Disneybounding Coord 6

I’ve realised that I am yet to do a villain coord. There were sidekicks and main characters, but not a villain yet. So even though it would’ve been more thematically appropriate to do one in October, I haven’t - and I’m doing it now.

The Character

Whilst I can’t claim that Mother Gothel is my favourite Disney villain, she’s certainly a good villain as far as the wider Disney pantheon is concerned. She has a great song, a great outfit, her motive isn’t the most complex one, but she’s executing it well. Plus she’s part of a great film, I do enjoy Tangled a lot and still like singing the songs - Mother Knows Best included.

Picture from Heroes-And-Villains Wiki.

The Outfit

| Metamorphose Gold Braid Tuck Pinafore JSK | Innocent World Rose Lace Millefeuille bolero | offbrand cutsew, tights, flats and hair pins | Hush Puppies boots | Cutie Creator headbow | Promised Land Creations earrings | Wicked and Whimsy ring | 4 Aces ring | Patisserie Pink Bottled Stardust brooch |

In what is a bit of a return to how these posts used to go, i.e. with packing in mind, this coord is reusing the JSK from Disneybounding Coord 3 and the top from Disneybounding Coord 4. Mother Gothel’s outfit is very simple, just the dress with an accent belt, sometimes a cloak and her signature hair. So I ended up picking up her dark colour palette to run with for this coord. In a way this makes it a safer Disneybounding outfit, since it couldn’t really be accused of cosplay. It would’ve been nice to have a few more specifically themed accessories to tie the character in a little bit more, but it doesn’t look bad without those.

The black may be great for making the red pop, but as usual it's a nightmare to photograph.

Other than the fact that it is beautifully layerable, what I love about this cutsew is how the texture, whilst subtle, ensures that no area looks like a flat block of flat. The black complements the red nicely and makes it pop. Again, Mother Gothel’s dress has an open neckline, but that might not be too practical and having a high neckline steers the outfit away from being too close to cosplay.

One day I may even learn how to tie those bows in a way that's less wonky.

The same with the bolero. I did consider using my Sentaro blouse for the sleeves, but that would’ve been too fancy for a walk around a theme park. It also adds so much more texture that keeps the outfit extra interesting. And that does feel quite in the spirit of Mother Gothel. Her outfit may be simple, but it’s not lacking in detail - just like this one.

If I feel extra fancy, I could always layer some coloured solid tights underneath these ones.

Although I probably could’ve reused the black polka dot tights from the Perdita coord too, that wouldn’t quite be the right look for this coord. However, I didn’t want to introduce a print on the legs either, that wouldn’t feel right. This meant simple black lace, since solid tights in turn would feel a bit too flat. Though they might still come out as an option in case that extra bit of warmth was needed after all.

Actually both of these feel like deceptively sensible choices.

As often is the case with these posts - two shoe choices. The practical flats and the more look-oriented boots. And granted, I have done a fair share of walking in these boots, so would likely hold up in these alright, despite them being heels. Although from what we’ve glimpsed in the film, Mother Gothel wore flats of some sort. Then again, she had a long dress which hid them, so taking a few creative liberties feels justified.

Having hair accessories figured out before the hairstyle is a risky move though.

Now here comes the part that I am much less sure of: the hair. Whilst my initial instinct went towards something red, I didn’t feel like any of my options. A black headbow, on the other hand, is a nice nod to Mother Gothel’s hair. I threw in the pins as a potential secondary colour options, even though I don’t yet know what hairstyle I’d go with. But they’re small, so they’d be easy to pack, and again, bows don’t necessarily match a villain like Mother Gothel.

Wicked and Whimsy ring for a wicked villain. And a heart one for a heartless one.

These studs are large enough to be visible, yet remain pretty subtle overall.

More in a villain theme, the rings are a more deliberate choice, particularly the Wicked and Whimsy one. Precisely because of the ‘wicked’ part, which is perfectly appropriate for a villain inspired coord. The heart one from 4 Aces is a touch less themed to the character, though we could argue that this is the only heart that Mother Gothel would ever have. As for the earrings, whilst they’re not quite in the style of what Mother Gothel wore, that’s also not a style of earrings that I own. So in lieu of those a simple black pair seemed a perfect fit.

Disney didn't give us enough canon in the film to confidently say how much education Mother Gothel has had in the arcane arts. She may know far more than we've been told.

Last of the accessories is the brooch. It may seem like an odd choice, considering how it’s the most visibly themed item in the entire coord, but hear me out. We know that the Mother Gothel from Tangled was at least a learned woman. She may have been a witch, though beyond her knowing what flower to use to maintain her eternal youth we’ve not seen her perform any magic, so we can only presume that she was educated in some of the mystical arts. So it is perfectly plausible that she could’ve had items such as bottled stardust at her disposal. I realise that this is very tentative, but as mentioned at the beginning, I don’t have much else that’s actually themed to Tangled or Mother Gothel, so this is the next best thing.

One final gratuitous detail shot.

In the end I do think that this coord managed to keep the spirit of the character, staying simple and more on the understated side, whilst still packing in a good villain look. Not that I personally aspire to be a villain, far from it, but they do generally have a great sense of style. And you know what? Now that I see the coord side by side with the photo of Mother Gothel, I am very pleased with how this whole look came together, I really think it captures her essence in a way a good Disneybounding outfit should.

The Park

It was surprisingly hard to decide which park this coord would suit best. And in a way I feel like Mother Gothel might be best left for an Epcot trip? Even though neither the coord nor the character feel like they’re particularly fit for any of the region-inspired areas of the park, bringing a villain to Magic Kingdom just feels wrong. And as we’ve already established, she is a woman of knowledge, so she could appreciate an opportunity to further her knowledge by visiting the various lands and realms. Very tentative, but so is pretty much everything else about this coord, which only further serves to say that it fits.

Though I guess Mother Gothel wouldn't look too out of place somewhere pretty like the Germany part of Epcot either, right?

Summary

• I do feel like at least one more character-specific accessory would help tie this together a bit better - this is something to think about.
• The hair situation definitely needs working out. Left loose would be perfect, but that’s not suitable for the pins. But this is also Disney parks, so curling it feels like too much effort (unless I figure out a good non-roller way).
• I guess this is also the time to consider makeup, since Mother Gothel’s is quite distinct. Do I try to do something like it or do I stick to a more lazy approach of ‘this is for the parks’ plus whatever the weather allows? Though it’s the least of my worries here.