From mega jewelry to real-life princess inspiration, here are some details you should know about the costumes that made the movie franchise a true celebration of royal style
Better prepare your tiara as it looks like we’re finally seeing the next chapter of “The Princess Diaries.” On Nov. 15, Disney announced that it will be returning to the world of Genovia with the coming of the new installment of its beloved film franchise based on Meg Cabot’s novel series.
According to reports, writer Aadrita Mukerji will be penning the threequel’s script with Debra Martin Chase returning as its producer. While news about the involvement of original stars Anne Hathaway (Mia Thermopolis) and Julie Andrews (Queen Clarisse Rinaldi) and who will be directing the film are yet to be revealed.
First premiered in 2001, late director Garry Marshall’s “The Princess Diaries” introduce to the world Anne as Mia, an awkward student from San Francisco who got the shock of her life upon learning that she is a princess of the fictional country Genovia. To make her fit for the role, she attended princess lessons led by her grandmother, Clarisse Renaldi, the Queen regent of Genovia. The success of the film led it to have a sequel titled ‘The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement,’ released in 2004.
Apart from its stellar cast and its very 2000s rom-com aesthetic, the film is loved by many due to its costumes crafted by designer Gary Jones. As we patiently wait for the coming of “The Princess Diaries 3,” we’ve listed down some details you should know about the costumes that made the movie franchise a true celebration of royal style.
In the first ‘The Princess Diaries’ movie, Julie Andrews wore diamonds jewelry costing half a million dollars
Portraying a queen requires stunning jewelry pieces and that’s what Julie got in the first installment of the franchise. In the final moments of the movie, Julie wore diamond jewelry pieces and a tiara loaned by American luxury jeweler Harry Winston to match her peach ball gown. Anne, on the other hand, donned a less pricey piece made of white and yellow pear-shaped rhinestones. According to D23’s story, the “Walt Disney Archives carefully preserves an incredible collection of exquisite crowns” from the two “The Princess Diaries” movies.
Mia’s ‘before’ look is not real
Mia’s big unruly hair and bushy eyebrows—which are charming by the way–are not real. Anne’s headpiece even got a nickname of its own, which is The Beast. While her eyebrows took about an hour to finish, as per Grazia UK.
One of Mia’s gowns was inspired by a piece an actual royal princess wore
Remember Mia’s first state dinner, her periwinkle dress was inspired by the piece worn by Princess Victoria of Sweden when she attended the Nobel Prize Ceremony and Banquet in 1997.
In the sophomore film, Anne had more than 50 costume changes
In another D23 article, costume designer Gary Jones shared that Anne had more than 50 costume changes for her role as Mia. One of the looks, the red dress she wore on her 21st birthday (one of our all-time fave), was inspired by Audrey Hepburn’s red garb in the movie “Funny Face.”
Many of Anne’s jewelry pieces in “The Princess Diaries 2: The Royal Engagement’ were from Chopard
While Anne didn’t wear many fine jewelry pieces during the initial film, things changed in the sequel thanks to luxury label Chopard loaning some of its designs. This was confirmed by Anne herself in an interview with People Magazine.
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