Fashion Felons II: Breaking All the Fashion Rules

Abstract

Sometimes, a princess has to get a little dirty. In this chapter Rebecca-Anne C. Do Rozario explores the social disaster of a dirty face and the playful desire for an animal’s skin that drives many tales. While Cinderellas are demoted and defamed, Donkey Skins are concealed in dirt and animal fur. Dirty heroes are rebels, reacting against extreme patriarchy in attempts to restore their sovereignty. They would, like Joliette of d’Aulnoy’s “The Good Little Mouse,” prefer to stamp expensive gowns into the mud of a turkey pen than marry against their will. Their “grunge” becomes a fashion pass to the exercise of free will. The chapter briefly touches upon the male beast, too, particularly the pig kings who, through feminisation, become proper models of sovereignty in their kingdoms.