mother began to go deaf, he learned alternative ways to communicate with her -- eventually studying acoustics and inventing the telephone.

Ask the boy who moved constantly as a child, but preoccupied himself with lessons led by his mother, such as drawing plants and trees and studying languages, specifically Latin. Who learned how to read and write at age four, and continued to write one of the most celebrated high fantasy series of all time.

Really, ask any teacher, adventurer, artist, writer, photographer, inventor...

And anyone who has ever been in contact with, influenced by, or inspired because of them.

That's everyone, people. All of you crazy wonderful beings with the God-given ability to imagine. 

gate at versailles

Parents and adults can create such an astounding magic when they say the right thing at the right time in a child's life. When they play, cultivating a child's mind by providing opportunities to develop the wondrous muscles of their imaginative worlds.

Did you know that imagination is contagious?

A child's heart and mind is so easily reached and influenced through the boulevard of make-believe.

They can make something dry and empty into something charming, engaging, humorous and alive. 

They are at the peak of their imaginative strength -- stretching their muscles of discovery and creativity like a lamb in its gambols. 

From the daydreams of the young and innocent may come the revolutionary, amazing, transcendent accomplishments of the adult.

No, I would not want to live in a world without dragons, as I would not want to live in a world without magic, for that is a world without mystery, and that is a world without faith.
R.A. Salvatore

I suppose I'm saying all of this for you make-believe naysayers, the ones who tell children they're liars if they say they spent all day playing in a fairy forest with a grizzly bear whose favorite ice cream is strawberry.
For the people that send kids to time out for having an imaginary friend.
For the people that put Winnie the Pooh on the Banned Books list.
And, okay, I may as well say it: for those that condemn books like Harry Potter without even opening the pages, unable to see the love, friendship, courage, victory, and truth that is prevalent throughout.

For the people that misunderstand the purpose of the imagination, and what a beautiful and powerful gift it is.

This post is for the souls out there who need to be touched by the magic of storytelling - even if you think you've outgrown it, even if you think you don't need it -- that probably just means you need it more than anyone else in the world.