(Editor’s note: Columns often contain opinion.)
I love costumes.
As a little girl, I wore out (i.e. destroyed) my mom’s prom dress because I put it on every time I went to my grandmother’s house. It was this gorgeous cupcake-like dress with yards of fluffy tulle which shredded with ease every time I put it on and twirled around, stomping on it because it was way too big for my short-stuff 5 year-old self.
The lure of costumes drew me into community theater – dressing up like fairies for Storyland Theatre, wearing long dresses and hats for “Hello Dolly” was a dream come true. Of course, I’ll never forget the Glinda costume they made for me when I played that role with the Augusta Players, too many years ago to talk about now.
When I heard about the collection of Disney costumes on display at the South Carolina State Museum, I knew I had to go with at least one of my costume-and-Disney-loving daughters.
Since Allie works shifts and could go on a weekday, she made the trip to Columbia with me to see Heroes and Villains: The Art of the Disney Costume.
Allie grew up watching all the Disney movies and taking ballet at Columbia County Ballet, so she had lots of opportunities to wear a wide array of costumes. The year she was Arabian in “The Nutcracker” her sister made her costume and its still in the closet of her old bedroom. Now that I think about it, it looks an awful lot like Jasmine’s costume from Disney’s animated version of “Aladdin” with its poofy harem pants in a rich shade of turquoise.
The Jasmine costume from the live action film is one of those displayed at the museum, but it has something Allie’s Arabian costume didn’t – exquisite detailing of a peacock feather in gold along the pants’ legs.
The museum recently extended the exhibit to Jan. 4, 2026, so there’s time to see the 70 different costumes from Disney-produced films and TV shows.
One of the first costumes you see is Lily James’s blue ball gown from the 2015 live action version of “Cinderella” and her glass slipper. A large section of the exhibit is devoted to “Cinderella” in general.
The placards tell the story behind the designers’ visions for several costumes related to that story.
Lily James’s dress is lovely. Multiple layers of fabric in different shades of blue including one iridescent layer add the magic to the dress with its butterflies around the neckline.
Something I didn’t expect was getting a sense of the size of the actors playing the roles.
Other “Cinderella” costumes include Helena Bonham Carter’s fairy godmother costume. She stands at 5-foot-2-inches tall. I didn’t really think about that until I stood in front of her shimmering silver Elizabethan-esque gown.
The “Cinderella” portion also features Brandy’s blue ball gown from the 1997 film and the dress from the “Once Upon a Time” TV series.
Another costume that caught my dancer daughter’s eye was Tilda Swinton’s White Witch costume from “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.”
Having performed in the “Roar of Love” with Ron Jones and the Columbia County Ballet for more than a decade, Allie (who danced the White Witch) was drawn to that costume with its massive white fur coat and wig complete with ice crystal crown. It looked like an extremely heavy costume to wear.
In one of the exhibition rooms, costumed mannequins face off with the heroes standing opposite their villains.
I wasn’t expecting to see a Santa suit, but Scott Calvin’s Santa from The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause” is on display. It features some gold designs in the red fur, and the brown leather belt has holly leaves etched in it. Martin Short’s Jack Frost costume exudes cold as the fabric has an icy sheen to it.
Other fun costumes include Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow and Angelina Jolie’s Maleficent. The Sanderson sisters from “Hocus Pocus” are featured as are several from “Alice in Wonderland” and multiple fairy tale characters from “Once Upon a Time.”
Tucked away at the furthest most point of the exhibit was the live-action Belle, hidden next to Oscar Diggs’s costume from the 2015 “Oz the Great and Powerful.” I’ve never heard of that movie. And my Augusta Players’ Glinda costumes was much prettier than the Glinda costume in that film.
My daughter has never been a fan of the live action Belle costume because she felt it paled in comparison to the animated version. And compared to Lily James’ Cinderella costume as well as the voluminous animated version, the Belle costume does fall short.
Probably the oldest costume in the exhibit is Bette Davis’s Letha costume from the 1978 film “Return to Witch Mountain.” I’m pretty sure I saw that movie at the National Hills Theatre with my grandmother.
Also included is an interactive program that shows you in some of the costumes.
Taking in the exhibit requires advance planning; you have to purchase your ticket and reserve a time before heading to the museum. There is an extra admission charge to see the costumes.
After the costume exhibit, we took in the rest of the four-story museum and its planetarium. That’s worth another column. Seeing the costumes was definitely worth a trip to Columbia.
Charmain Z. Brackett, the publisher of Augusta Good News and Inspiring: Women of Augusta, has covered Augusta’s news for more than 35 years. She’s won multiple Georgia Press Association awards, is the recipient of the 2018 Greater Augusta Arts Council’s media award and was named Augusta Magazine’s best local writer in 2024 and 2025. Reach her at charmain@augustagoodnews.com. Sign up for the newsletter here.
