But are they accurate?

We got this fashion historian.

Hello, my name is april Callahan it.

I'm a fashion historian at the Fashion Institute of Technology and she's going to walk us through what Disney got right and what they got wrong about these dresses.

First, let's establish a time period.

Prerevolutionary 18th century France.

Great.

We know this because the aristocracy still exists.

As we all know from the movie, A young prince lived in a shining castle.

Let's start with the yellow dress.

Right off the bat.

We know that this bright, intense yellow color is probably not possible in 18th century France before the invention of synthetic or aniline dyes.

In 18 56 all colors were sourced from natural dye stuffs including plants, minerals and animals.

Yellow colors tended to be pale buttercup or even a deep dark mustard with a brown undertone.

Our second clue that Belle's dress might not be 18th century is the shape or silhouette in the 18th century.

The volume, as you can see in this fashion plate of Miranda when it came directly out from the hips, whereas bells skirt as well bell shaped.

So this is not accurate.

Let's draw bells, yellow dress from the undergarments.

Up first up the underwear.

During the 18th century, the very first layer of undergarment that both men and women weren't were known as the shimmies, which was either made of cotton or linen for more than 400 years.

Women's undergarments consisted of the shimmies over which was worn the corset, that's the next layer.

In the 18th century, courses kind of created a conical shape and the things in a very narrow waist and raising and lifting the bosom.

The course in the shimmies is just the very beginning.

We have more foundation garments that go on to create the silhouette.

That's the third layer to create the volume of the skirt.

Women were actually wearing basket light constructions strapped around their waist.

These were known as pennies.

Pennies were often made of either wood cane or even wire, so as an aristocrat, your panties would be wider the higher rank you are.

Some of these skirts were so wide that they had to enter and exit the room sideways.

Belle's dress silhouette is actually far more 19th century than it is 18th century.

Here we see a fashion plate from the 18 fifties.

This is remarkably similar to the style of dress that Bell is wearing.

The fourth layer would be the petticoats.

Over the pina layers and layers of petticoats would be warm.

Petticoats could weigh up to 15 £20.

And then the gown which was in multiple pieces.

Your gown wasn't exactly like we think of address today because it didn't close in the front, it was more of like a long jacket, the second part of the gown.

And in order to fasten your gown over your course that you would be wearing what's called a stomach er and a stomach er is a stiffened triangular piece of textile that your gown would then be pinned or sewn to to keep the front of your dress closed.

Women were literally sewn into their address each and every day.

Let's face it, 18th century fashion was not comfortable.

Finally, we have to look at Bell's hair, which for this time period is missing a huge component.

This is a puff.

These extremely trendy fashionable hairstyles which were created partially by a wig which might have an under structure of wood or wire and then the where its own hair would be arranged around this, the height of some of these poufs could be one or two or three ft even like we said, huge.

So here's what Bell would have looked like compared to the original Disney look.

Wait, one more thing, you will also note in 18th century fashion gloves were not so much of an important accessory fans, much more so.

Certain movements with your fan could be considered flirtatious and you can even answer yes or no by placing the fan on one cheek versus another.

So finally, this is what Princess belle would have looked like.

Now, let's look at Bell before all of the dancing and singing with inanimate objects.

Bells, Blue day dress.

Bell lived in a provincial town, must be more than was her blue dress appropriate for an 18th century commoner.

The two main things that are wrong with bells look in town is that she's not wearing stockings and she's not wearing a hat, so this is not accurate either.

Now, we're going to draw every layer of this dress.

Her underwear would have also been a Siamese.

The next layer would have been stockings.

Regardless of class.

In the 18th century, all women wore knit stockings.

These were essentially like fi high tights, but because elastic had not been invented yet, you had to secure the stocking to your leg by tying a ribbon just above the knee and then the corset.

Even working class women during the 18th century would have been wearing a corset and this was considered proper and modest.

In this particular image, we see a male corset maker fitting a corset to this woman.

It was actually legally mandated that only men were allowed to make corsets and this was all part of the 18th century guild system.

Next, the silhouette garment, the silhouette of her skirt is not supported by the paninis that we spoke about earlier.

Instead, there's just certain softness to it.

Beneath.

This would have probably been what's called a bum roll, which were patted tubes that were worn tied about the waist.

On top of this bum role would have been multiple petticoats and then the next layer, a caracal being a short jacket that tended to have a little flouts in the back and this would be paired with a skirt over the garments was the apron.

One of the things that the animators absolutely got right was the fact that she's wearing a white apron during the 18th century clothing and textiles were tremendously expensive, so to protect and care for your clothing.

Working class women tended to wear aprons over their textiles and she would have worn a hat.

All women wore bonnets, caps or hair ornaments to display her hair in public was a signal of sexual availability.

Finally, the last piece, this little kerchief around her shoulders is called a tissue because the course it's forced the breast up and out every once in a while, there was an occasional nip slip and the tissue prevented that and provided a little bit more modesty.

So here's what townsfolk Bell would have looked like compared to the Disney version.

The Disney animators have taken design and aesthetic references spanning several different decades to basically create a romanticized, fictionalized historic past and this mix of film indeed, a tale as old as time and that's what Bell would have worn if she lived in history.