 Purple
Narnia Dress
Susan probably gets this outfit from the treasure chamber at
Cair Paravel, as she's seen both traveling with Trumpkin and her
siblings and at Aslan's How in it.
Fabric
The dull purple striped fabric of the sleeves and skirt looks
medium weight, with printed, darker purple double-pinstripes that
look like fine stripes from a distance. You can see small nubs
on the skirt: irregularities in the weave, or the product of aging,
as we see on Edmund's velvet tunic?
The bodice is a slightly lighter purple shade, without stripes,
but with a vertical ribbed weave. Could they both be a wool blend?
Can't really tell at this point. The blue/gray underdress looks
like the same fabric as the shirt Peter
wears with his brown velvet tunic. Compare to this
image.
Construction - Bodice
The bodice has a boned lining, and likely laces up the back.
The princess-seams extend all the way up towards the shoulder
but curve slightly to end midway up the armscye. In this image
we can see the other seam that indicates that the bodice has a
side piece instead of a direct side seam, like her LWW dresses.
The waistline is pointed, bordered with a narrow scalloped peplum
in the same pinstriped fabric as the skirt and sleeves. There
are two separate pieces to either side of the waist point, each
with two scallops, edged with a tiny twisted gold cord.
The scoop-neck is edged in a narrow purple corded piping. It's
possible we're seeing a bit of the blue underdress neck here too,
which follows the same scoop as the purple bodice.
The three daffodils on the front of the bodice appear to be appliques
in a gold fabric, which explains both what "Ultimate Fan"
and NarniaWebber QueenNellie mentioned what she saw ("As
Isis alluded to at ComicCon, Susan's bodice has a daffodil motif,
actually embossed into the fabric. Her dress is a dull purple
stripe on sleeves/skirt, grayish bodice"), and what Isis
Mussenden said in Comingsoon.net's
interview: "We've built in Susan's daffodil motif that
she's always had, right into her dress this time just layered
on, and it's based on this beautiful fashion piece that's out
of this exhibition in Tokyo. I love combining that whole medieval
look with whatever I want."
The daffodils are bordered with the same twisted gold cord that
edges the peplum pieces. The center front daffodil is standing
up, with a high trumpet. The ones to either side have bent blossoms.
The one on her left has a higher stem.
Construction - Sleeves
The sleeves are shaped like a two-piece coat sleeve. Observe
that one of the sleeve seams is always at the front of her arm
(thumb side, if the hands are hanging at the sides). The pattern
is probably close to this two-piece
semi-fitted coat sleeve. Also on that page, see the
description of a coat sleeve which mentions the need for this
shape in sleeves with tighter-fitting wrists and no plackets.
The long sleeves, previously thought to be fitted with just one
diamond-shaped opening at the back of the elbow, are actually
open from mid-upper arm to the wrist, at the back of
the arm. The opening is pulled together at mid-lower arm with
three lengths of dark cord, and again just above the wrist, also
three lengths of cord. It gaps maybe an inch at these points,
but the open areas between them are much wider when she has her
arm bent. The blue underdresss sleeves blouse out from at least
the top opening in one image.
While you can now see the sleeves quite well in this
high-res image, you can also see another image in an inside
look at the movie storybook that Barnes
and Noble has here (Click ">More" then click
over to page 3). There are other good pictures in The Official
Movie Companion, and in Lucy's Journey as well.
Construction - Skirt
The skirt is split up the front, and we can see one or two inches
of the center front seam here.
The skirt pieces are cut so that the stripes are vertical up the
center front, but the flared skirt drapes so that the stripes
are angled at the side seams. We can just barely see the back
of the skirt past the side seam in this
image, however, and the stripes are vertical there, whereas
if the back skirt was flared, the stripes would be angled similarly.
In the discussion thread, Menelve suggests—based on this
image of the back—that there is more than one box pleat,
creating that fullness, but also explaining the vertical stripes.
Another option would be that the skirt is in two pieces, and
flared the opposite of the way the front pieces are. Thus, there's
more volume at the back, the skirt has vertical stripes at the
side seams, and the angled seams match up at the center back seam.
Construction - Layers
The layers on this outfit are a bit complicated to discern. We
can see that the sleeves are attached to the bodice at the armscye,
and they're not part of a separate dress layer.
She wears the same purple split skirt with her Night Raid outfit,
which at first seems to indicate that it's attached to the bodice
under the peplum, but detachable from it, so that she can wear
it with her Night Raid outfit with a different blue dress. But
while we see in most images that the center front split always
matches up with the center front of the bodice, it's askew in
this image, twisted off to her right side!
However, further images—particularly the ones that show
the back of the sleeve opening, so it's not such a squeeze for
those larger night raid sleeves to fit under the otherwise fitted-looking
purple sleeves!—indicate that blue night raid dress with
the purple skirt over it is the same as the blue underdress.
This opens up the idea that NarniaWebber RoseRed mentioned in
the discussion
thread on this dress: that the purple skirt is attached to
the blue underdress (which explains why it could be able to twist
in that way), that the blue underdress is the dress worn with
the Night Raid outfit, and that she just removes the bodice and
sleeves and adds the cuirass and leather vest for the Night Raid.
Edmund, too, just adds leather pieces to his blue velvet tunic
for the Night Raid, so this is possibly the case.
Accessories
She wears her quiver and in this
image carries a burgundy bag, probably attached to the quiver
strap. She wears a ring with a pale green stone on her left forefinger,
and one on her left ring finger—she wears both with her
Night Raid outfit as well.
She also wears a necklace on a fine gold chain, with a purple
stone and a pearl at the end of it. This is the same necklace
that she wears as a queen at the very
end of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe—see
this image
particularly.
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