Cruella is Back in Costume

Cruella is back in costume darling! WonderCostumes.com, the best online one-stop shop for everything costume and dress up announces its selection of Cruella costume wigs and unique clothing in anticipation of the new Disney movie ‘Cruella,’ a long awaited prequel that will perhaps explain how this woman became so bad!

In 1956, a little known children’s books author and playwright by the name of Dodie Smith published a children’s book called ‘One hundred and one Dalmatians’ which tells the story of the kidnapping of Dalmatian puppies to satisfy the evil desire of an ultra, super wealthy woman who wished to make a fur coat of Dalmatian pelt! Cruel indeed and this is how this Disney female villain gets her name. Five years after the publication of the popular book in 1961 Walt Disney productions sees this as a perfect theme for a children’s movie that shows both, the desires and actions of evil, wealthy people and the power of love and positive actions of humble folk when they collaborate and work together against evil.

In the original 1961 Disney cartoon movie ‘One Hundred and One Dalmatians’ Cruella is portrayed with her hair painted black on one side of her head, and white on the other half and her eyes bloodshot red when she in angry. She favors the colors red, black, and of course, the spotted fur of Dalmatian puppies! Cruella’s costume from the 1961 cartoon movie shows her wearing a tan fur coat with red lining over a black dress and red pumps that match her red lipstick, and her red long gloves. She wears rings on her red-gloved fingers and smokes from a long cigarette holder (of course!) that appears black and sometimes slimy swamp green in different shots. Cruella costumes with this look are obviously referencing the vintage cartoon movie, (and that is sooooo cooool!)

It would not be until well over thirty years later that Cruella (or the Dalmatians for that matter) appeared again on the big screen. Glenn Close, the acclaimed actress played the first live version of Cruella de Vil in the 1996 Walt Disney Pictures ‘101 Dalmatians.’ The movie broke opening holiday weekend records in December of 1996 (Claudia Puig, reporting for the LA Times December 2, 1996)  and then again a sequel four years later in 2000 where again, Glenn Close reprises the role of Cruella, a character she totally enjoys – hopefully just for the challenge, in ‘102 Dalmatians.’ The Cruella costumes we most associate with the character come to us from the Cruella costume designs in these two movies. The beautifully exaggerated costumes of evil de Vil, in all their black and white glory, are a pleasure to behold, and as richly constructed as the wealthy, obsessive, demented heiress commanded. So costly were these costumes from Walt Disney Cruella in 101 and 102 Dalmatian movies that Glenn Close requested to keep the costumes as part of her contract with Disney. ‘Glenn Close made sure her 101 Dalmatian contract included keeping every single Cruella de Vil costume’ reads the headline report (Kara Kia for ‘popsugar.com’ on January 26, 2021) "Close sat down with Pete Davidson to chat about their most memorable projects for Variety's Actors on Actors series for Amazon Studios. "Did you take any of Cruella's wardrobe? It was so fabulous," Davidson asked Close, who played the stylish villain Cruella de Vil in the '90s hit 101 Dalmatians and the sequel 102 Dalmatians. Close confessed that, "I got in my contract that I got to keep all my costumes that I wore in the movie. Then when they found out how expensive they were, they were unhappy that it was in my contract. They wanted to make another copy, another set, for me. I said 'no.'"

Twenty one years later and in what is surely one of the most anticipated stories since 1956 when Cruella was first introduced wearing the tan fur coat costume. Finally! Scheduled for release on the lucky month of May 28, 2021, (perhaps digitally – due to mandates and restrictions for Covid 19) the Disney movie ‘Cruella’ starring Emma Stone, promises to throw light into the childhood of this insane villain. The trailer of the movie “’Cruella’ is so dark and disturbing that it has caused people to dub it, Disney’s “Joker.”  The scenes in the movie’s official trailer show a young girl escaping what appears to be an orphanage, and then a young woman with red hair and beret, the rebellious punk style associated with the early 70’s in London, where the movie is set. This is a prequel to the 1961 film. It’s the story of a young girl named Estella (star) and what happens, that turns her into Cruella, one of Disney’s most obscure villains. Something happens, as things usually have a knack to do, that causes Estella to turn away from her family given name and embrace a new identity as Cruella, a clever, psychotic, young woman who becomes, in the story at least, an immensely wealthy fashion designer. The costumes associated with young Cruella, before her Dalmatian fur days, are most prominently black, and many different shades of black. It will be interesting to see if the movie ‘Cruella’ will take us through enough of the insanity to show us the moment when Dalmatian puppy fur catches Cruella’s fashion fetish interest!

The classic black and white Cruella de Vil wigs, the iconic white fur coat with imitation Dalmatian fur lapels and satin red lining and the accessories such as the long red gloves, and the cigarette holder are all available at WonderCostumes.com, the best assortment for one-stop shopping of current costume trends on the net, at wallet-friendly prices! Shop our online store for Cruella costumes and many more Disney characters costumes. Whether she was a psycho girl from the start or society was at fault, the point to remember is Disney’s ‘Cruella’ costumes and black and white wigs are going to be hot this year for Halloween and you’ll want yours early to avoid delivery rush circumstances. Shop WonderCostumes.com for all your costume needs online and enjoy our friendly prices and our prompt shipping. Stay tuned to your entertainment channels for the opening of Disney’s ‘Cruella’ and costume up at wondercostumes.com!