Princess Serenity's Dress - Analysis

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Well, I wanted to show you guys what I had in mind with those "educational" journals. XD

Note: Neo Queen Serenity’s dress shall be analyzed at a later time. I am only talking about the Princess now.

Warning: all the links are external

General info:
Color: white with golden accents
Fabric: it is most often assumed to be made of chiffon (Info on chiffon: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiffon_… )
Style: empire (More info on empire style: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1795-182…)
Inspiration: wedding dresses

MANGA:

Since manga version is the original version of the dress, let us start with that.

As mentioned in the general info, the dress is considered to be in empire style. Typical for this style is that the dresses were tight or closely-fitted around the torso, but would then fall loosely below.
Sketches of the dress from Materials Collection: i107.photobucket.com/albums/m3…

The upper part of Serenity’s dress is interesting as it features very ornament-like accents – like the large hoops with golden accents, followed by a line of big pearls, two (sometimes three) horizontal lines, a line of what looks like triple upside-down arches, and another line of pearls.
Her large, puffy sleeves are most often considered to have also been inspired by ornaments found on ancient buildings. Some say they remind them of seashells, too.
Here one can see the sleeves really well: mangastyle.net/book1/1-21.jpg

Naoko mentioned in one of her notes (in the artbooks) that her main inspiration for this dress was found in wedding dresses. This might explain the predominant white color (other than it obviously being associated with the Moon) as well as the light material. The material is often considered to be chiffon (made of silk), due to the transparency and flowy-ness often seen in manga images. Unlike in the anime, it tends to be quite difficult to say how many layers the dress actually has. Some claim there are two layers, some claim more. The main argument against more than two layers is the already mentioned transparency.
The large back bow is either in the same white color as the rest of the dress or with a very light blue or purplish tint.

Accessories: s107.photobucket.com/albums/m3…
In her Princess form in the manga she sometimes wears a crown as seen in the previous image. She always seems to wear the pearl accessories in her hair. (Three pearls on each side.) Naoko also states that on formal occasions she wears a cloak.
Here another image of Serenity wearing her cloak: mangastyle.net/book1/1-22.jpg

The earrings are another interesting element. In the original designs there are supposed to be three pearl earrings in each ear, the first and largest one of them having a sort of a silver and  golden attachment to it: s107.photobucket.com/albums/m3…

However, Naoko often draws Serenity wearing only TWO pearl earrings: mangastyle.net/book1/1-25-26.j…
And sometimes with only ONE: mangastyle.net/book1/1-23.jpg

And as seen in the previous images, the attachment to the first earring has become from silver-gold to only gold: s107.photobucket.com/albums/m3…

In the manga, Serenity also wears a pearl bracelet, which sometimes has golden accents, and a ring.

ANIME:

The version of the dress in anime is basically a simplified version of the manga dress: s107.photobucket.com/albums/m3…

The dress is in most cases NOT transparent (unlike the manga version) and also has two layers.

The torso-part is much more simple – there is only ONE layer of pearls below the breast area and the large hoops at the topmost part are always entirely yellow/golden.

The sleeves are also simplified: s107.photobucket.com/albums/m3…

The accessories remain similar, however, anime Serenity never wears a cloak nor does she wear a crown. She also generally has one pearl earring with the same golden attachment as in the manga on each ear.

Her bracelet is golden in the anime.

Well, that is all I have so far. ^^ If anyone has any more info, do share and I will update this journal!