FASHION ON TV: Once Upon A Time

     Once Upon a Time is a wonderful ABC show about the classical fairy tales we know and love but with a really interesting new twist. The Evil Queen, Snow White's step mother, vanishes all fairytale creatures to our world in order to find her happy ending. The show takes place in a little town in Maine called Storybrook, where all the fairy tale characters live but have forgotten who they are and they live normal human lives with struggles that resemble those of their real lives. When Snow White and Prince Charming's daughter, Emma is brought to town by her biological son Henry, things begin to change in town. On the first episode it is revealed that Henry was adopted by Regina Mills, mayor of Storybrook and the evil queen who made it all happen. Henry knows the truth and is desperately seeking to reveal it, but knowing that he is just a kid, it would be too hard to convince regular adults that his story is not just the imagination of a child gone wild. He also knows that his real mother, Emma, is the "savior", the only one who can make things right. Regina is not pleased with Emma's prescience in Storybrook and will use all her "connections" and her power to keep things in her fantasy world as she always wanted them to be, where she is happy and in control of everything and everyone.
     Regina Mills/Evil Queen is played by the beautiful and talented actress Lana Parrilla. Parrilla is fit to be queen, she is poised and graceful and she is so good at being bad that you just really hate her character. I love it! Of course, the acting is very important, but the wardrobe! Oh, the wardrobe! I absolutely love what the costume designers and stylists for the show have done. Keeping in sync with the theme of evil, they dress up the queen in dark colors, deep purples, shades of reds and black most of the time, but they give her very elaborate prints and textures that make her look expensive. Accessories are nice statement pieces like big hats, capes, crowns, tall neck pieces/collars and extravagant jewelry. Her Make up is also done up to go with the character's feel: very black false eyelashes, bold berry lip colors and winged eye liner. For her hair she often wears extensions and creative up-dos with pins or feathers, they tend to get creative to match the outfit.
     When we see Parrilla as the mayor she is very modern and conservative, but still elegant. Her "everyday" wardrobe mostly consists of neutral colors like gray, black, white and beige most of the time. She wears well tailored suits and fitted dresses that show off her nice figure. I would say most of her wardrobe as mayor is very Calvin Klein-ish. Her make up is a lot more subtle, as she is suppose to blend in to her role as a town official, but her lips are always a variation of red.
   
Shows like this make fashion fun on TV, they have very little restrictions when it comes to wardrobe because the storyline allows for it, they can go crazy with what they give us on screen:

 As the Evil Queen Regina:

Incredible lace head piece with a very detailed cape and leather outfit.

Long velvet dress with metallic thread.

Feather coat with organza high collar.

Photoshoot for Entertainment Weekly showing off her style and evil queen ways.

Leather outfit complete with musketeer style hat, small cape, gloves and pants.
I love this purple and black tapestry-looking riding coat.

As Mayor Regina Mills:

Conservative outfit with deep green coat, gray blouse and black pencil skirt complete with black pumps.

Belted gray extended shoulder dress with front drape at waist.

I guess you can say that bad girls do have more fun...at least with their wardrobe in Once Upon a Time.