The Classic Disney Influences in the Costumes of "Descendants"

in ,
The main characters of The Descendants, Carlos, Evie, Mal, and Jay, posing with pictures of their parents, Cruella DeVill, The Evil Queen, Maleficent, and Jafar.

The main characters of The Descendants, Carlos, Evie, Mal, and Jay, posing with pictures of their parents, Cruella DeVill, The Evil Queen, Maleficent, and Jafar.

The Descendants is a series of three movies following the lives of four teenagers, the children of classic Disney villains, who have been picked from the magicless Isle of the Lost to attend school in Auradon. Specifically, the movies follow Mal, the daughter of Maleficent (from Sleeping Beauty), Evie, the daughter of the Evil Queen (from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs), Jay, the son of Jafar (from Aladdin), and Carlos, the son of Cruella De Vill (from 101 Dalmations). Their boarding school is filled with the children of heroes and heroic characters from other Disney stories.

The movies themselves are about the level of the High School Musical franchise, including lots of songs and dancing, and a decidedly junior high level of maturity. However, although the plots are thin and not fully developed, I find them interesting, and the costuming and theming of each character includes loads of callbacks to the original story from which they’re derived. For a big Disney fan like me, it can be super fun to find all the different references. A lot of the characters in the movie have costumes, accessories, hair, and styling very similar to their parents' looks in their original movies (or in some cases, their parents' famous nemeses). 

Kara Saun is the costume designer for The Descendants and she is BRILLIANT. I've combed through her instagram and through a lot of Tumblr posts, youtube videos, and various disney social media accounts to find a lot of this information.

I've read that the aesthetic of "The Isle of the Lost" was intended to evoke "dirty candy," like bright colors that have been run down and messed up by life. In addition, since they've been trapped on this island for the past twenty years and don't have wifi (which is explicitly stated in the intro to the first movie), the idea is that the island's fashion is a bit dated. Their parents' clothes are hard to date, because they're based so much off their looks in their original movies, with their various different locations, cultures, and time periods; most of these settings and times are not explicitly stated, but over the years, viewers have made educated guesses based on the costumes, language, and items present in the movies. Sleeping Beauty dates to medieval France, probably around the 1300s. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is set in Germany in around the early 1500s (although the Evil Queen's look is actually based off of a medieval statue dating more to ~1040). Disney's Aladdin is set in the fictional Agrabah in the 800s or 900s, but before the Persian Gulf War occurred, Disney planned to set it in Baghdad, in modern day Iraq (although fun fact, in the original 1001 Arabian Nights containing the story, Aladdin is said to take place in China). 101 Dalmations is set in England in the late 1950s-early 1960s.

The kids on the Isle of the Lost though, have solidly 70s punk style. They wear lots of leather and denim with many rips, shreds, and holes, spike and stud accents, fingerless gloves, asymmetrical zippers, and biker type clothes. They also sport big, bright, bold hair and outfit colors. The Villain Kids' clothing silhouettes tend to be pretty fitted, which was a characteristic of 70s punk clothes that specifically retaliated against the loose, drapey, hippie styles big in popular culture at the time (and the peace and love ethos that went along with them, naturally).

The kids at Auradon Prep, in contrast, tend to be dressed in mostly preppy styles, lots of feminine and flowy blouses, cardigans, bows, pencil skirts, and delicate floral patterns for the girls and sports coats, sweaters, and letter jackets for the boys. Their outfit colors tend to overall be more muted than the Island kids, like pastel versions of their parents' chosen colors. The big exception to this is seen in blue and yellow, the high school colors which are seen on every athletic, cheerleading, and band uniform. These are based off of the Beast's blue and yellow coat look and Belle's own yellow dresses; Prince Ben (the son of Beauty and the Beast) dresses in blue and yellow almost exclusively.

Note: All the photo galleries in this post scroll to the right! So just press on the right of the graphic above to see more photos of that character from throughout the series!

Mal (Dove Cameron), the daughter of Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty (Kristen Chenoweth), has bright green eyes and generally has purple or purple-pink hair. When she turns into a dragon, she’s a purple one with bright green eyes. Like her mother, who is shown to be THE leader of the VK's parents in the few scenes we get of them in the first movie, Mal seems to be the de facto leader of the Villain Kids and pushes herself more to be the most evil she can be than the others do. She's shown to have great artistic talent as a graffiti artist, but despite Ben suggesting that she join the art club in the first movie, she doesn't seem to pursue this hobby outside of her own personal fashion styling and locker and room decorating.

She almost always wears purple, green, and black, like her mother (who wears purple and black and possesses green skin in the original film. The Descendants version just has green eyes instead of skin). You can see other Maleficent elements in the ragged sharp edges and “aged” look of Mal's coats throughout the series, which resemble the ragged, distressed edges of Maleficent's original robe and sleeves. She also wears coats with high collars, which resemble Maleficent's own iconic purple color. 

Mal's makeup isn't super obvious, but she seems to wear lavender eyeshadow a lot, and her cheekbones usually seem emphasized, like her mother's.

She also wears some pink and blue tones, which may be a reference to Sleeping Beauty herself or perhaps her father, who is revealed as Hades (he of the blue hair) in Descendants 3 (she definitely does pick up more blue tones in that film than previously).

Each of the villain kids has a personal icon relating to their family's history which features in a lot of their clothing and accessories. Mal's is a dragon, which is emblazoned on the back of her coat (note: I’ve had a LOT of trouble finding pictures of the coat backs so I’m using a lot of pics of costumes for sale online to actually give you an idea of what they look like). She also wears claw earrings at times and has carried purses with dragons on them.

Press on the right of the graphic above to see more photos of that character from throughout the series!

Mal does have blonde hair (with light purple tips) and wears different colors at the beginning of Descendants 2 (the colors of Sleeping Beauty!) but that’s specifically noted as a time when she’s denying her true self and trying to be something she’s not. Her dresses during this time are mostly blue, pink, and white, but the cotillion dress Evie’s making for her is yellow and blue, the colors of Auradon, rather than Mal's own colors. However, this yellow and dress changes into a much punkier style by the time our VK heroes' adventures are done, and after Mal turns human again after morphing into a dragon, the dress is purple and pink, with singed edges and holes in the cape to refer to her dragon self. 

Press on the right of the graphic above to see more photos of that character from throughout the series!

Evie (Sofia Carson), the daughter of the Evil Queen from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Kathy Najimy), has blue hair. Evie is initially very focused on finding a nice prince and going to live in his castle, but is shown to be very intelligent and resourceful, making her own clothes and accessories. This seems like a much more Snow White trait than Evil Queen trait, right? The Disney cartoon version doesn't have Snow White live with the Dwarfs long enough for clothes-making to be relevant, but I've seen other versions where she stays there for years and has to continually remake her clothes to fit her; it also fits with Snow White's general traditionally feminine house-keeping skills (no sign of Evie having Snow's glorious animal hypnotizing abilities though, alas).

[You know, it's literally never stated whether Mal and Evie's original hair colors are natural or not. No one else in this universe has rainbow hair color (except Audrey in Descendants 3, when she takes on bright pink and blue hair as she goes "mean"), and Mal does get her hair dyed purpley pink again in Descendants 2 after getting sick of her magicked blonde hair, but there's no sign that the girls actually dye their hair from the start. ANYWAY.]

Evie generally wears a lot of blue, with touches of red and yellow, matching her mother’s original colors (although I’d always read the Evil Queen’s primary color as dark purple? maybe I’m blind or just misread it. I dunno. but I’m finding photos showing it as blue so….yeah. Guess I was wrong.). Anyway, the box that the Evil Queen gives to the huntsman to put Snow White's box in is definitely bright red, blue, and yellow; when the VKs arrive at Auradon Prep, Evie's carrying a purse that is clearly based directly off of this box (I also mayyyy have finally bought this purse for myself after lusting after it for like a year). And in The Descendants, the Evil Queen’s outfit is clearly rendered in red, blue, and gold.

Evie's makeup is clearly based off of her mother's, as both tend to sport bold lips (sometimes red, sometimes more of a pale pink) and smoky eyeshadow (Snow White also wears bright red lipstick).

It's funny, by looking at these characters, I'm realizing how similar the Evil Queen and Snow White's outfits really are in some ways. They both wear high collars, strong central accessories in their hair (the Evil Queen's crown vs. Snow White's red bow headband), black capes with red lining, and bright, bold lips.  Evie almost always has a gold and/or red accessory in her hair, usually positioned centrally. This is often a tiara or a mini tiara, but she also has headbands and clips. She wears a blue cape with a contrasting red lining to start off the first movie, and often wears a cape like detail in her outfits- like loose or flowy sleeves. She often wears a necklace with a red pendant, just like her mom. Evie also sometimes wears a red belt or waist accent similar to the Evil Queen's.

Evie's signature insignia is a red heart, which she often wears in her hair, around her neck, or pinned to her clothes somewhere. She sometimes is shown holding an apple in promo stuff and the Descendants logo actually features an apple with a bite taken out of it, but this seems to be more a reference to the "Rotten to the Core" song from the first movie rather than to the Evil Queen's temptation of Snow White with an apple; Evie doesn't seem to actually wear any apple accessories.

Evie’s costumes occasionally borrow other more obviously Snow White only elements, particularly the short puffy blue and red sleeves in her casual t-shirt look. She also is usually wearing some sort of red hair accessory, which calls back to Snow White’s red bow.

Press on the right of the graphic above to see more photos of that character from throughout the series!

Jay is the son of Jafar (from Aladdin). Jay starts off as a big thief and a very physical kid who's constantly rough-housing with the smaller, nerdier Carlos, but quickly turns his energies to being amazing at sports at Auradon Prep as well. He's not the brightest kid around, but he's happy with his new life and seems to generally want to help out his friends. 

Jay is usually shown wearing a mix of blue, red, and yellow, although once or twice, he’s shown wearing his father’s original red, black, and yellow/gold. In The Descendants, though, just like the Evil Queen, his father is shown wearing a costume of blue, red, and yellow. I really don't know where this color scheme comes from, honestly, as Aladdin wears a lot of purple, red and white. The only character in Aladdin rendered in blue, red, and yellow, is Iago the Parrot. Is that what they're referencing here? Jay has long dark brown hair, which doesn’t seem to resemble anyone’s hair in the original Aladdin.

Jay’s outfits tend to very closely parallel Aladdin's, as he wears a lot of vests and/or sleeves shirts and hats in a contrasting color. His athletic skills and general personality also seem to more closely resemble Aladdin than Jafar. 

Jay's signature insignia is the gold cobra of his dad's staff, and is often found on the back of his coat or shirt. 

Press on the right of the graphic above to see more photos of that character from throughout the series!

Carlos De Vil is the son of Cruella De Vill (from 101 Dalmations). He's kind of got an innocent vibe to his personality, and is the one who's often hanging back looking at things while the others yell at him about needing to leave. Although it's specifically said that the island doesn't have wifi (and presumably wouldn't have access to a lot of software and technology then), Carlos shows major tech skills within just a few days of coming to Auradon Prep. He also thinks on his feet very well. He starts off the series absolutely terrified of dogs and under the thumb of his somewhat hysterical mother, who actually forbids him from leaving the island, as someone needs to stay behind to touch up her roots, fluff up her furs, and scrape bunions from her feet. One of my favorite elements of this series is how Carlos actually becomes REALLY attached to the campus dog super quick and learns that his mom was totally just lying to him for years about how dangerous dogs are.

His hair is platinum blonde/white with black roots and he wears primarily white (sometimes silver or grey) and black, with accents of red, just like his mother. Although in the original movie, Cruella De Vill is portrayed wearing a black dress and a solid golden cream colored fur coat, in the Descendants, her fur coat is all black and white, with more patterns and juxtapositions of black and white throughout the whole ensemble. Carlos's clothes generally follow this trend, and include lots of juxtaposed patterning. His clothes in Auradon seem to remain much more punky than the others do; although Mal and occasionally Evie retain some punky elements in their clothes, Carlos is the only one showing up at like, the cotillion in formal punky shorts and combat boots (of course, all of them revert to their former leather and punky styles on the island itself). Jay's clothes quickly take on more athletic and preppy elements, like double stripes and sleeves that evoke shoulder pads, while also going in a huntsman type direction?

Carlos's signature insignia is a design of crossed black and white dog bones, which can be seen on the back of a few of his coats and jackets. 

Sadly, actor Cameron Boyce died from an epileptic attack in his sleep shortly before Descendants 3 released. His family has formed a foundation in his name to support causes that were important to Boyce, namely, spreading kindness, ending gun violence, clean water, and epilepsy awareness.

*All of the notations on Uma’s photos and any other photos in this post are from the Instagram profile of Kara Saun, the costume designer for the Descendants.

Press on the right of the graphic above to see more photos of that character from throughout the series!

Uma, the daughter of Ursula, shows up in Descendants 2 and plays a big role in that and Descendants 3. She works in her mother's fish and chips shop. Sadly, we only get a brief glimpse of some of Ursula's tentacles and don't get to see her in all her glory (Whoopi Goldberg cameoed as her with a super brief line!). Uma is the leader of her small pirate group on the island and basically has taken over as queen of the teenagers on the island now that Mal is gone. She also has a major chip in her shoulder about the whole "they left us and are living a great life out in Auradon while the rest of us are struggling back here" thing.

Since purple is already Mal's color, Kara Saun based Uma's costumes off of Ursula's dragalicious teal eye makeup. Uma's gorgeous teal braids and the fringe on her dress totally evoke water and Ursula's tentacles. Uma also always wears a shell necklace like the one her mother used to capture Ariel's voice in the film. Her outfits also include a lot of seashells and trinkets on them, as the designer wanted to make her look as if she had been dragged across the ocean floor. Her formal look at the end of Descendants 3 is INSANE and includes just so many of these elements. 

Press on the right of the graphic above to see more photos of that character from throughout the series!

King Adam (Beast) and Queen Belle (Beauty) always wear their distinctive blue and yellow colors from their movies, which as I mentioned earlier, are adopted by Auradon Prep as their school colors. Prince and then King Ben (how does this system work?? Who makes teenagers kings when their preceding sovereign parent is still alive? This is a stupid set up) always wears blue and usually wears yellow with it as well. I love that it’s Ben that initially wants to bring the villain kids to the island; it ties so much into the theme of his parents’ fairy tale, that not everyone who looks bad is bad, that there are layers to the world and it’s not always as simple as black and white, hero and villain.

Press on the right of the graphic above to see more photos of that character from throughout the series!

Doug, the son of Dopey (from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs), generally wears green and sometimes wears purple with it, when he’s not dressed in his Auradon Prep band uniform. HOWEVER. Doug gets to break out of his color scheme more than anyone else seems to; at the coronation he wears burgundy and at the cotillion, he wears yellow and black. Perhaps these are references to some of the other dwarfs? Burgundy would be…what, Grumpy, and yellow would be Bashful or Happy? I don’t know. I’m just guessing here.

Press on the right of the graphic above to see more photos of that character from throughout the series!

Chad Charming is a delightful and arrogant dunce who pretty much always wears the light blue of his mother Cinderella accented with his father Prince Charming’s light yellow. His color scheme is similar to Prince Ben’s but more pastel. His hair also is sometimes coiffed in the distinctive slicked back coif of Prince Charming.

Press on the right of the graphic above to see more photos of that character from throughout the series!

Audrey, the daughter of Aurora (Sleeping Beauty), always wears light pink and white dresses and skirt outfits, but sometimes light blue is incorporated as well. This is a fun reference to the “Make it pink! Make it blue!” dress debate in Sleeping Beauty. Her hair is magnificent and totally follows the swooping profile of her mother’s. Her clothes occasionally feature 50s touches like big a-line skirts, cardigans, and wide collars (Sleeping Beauty came out in 1959) . In Descendants 3, she embraces her “mean” side; she starts off the movie with blonde hair with blue and pink highlights, her hair goes FULL blue and pink when she decides to be a villain. It goes back to the lighter highlights by the end.

Press on the right of the graphic above to see more photos of that character from throughout the series!

Harry, the son of Hook (Pete Pan), clearly owes a lot to the depiction of Hook in Once Upon a Time, with lots of red and black, leather, short hair, and black guyliner. He does wear a fluffy shirt in the third movie though, going back to his dad’s original roots in Peter Pan. He wears skull insignia trinkets.

Gil, the son of Gaston (Beauty and the Beast), has embraced the pirate lifestyle with Uma and Harry, so he’s got a lot of pirate touches in him, but his costume still pays homage to his famous villain dad, specifically in the v-neck cut of his shirts with collars, short sleeves that emphasize his big arm muscles, and big belts. His costumes are yellow, pulling off the secondary colors of Gaston’s outfit, probably because he’s always with Harry, who wears red.

Jane, the daughter of headmistress Fairy Godmother, always wears a light blue dress with pink bow accents, just like her mother’s Cinderella outfit (Fairy Godmother herself seems to just wear light blue these days). Her formal dress at the cotillion is my single favorite dress in the entire series.

Lonnie, Mulan’s daughter (hopefully with Shang?), wears the pale pink, light blue, light green, and pale orange colors of her mother’s costume and usually wears at least one Chinese-inspired floral fabric. She often wears a thick obi belt of contrasting fabric She wears a jumpsuit to the cotillion and is the one girl who tries out for the fencing team.

And I just included a photo of Cheyenne Jackson as punk rock Hades because he’s brilliant in this role.

Dizzy, the granddaughter of Lady Tremaine (Cinderella), has one of the cutest costumes, with wild paint colors and trinkets all over. I love seeing how Kara Saun pulled inspiration from the villains of Cinderella to design her.

Celia Facilier, the daughter of Dr Facilier (The Princess and the Frog), has the burgundy and purple colors and the fun suitcoat of her father, along with a lot of other New Orleans-style bright colors.

Squeaky and Squirmy, Smee’s twin sons, dress basically exactly as their dad, just a little punkier then Smee appeared in the original Peter Pan. Lots of light blue and white stripes, red hats, and white-blonde hair.

I hope y’all enjoyed this post! I had a ton of fun creating it. :)

All the photos on this page are the property of Disney or Kara Saun and are used for purposes of commentary and critique only.