Alice in Wonderland (2010)

Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland supplied the world with a new brand and everyone jumped on the product bandwagon. Costume designer, Colleen Atwood, who is renowed for other productions such as Chicago and Memoirs of a Geisha ensured its influence on the fashion world was colossal, and top designers were basing collections on the whimsical styles of the young girl and her adventures.

Zac Posen created a pre-collection themed Lewis Carroll meets Paloma Picasso, and Donatella Versace cited Alice as inspiration for her spring/summer 2010 range of pastel gowns. Shop windows the world over, from New York to London to Paris had “Alice” themes featuring white rabbits made of roses, “mad” hats and fanciful dresses.

Disney collaborated with Swarovski and top jewellery designer Tom Binns on lines of jewellery based on the tale, featuring bright coloured crystals, red hearts, Cheshire cats and tea pots. It provided a mystical platform for the fashion industry to go mad as a hatter. Linda Hewson, Selfridges’ creative head, said: “Alice has both mass and niche appeal: she’s a muse to the fashion world but accessible to all”.

Lewis Carroll’s Alice provides the most brilliant definition of wonder, and Burton’s interpretation will no doubt be fantastical and hugely influential. The theme of Alice in Wonderland offers real scope for product across all areas”. No wonder it won an Academy Award for best costume design.