I love pinup, I like cosplay, and Disney theme parks have been my jam since I was a lazy-eyed baby in an eye patch singing “A Pirates Life for Me” like a drunken sailor. So it isn’t a stretch (haha, just wait for this pun payoff!) to assume I’d want to submit something to Retro Lovely‘s Disney-themed Mousequerade special edition.
Since the Haunted Mansion is my favorite Disneyland/Magic Kingdom attraction, I decided to go with a Sally Slater-themed cosplay. In case you didn’t know, that’s the “new” official name used for the slackrope-walking girl perched above the hungry crocodile in one of the stretching room portraits (see? I got PUNS).
More after the jump…
The character’s original look came from Marc Davis, Walt Disney’s king of character design, but was “reimagined” (ffff I hate that word) a bit when adapted to actual use in the Haunted Mansions. After the first Mansion opening in 1969 – and well into the 21st century – the in situ portraits continued to change. Since the stretching portrait canvases physically unroll and roll back with every set of guests, it’s necessary to replace them periodically. Up until fairly recently, that meant hand-painting the replacements.
Even though Sally’s evolved somewhat, her ensemble hasn’t. That makes her a pretty straightforward cosplay…
Of course I shot this set with my friend Marilee Caruso, who has a really cute circus-themed set that suits Sally’s line of work – and I already had a beautiful pink pagoda parasol, pink ballet flats with ankle elastics that look like ribbon ties, and two good costumes from which to choose – so things fell into place pretty easily. All I had to do was buy a cheap alligator plushie to play my crocodile costar, which was easy to find on Amazon.
Marilee’s lighting, photography, makeup, and hair really made the set pop! I’m incredibly happy with the way it turned out. 🙂
All that said, everyone who knows me well (or at least, knew me back in the ’90s on alt.disney.disneyland and #addisneyland) is aware that my real, original Mansion doppleganger is another Marc Davis Design: April December, the young/old changing portrait from Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion’s load hallway. She’d be harder to make obvious, though, so I stuck with my other fave this time around. Maybe next time I’ll do April, or the gorgon.
As always, you can get this issue – and all of my others, too – via my Linktree.