Thursday, March 19, 2015

WDW's Dapper Day, Spring 2015

Last Saturday hordes of well-dressed Dizgeeks descended on the Magic Kingdom here in Orlando, braving the nearly 90-degree heat in gorgeous vintage fashions and dapper accessories.
 

Even better, many fans incorporated Disneybounding into their snazzy styles, so you could easily spend the whole day people-watching and guessing who's-who!

 

Dapper Day has positively exploded in attendance over the past few years, and it was a delight to see so many beautifully turned out guests roaming the parks with parasols, walking sticks, and the like.


They brought a real sense of elegance to the Magic Kingdom, and made the rest of us feel downright schlubby by comparison. Heh.

That's right, I *still* have yet to dapper myself up - but John went shopping early that morning just so he could surprise me with this:

 He said he felt like he should be selling ice cream in this outfit, but I think it's awesome. 

Even with only taking pics of my favorites, I ended up with a couple hundred photos - which I will now condense down to my top 40. Ish. Enjoy!


It's only fitting someone would Disneybound as a Dapper Dan, so kudos to Dapper Jill here for stepping up! And that fella is actually Bert from Mary Poppins, but the straw hat fooled me at first.

The Kingdom has two new park-like areas right outside the hub, complete with beautiful fountains and plenty of green (fake) grass for picnics:

Seeing the new grassy areas filled with dapper gents & ladies made them even more beautiful - pretty as a vintage postcard!

 

This gal hand-painted her skirt with the castle & Cinderella's coach:


 And here's another skirt with the house from Up - plus a Disneybound Orange Bird & Mad Hatter:
 
Love those Orange Bird ears - and I'm pretty sure she made them herself!

Fifties-style skirts with Disney designs are pretty popular for Dapper Day. Here's a fun Captain Hook on the right:

And that's Smee on the left, wearing a nautical rope fascinator. Hee! (In the middle is Marie from Aristocats; she had a giant pink bow on the back of her dress.) 

A fab Mickey dress:

Plus check out the poison apple Mickey ears on the left!

My friend Christie dressed as a 40's style Elsa, with her hubby Chris as Olaf and her sister Robyn as Anna:
 

 Aren't they great? We spent the day with them, and little kids kept mistaking Christie for the *real* Elsa. I also took way too many pictures of them all, because I'm basically their groupie now.


Next, Captain America & Agent Carter:


   This couple was dressed the most authentically vintage - at least to my eyes - and just stunning:

Here's a close-up, so you can fully appreciate those rockin' orange specs:

 Love.

Pastel pretties:


 And possibly my favorite group of the day, this Wonderland trio:
That's the White Rabbit, Alice, and the Queen of Hearts, and they were just the sweetest:


The Queen had playing cards on both her parasol and her hat, and the White Rabbit had a fur-trimmed bow tie! SO FUN.

I'm pretty sure these two Donald Duck 'bounders didn't even know each other, but everyone kept asking for more pics of them together:

 I love how they "put up their dukes" to pose!

Fabulous fifties couple and a 'bounding Tiana with a lily-pad in her hair:


 So happy to see more guys getting in on the Disneybounding action this year, too!

That's Olaf, Sully, and Woody. 

 I really love this next shot; all the pretty dresses!


One of the meetups that day was for the Riverboat, and there were so many Dapper Day folks that only about half fit on the boat at a time, so it took two trips to fit them all!




 Another Bert, this time with Mary:


And the dapper Avengers, assembled:
 

 This couple was 'bounding as Lady & the Tramp - check out her collar necklace!

 And that's a lady Gaston holding a dapper Baymax. (SO CUTE.)

This couple actually asked *me* to take their photo, which was a first.  


So I guess I managed to fool at least a few people into thinking I was the official Dapper Day photog. (Woot woot!)

More cute couples:


 A dapper Merida plus a trio with Peter Pan, Jane, and Mary:


 More pretty ladies:


 And finally, my favorite dress of the day:
 
 Because ORANGEY GOODNESS! 
And I love the petticoats. 


Hope you enjoyed your virtual visit to Dapper Day, everyone! And hey, considering the raging sunburn I got after neglecting to cover up my lily-white hermit arms, you're probably better off this way. :D (Take THAT, vitamin D deficiency!)

PS - For all you dapper folk who were there on Saturday: there's still more! So be sure to check my Flickr gallery to see if I got your picture!

PPS - Forgot to mention the official website, DapperDay.com! Check it out for their schedule of future Dapper Days and for some sweet photo galleries.

35 comments:

  1. Fabulous! Do you let people know about Epbot when you take their photo so they can check out the shots?

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    1. Usually only if they ask; then I give them one of my fancy-pants Epbot cards. (I never want to be one of those pushy "hey go to my website!!" types. In fact I only ordered cards because quite a few people *do* ask when they see the nice camera!)

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  2. They all look so adorable! And those dresses are all lovely!

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  3. The outfits are amazing! Do you have a tutorial anywhere on how you edit your photos?

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    1. No, I'm still figuring that out as I go! For these I used Adobe Lightroom, and I mostly just brighten the exposure, skew everything yellow/red (for a vintage look) and cut out most of the contrast while bumping shadows all the way up. (That dappled shade is murder on photos.) It's really just playing with the settings 'til I see something I like, though!

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    2. Okay, thank you! Your photos are always beautiful! (And I know that all the editing in the world won't work if they're not composed well/focused properly...but good editing really helps them pop!)

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  4. I am so going to this event some day ... Love! My favorites are the Lady and the Tramp, and the Gaston with her Baymax!!

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  5. Your Dapper Day posts are ones I look forward to every year! Someday, I'm going to make it to Dapper Day!

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  6. All I can say is WOW! These are some awesome Dapper Dayers!!

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  7. I love it!! After learning about Dapper Day from you, I went to the DD at Disneyland this year (March 1) with my 7 year old son! We were going to Dapper Disneybound as Maleficent and Diablo (inspired by the animated Sleeping Beauty rather than the recent film), but parts of my outfit didn't arrive in time. My son was way cuter than me anyway, and got all the attention in his pinstripe suit, fedora, and lavender shirt & tie. He said next time he wants a pocket square. I'm thrilled he wants to do it with me again! :) Most of my friends (and family) think I'm crazy for going (although most are polite enough to not say it to me in quite those words), so it's extra fun to have a kiddo who loves getting dressed up and going to Disney with me.
    I'm still too nervous to ask people if I can take their picture, so I didn't get any photos of the awesome outfits we saw. Talking to strangers sets off my anxiety, so I decided I'd rather just enjoy the time with my little guy instead of trying to get pictures. I LOVE that people wanted you to take their picture!! I think it would be fun just to follow you around and see all the people posing for photos for you!

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    1. An 8 year old (next year) with a pocket square! Parenting: you're doing it right.

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    2. Thanks, Fiona! :) I'm hoping his love of style and dressing sharp doesn't get beat out of him by peer pressure. He used to wear bow ties to school every day, but once other kids started teasing him about it, he stopped. I love that Dapper Day is something he's excited about!

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  8. I thought that was John I spied on the Reese Sisters Facebook page. So cool he took part!

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  9. So chic! So dapper! I want to wear one of those spectacular skirts and never stop twirling. :)
    Glad you get to experience so much awesomeness - and share it with us to also enjoy!
    Take care of that sunburn, girl!
    --Piper P from Washington State.

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  10. We're in LA and did the Disneyland Dapper Day this year and it was SO much fun, in spite of the cold and rain. My boys (10 & 14) are so grateful that we learned about it from you and we hope to make it an annual vacation =) Really the best people watching ever

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  11. I want to do this so bad! It sounds like such fun and I love your photos every year!

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  12. The last time I visited Disney World was around 1984. I'm going again this August, is there a website to find out if there's going to be unofficial events like Dapper Day or even Official events when I'll be there?

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    1. There is! http://dapperday.com/ The next one is in the fall.

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  13. I also first discovered Dapper Day from Epbot and have gone to the last three here in California. It is so much fun! So thanks, Jen!

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  14. Love all the costumes, they look so fab! And big girls represent, woot. Excellent photos, as always.

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  15. It is my dream to go to dapper day!! One day I will make it down. Its hard picking a favorite but i really like the mickey girl up at the top (in the pic with the poison apple ears) or the girl just to the left of the orange girl with all the diamond patterns on her dress..

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  16. So much awesome! I really love the lady Captain America! Thank you for all the lovely pictures :)

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  17. Has John considered bounding as Dreamfinder? A purple vest, an orange bow tie, and Figment to carry - how cool would that be? :-D

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    1. We're thinking next time! Maybe I'll even throw on some purple suspenders & orange horns and go as Figment. ;)

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  18. Thanks for the pics! I'm not a Florida (or California) local, so I've never been able to go to a Dapper Day. I love getting to be there virtually through your post. 😊

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  19. All the outfits in the last picture look amazing. It looks like they put a lot of effort (and talent!) into them! Thanks for sharing.

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  20. Oh my gosh, I LOVE the Mickey Mouse bounder in (lucky) #13!! What a fab ensemble! :D

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  21. This post really makes me want to cry. My own Dapper man, a Disney lover, passed away in January at age 49 from cancer. We really wanted to do Dapper Days and had talked about doing it this month. He was diagnosed last August and when they had the Fall Dapper Days, I showed him the photos from that event. He was pumped for it.

    SIGH.

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    1. I will say that I love all of the photos, and people's creativity. I still want to do DD...

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  22. Where do they get such wonderful SHOES? I am in love with vintage style shoes, but never manage to find any (or any that don't have a 5" heel and I'm not looking to break an ankle LOL).

    Someday I will get to WDW for a Dapper Day; until then, thanks for letting me live vicariously through you :)

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    1. I feel the exact same way!! I got a pair of Mary Jane style Keens as my compromise, but I'd love to find a comfortable pair of vintage style shoes that I could wear around the park all day.

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    2. @Shutterbug Jules Check out modcloth.com, uniquevintage.com, pinupgirlclothing.com, to name a few. I also buy a lot of my shoes second hand, and they come in all sorts of size heels, just have to be stubborn looking. :) Good luck!

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    3. google "character shoes". they are the shoes women wear on stage. they have sensible heels and straps.

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  23. Those orange glasses are indeed rather nice. Though maybe not the most practical as sunglasses, as they appear to be antique shooting glasses, outsides frosted, only the middle being clear. (It's amazing the things you learn while over-researching costumes)

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  24. How have I never heard of Dapper Day before?? So positively wonderful!

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