Mulan's Costume Designer Shares Details on the Iconic Character's Costume Choices

With the premiere of the live-action Mulan film right around the corner on Disney+, we’re beginning to learn a lot more about the movie and how it was made.

This movie is an important one for Disney because it depicts one of China’s most legendary warriors from the ballad of the same name. The story follows Mulan (Liu Yifei), a woman who disguised herself as a man to join her country’s army to defend it from invading forces. Although Disney tackled the subject in a 1998 animated film, the live-action movie is a retelling of the story in a way more in line with the original Chinese tale.

It seems that Disney went to great lengths to get every detail and nuance in Mulan as close as possible to Chinese history and culture.

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Iconic. Powerful. Beautiful. See how the look of Disney’s #Mulan was brought to life in this behind-the-scenes featurette. Start streaming the film this Friday exclusively on #DisneyPlus with Premier Access. Link in bio for more info.

A post shared by Disney Style (@disneystyle) on Sep 1, 2020 at 11:00am PDT

That includes Mulan’s beautiful red costume, which is more than just the clothes she wears, but a symbol of who and what she is. Costume designer Bina Daigeler chose red because it traditionally represents passion, power, and love. The costume also had to be comfortable enough to allow Mulan to move in it accurately while fighting.

Walt Disney Studios also released a video showing just how well Mulan moves in her costume. In this special look, Mulan indulges in some graceful, as well as powerful, combat against a small army of enemies. And that beautiful costume flows around her as she moves.

The legend arrives. Here's a special look at Disney's #Mulan.

Start streaming this Friday exclusively on #DisneyPlus with Premier Access. For more info: https://t.co/iy94t8jFst pic.twitter.com/73W3neM2ga

— Walt Disney Studios (@DisneyStudios) September 2, 2020

Mulan debuts on Disney+ on September 4th, as part of a special Premium Access program that allows subscribers to pay $29.99 to watch the movie on its release date. The film will then later become available to all subscribers in December.