What Disney Characters Look Like With Modern Beauty Standards

Update: The art sent to us was commissioned by a cosmetic company from an artist in Fiverr but we’ve discovered the faces on these art actually originally from another artist, Fernanda Suarez, so we’ve inquired on the actual source of this art work and will update accordingly.

A UK-based cosmetic beauty clinic has commissioned art that reimagines our favorite Disney characters in more modern depictions. However, Disney princess fan art is no new phenomenon. The beloved characters, from Mulan to Snow White to Ariel, have been reworked in impressive pieces of fan art for many years. Some artists have turned Disney animals into real humans, while others have switched up the princesses’ hairstyles. Regardless, many of the artist depictions stay relatively faithful to the original characters’ appearances. 

The more realistic drawings, including lifelike art and historically accurate costumes, often fail to recognize one thing that plagues many Disney fanatics: the bodies represented in the films do not reflect real-world bodies. The earliest Disney princesses, including Snow White, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty, are incredibly thin and dainty. This trend continued through the Disney Renaissance—the extremely successful period from 1989 to 1999—with Pocahontas, Ariel, Jasmine, Belle, and Mulan’s teeny-tiny frames. Even modern Disney movies, from Tangledto Frozen, have heroines with unrealistic body sizes.

That’s where Dr Aesthetica comes in. The company emailed us several depictions of Disney princesses that were created by artist Elena Provolovich on Fiverr (update: but seemingly taken in part from artist Fernanda Suarez), that show the characters with realistic and modern body types. No longer do the women have unbelievably small waists and paper-thin arms. Instead, they’re shown reflecting the average UK women’s measurements—which are a far cry from the typical Disney body size. The company didn’t just stop at Disney women, though. Along with modern depictions of Mulan, Elsa, Belle, Tiana, Pocahontas, and Ariel. Also included are realistic drawings of Gaston and John Smith.

In addition to updating the size and measurements of these beloved characters, included are the obvious modern touches of fashion and makeup. Along with fixing the facial features—like minimizing the giant doe-eyes and Gaston’s overly square jaw—the characters now have winged eyeliner, high-waisted jeans, statement jewelry, and full eyebrows. Overall, the men are beefed down, and the women are curvier, creating a much more fair picture of today’s bodies.

These stunning drawings reflect the direction that Disney characters are seemingly going. While Rapunzel, Elsa, and Anna still looked unrealistic in their respective films, 2016’s Moana finally represented a more realistic body type, as well as a woman-of-color protagonist. The live-action Aladdin created a stronger, more independent role for Jasmine. In 2021, Disney will release Raya and the Last Dragon, another animated feature that will focus on South Asian culture. Hopefully, Disney will continue to steer in this direction by widening its scope of stories and animating realistic body types.

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