Designer Christian Siriano Gives ‘The Pirate Fairy’ a Couture Makeover

Looks like Disney’s The Pirate Fairy will be one of the most fashionable pirates and fairies ever. Today Disney revealed that fashion designer and Project Runway winner Christian Siriano joined The Pirate Fairy as a costume designer for the pirate fairy herself, Zarina.

Regarding designing Zarina’s outfit, Siriano said

I loved the challenge of this project. I haven’t designed for an animated character before, and I’m excited to take my skills into Zarina’s world. She’s a unique and new character and I wanted to help make her memorable and iconic. Disney characters are everlasting and I’m so happy as a young designer to help create a bit of Disney history.  

Siriano is known for his over-the-top, couture designs that have a “wow” factor. He’s one of the most successful designers to come off of Project Runway, recently designing a shoe line for Payless. Take a look at some of Siriano’s design sketches below, including his sketch of Zarina’s final costume that we see in the film.

More than anything it seems more like a gimmick to bring Siriano on board. Then again, it is becoming the norm to bring in the industry’s best fashion and hair designers when designing animated characters. Recently for Disney’s Frozen, a famous hair designer to help create Elsa’s iconic hairdo. Nonetheless, Zarina’s costume design is gorgeous, current and on-trend. I’d love to see this outfit hit store shelves for Halloween or cosplay.

In this fifth installment in the Tinker Bell franchise, we meet Zarina: a dust-keeper fairy who has gone rogue and joined a band of pirates. While there, she meets a cabin boy named James, who grows up to be someone very important in Neverland’s history. Talking about Zarina, The Pirate Fairy’s director Peggy Holmes said:

 Zarina is a powerful character, able to run a Pirate Ship and we wanted her to be a strong, adventurous fairy. Christian is phenomenal at creating bold, amazing silhouettes that truly celebrate a woman for who she is – powerful, feminine and fierce. He was the perfect choice..

We also got two new stills from the movie, showing Zarina with James and Tinker Bell.

The Pirate Fairy will be released on Blu-ray and DVD on April 1 (no joke).

What do you think of Siriano’s costume designs for Zarina?