For this week’s “Show Your Disney Side Monday” we will be exploring DisneyBounding.
DisneyBounding is a movement; it is “being inspired in your everyday life by the Disney characters we grew up with!” My first real experience with DisneyBounding was in a west coast based Disney group, when a young lady would post a picture every day in a different bounding outfit as a part of her count down to her Walt Disney trip. I will be honest at first I didn’t get it, then I started paying attention to the photos, the subtle details that made a normal outfit represent characters, or rides and I started finding myself looking forward to her daily post. So when TMSM started posting “DisneyBound” outfits this weekend, I knew the young lady, Katie Westerfield of Tennessee, was the person I wanted to interview about this craft because she was the person who made me open up to this art form.
What is bounding to you and why do you do it?
DisneyBounding is such a fun way to bring Disney magic into your daily life. I have always loved fashion and clothing and accessories and standing out and making a statement with what I have on is something I have always tried to do. I have also always loved Disney. DisneyBounding is a super fun way to combine the two! One of my favorite times to bust out a series of DisneyBounds is right before a Disney vacation. It’s a fun way to gear up for your trip!
How long have you been bounding and what led to your interest in it?
I fell in love with this one day when I stumbled upon a picture showing different cartoon heroines in “modern day” outfits that still represented their original characters clothing and personality. I thought wow what a concept and started looking into it, which is how I discovered Leslie Kay. She and her friend coined the term DisneyBound on her tumblr and polyvore accounts. I’ve been DisneyBounding for about a year and a half. The longest period of straight DisneyBounds I have accomplished is 50 days in a row leading up to my last Walt Disney World trip in July. I’ve done 63 DisneyBounds all together.
Do you take things you already own and work with what you have when DisneyBounding, or do you go out looking for specific items to use? If have to shop, do you look for specific items at brand new clothing stores or thrift stores?
This is a really good question and I address this on my tumbler page pretty often. Let me walk you through my process. My process starts with a notebook. When I am inspired to do a certain character or theme the first thing I do is pull up a picture of that character or of the movie scene or ride etc. and pull inspiration from the picture. DisneyBounds are not limited to character, I’ve done attractions and parks and whole movie themed Disney bounds before. In fact some of the more abstract bounds are some of my favorites and sometimes you want to go more literal with a certain DisneyBounds than others.
Sometimes the more literal DisneyBounds verge on being a bit costume like my Mike from Monsters Inc. that I wore to the release of Monster’s University this past summer. There is a time and a place for that of course and you can get away with this at a Disney park or a special event but maybe not at work or a trip to a normal movie with your significant other. For those times, the times where you want to be less obvious you put together something like my Cheshire Cat, Pegasus, and Wreck it Ralph outfits.
I look at the character or theme and decided, “Where will I wear this? How literal do I want to be? Will this work better as separates or a dress?” Sometimes it helps to turn to other DisneyBounders for help and their ideas, I’m part of a few great groups on Facebook for this, also Google is my best friend. It helps a lot to look at things other people have done or to turn to polyvore for inspiration and suggestions
I then write down in my handy dandy notebook what is need to pull off the bound, this notebook has 100 pages of ideas in it, and I’ve done over 2/3 of what I have written down. The remaining ideas I either haven’t done because I do have the right stuff for completing the look I’m just waiting for the right time to or I’m missing like one or two items to complete the look, usually small jewelry items. Once I know what I need for a DisneyBound I hit my closet to see what I have and need. If I already have it I check it off my list, if I need it I will go shopping. I try to work on 3 to 4 DisneyBounds at a time that way when I go out shopping for something I need I’m shopping for a few things at once. Places I love shopping at for items are Burlington Coat Factory, Ross, Marshalls, Tj Maxx, Platos Closet, Planet X-change, Goodwill and other consignment and thrift stores. It’s very rare I’ll buy something brand new or not at one of those above listed discount retailers. Recently I have discovered Forever 21 I is pretty great too. I don’t normally shop there but I have found that they have some really great basic stuff for cheap. You need a long blue skirt for Anna? They got it I’m sure and probably for less than $10. Need a simple yellow sweater for pooh? They have it I’m sure and it’s likely only going to cost you $15. A lot of times while I’m out I’ll be inspired by something I see. I bought a pair of vertical black and white striped pants the other day because they were half off and I thought I could use them for Jack from Nightmare Before Christmas and Miss Spider from James and the Giant Peach. Being thrifty is key; I hardly ever spend more than $20 on any one item.
Makeup and hair come into play for some DisneyBounds, a good example of that is my Maleficent DisneyBound. I wanted a way to represent that greenish color of her skin without having to paint my face so I did it subtly with my eye makeup. I also wanted to represent her horns but didn’t want to wear a giant horn cowl so I did two small pointy hair buns.
Accessories are important; they tell the story and help clue you in to the character or theme. I’m putting together a DisneyBound for my favorite Pixar short Paper man. It’s a grey skirt, black shoes, a grey blazer and a white top and a black purse and a necklace I made. Without the necklace you wouldn’t know that it was a DisneyBound, but because of the necklace if you are a Pixar fan you’ll take one look at my outfit and know exactly what I am trying to pull off.
Accessories are fun to hunt for. I go to Charming Charlie’s, they are a huge accessories store and they some really great items that you may not find elsewhere. Etsy is another great place to look and when all else fails and you cannot find the perfect March Hare necklace for your Wonderland DisneyBound you make one. I go to Hobby Lobby and Joann’s and places like that all the time.
What is your favorite DisneyBounding outfit that you have done so far?
Personally for me I have to say it was your Russell one that brought me around to how DisneyBounding was an art form. My favorite abstract DisneyBound was my Space Mountain, favorite prince was Flynn (the gender bending ones are fun to try out), I had fun with Kevin from up too because I got to wear a bunch of multi-colored feathers. Russell was fun too, they scarf I found is what inspired that DisneyBound.
If you are interesting in exploring DisneyBounding you can visit the original tumblr that started it all at http://disneybound.tumblr.com/post/19606460535, or if you would like to see more of Katie’s amazing outfits she has given TMSM permission to share her tumblr with you, it can be found at http://disneydressed.tumblr.com
TMSM would like to thank Katie Westfield for taking the time to tell us more about this amazing craft, her very detailed and organized process, and for sharing some of her pictures and ideas with us.
Michele also contributes theme park news for Fox 35 Orlando 11pm news and on the radio on WDBO.
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