Marvelous Designer requires a lot of trickery to make believable garments, especially historical fashions. Disney’s Snow White (1938) is set sometime during the early-mid 16th century, coupled with strong 1930s styling, volume, and shape. Snow White’s iconic blue bodice is a perfect example of how these two periods worked together.
Portrait of a Lady by Peter de Kempeneer 1527-1537 versus 1930s Simplicity patterns, sold in the US
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Walt Disney Productions
So we have the iconic slash sleeves of the Renaissance coupled with the curve-hugging bias cut and proportions of the 1930s. The real question for technical artists is: how do??
Let’s break down the visual weight of the fabrics. We have five fabrics to define for our MD presets:
- Bodice body: snug, conforms to body curves, probably a medium weight
- Sleeve body: voluminous, will need some trickery to avoid broken geometry under the arms
- Sleeve slashes: voluminous, but less structured than body
- Sleeve cuffs: stiff, also used to reinforce arm scyes, as the bodice body won’t be strong enough to support the Rebato on its own
- Rebato (white collar): stiff
*For those of you coming from a fashion or costume background, don’t get caught up in the reflectivity of the fabrics. Yes, you will have presets available for satin, denim, wool, and so on, but you should rely on these presets to inform the weight, stiffness, and stretch of your fabrics in MD, not the reflectivity or smoothness. You can adjust these separately in the fabric editor menu.
Things to note in this tutorial:
- How to reinforce arm scyes to deter puckering
- How to make a standing rebato
- How to use pressure settings without going overboard
- How to cheat a puff sleeve to avoid broken geometry
