In our on-screen podcast, we discussed at length how well we liked the redesign of the title character in “The Little Mermaid.” The character now has real scales, feeling much more like an underwater creature than just a human with fins, as was the case in the animated classic.
In an interview with Legendary costume designer Colleen Atwood provided insight into her ideas in creating the main character played by Halle Bailey. Because even though there is of course a lot of CGI in the game, Atwood has already won four Oscars (for “Chicago”, “The Geisha”, “Alice in Wonderland” and “Fantastic Beasts”) designed an actual costume, which played a vital role in the character’s visuals.
Because Atwood designed costumes, which then served as a template for the CGI implementation. Although Bailey rarely ever wore a pinball costume, one was made anyway so that the CGI experts could orient themselves. For the most perfect execution of the fins, the costume designer took fish as a model – as was the case with the legendary bra.
The bra: fish skin instead of shells
The decision was made against the shell bra and the fish skin approach was then continued. Not only the fins themselves consist of this fish skin, but also other parts of the body. It also covers the breasts. So it feels to us like it’s all one body. Arielle is somehow nude on the one hand, but everything is still adult-free — also because, in our opinion, the curved transitions (see our article image) make it look like a mix of body and clothes.
It felt weird when these creatures suddenly had shells tied to their breasts, Atwood said. Of course, that makes little sense. In addition, shells that are simply attached to the breasts do not look good in a live-action performance. And finally, it is less “aggressive”. After all, in the final film it now looks like a body and there is not suddenly a foreign object on it.
Each mermaid now also visually shows a different ocean
Of course, Atwood was responsible not only for Arielle, but also for her sisters, who also don’t wear shell bras. These each manage an ocean on behalf of King Triton (Javier Bardem). Care was taken not only in selecting the actresses to make it clear which ocean they represent, but also in choosing their costumes. Instead of giving everyone green fins, this (similar to the skin covering the breasts) is now influenced by a fish that is at home in the right ocean.