My only feedback would be that the hair and beads should be a natural color, as for how the hair is styled I don’t think there is any issue.
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News New Changes Coming to the Disney Look 2021
- Thread starter castlecake2.0
- Start date
Disney Analyst
Well-Known Member
This discussion comes up every few years, and the truth is...
Some in here are incredibly conservative when it comes to the way people look/dress/present themselves.
Regardless,
Disney is going to continually update/relax the Disney Look as society moves and changes. People can scream all they want, but it will happen. Should we expect full sleeve tattoos to be allowed? No. A tattoo on a wrist that is small and tasteful? Perhaps.
I expect this will mostly address hair, specifically to allow BIPOC CM's to have more options for hair styles that more closely match their preferences.
Some in here are incredibly conservative when it comes to the way people look/dress/present themselves.
Regardless,
Disney is going to continually update/relax the Disney Look as society moves and changes. People can scream all they want, but it will happen. Should we expect full sleeve tattoos to be allowed? No. A tattoo on a wrist that is small and tasteful? Perhaps.
I expect this will mostly address hair, specifically to allow BIPOC CM's to have more options for hair styles that more closely match their preferences.
Beads, colorful weaves within braids, all of it is most certainly part of some people's culture/identity. Just because it isn't "normal" to you...
Amidala
Well-Known Member
From what I understand (currently a third party CM but previously worked front-line retail at Emporium) you're allowed to wear the costume for either gender as long as you're consistent. So, for example, you couldn't wear the Main Street men's costume Mon. through Thurs. and then show up for your Friday shift in the women's costume. It's a temporary fix but IMO a solid one, since it means no one is forced to wear a dress/skirt if it makes them uncomfortable. The problem is, this option isn't advertised much in training, and many CMs won't be aware of this unless they decide to bring it to a coordinator or leader's attention. And that's the kind of question that might put the CM in question in an awkward position or reveal something about their identity they would have otherwise preferred to keep private.
I feel like the simplest and most economical solution would be to just take the "Male" and "Female" qualifiers away and just pitch it as offering a pants or skirt option, in the same way certain costumes offer a pants or shorts option. Actually, one of my biggest personal complaints is the fact that not all costumes DO offer shorts options (for ex. the POTC merch and attractions costumes, which require wool pants and knee-high socks), forcing CMs to work outdoors in extreme heat and humidity. The Safety key is supposedly above Show, so this has never made sense to me at all.
The "kids" are well aware of this and generally will comply with conventional beauty standards if they're aiming for a position working in a conservative office, or with a company with strict appearance guidelines...which is why there are thousands of teens and twenty-somethings working with the company, not to mention the massive yearly intake of CPs. But many of us obviously disapprove of these policies, and given the growing percentage of younger generations entering the work force, companies are starting to decide it's in their best interest to relax the rules. So, yes, what you're saying here is true (in many cases, not all) at the moment, but may not be a few years from now.
Animaniac93-98
Well-Known Member
The "Disney Look" is in the context of a job where you wear an elaborate uniform/costume.
Our culture at large understands how you are expected to dress at work is different than other circumstances. It's why "business casual" is a commonly known phrase.
Roy G. Dis
Well-Known Member
LOL to the thought that there are "kids" looking for unsolicited boomer advice on how to get a job.... on a wdw message board.
CosmicRays
Well-Known Member
Interesting reading through the pdf- for males "A non-shaven stubble beard is not acceptable." Always wonder how you get to a beard and skip the stubble stage. 
Interesting reading through the pdf- for males "A non-shaven stubble beard is not acceptable." Always wonder how you get to a beard and skip the stubble stage.
Reading that pdf - it felt like it could have come straight from Ward Cleaver.
(that's a 1950s tv show, in case the "kids" didn't know....)
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
Costumes are nothing new to theater. Employees are called Cast Members for a reason, because they are supposed to be the cast in a show. People don’t talk about how it is backwards and archaic that plays and movies have costumes. It is not a venue for personal expression and standing out with your look.
Come on. There are plenty of cast members to whom those types of restrictions shouldn't apply.
Seriously? Do we always have to qualify every post by saying "not those positions...we don't mean face characters...not actors for streetmosphere".....I thought we were all smarter than that here.
Again, no one is saying Snow White should have a full sleeve. But if so and so who works in the merchandise store has gorgeous hair with a gold thread woven through the braid, who cares????
Or the person selling me my Mickey pretzel has a tattoo around their ankle - this is a problem, how?
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Just putting it out there, I believe the ‘Disney Look’ is mostly illegal to enforce in France thus you’ll see all sorts of tattoos and hair colours on cast members at Disneyland Paris.
I personally notice seeing a tattoo on a cast member, but whether this is because I know I’m not supposed to see that as a guest or if it actually bothers me is difficult to answer.
I personally notice seeing a tattoo on a cast member, but whether this is because I know I’m not supposed to see that as a guest or if it actually bothers me is difficult to answer.
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
Why shouldn’t Snow White have a full sleeve? Who cares that Main Street has authentic looking light fixtures? Who cares that a window shutter is based on a particular regional style? Who cares that the roller coaster train looks like a steam train or a rocket? The entire conceit of themed experience is built on things that people supposedly don’t care about and yet they are what defines the experience.
Okay, so this is just deflection and you aren't really interested in having an actual conversation about a real topic. Or else there is a reading comprehension issue at hand.
That by itself isn’t really a problem.
But it opens up a can of worms.
What about the cast member with the Harry Potter tattoo on their wrist?
What about the cast member with a gun tattooed on their forearm?
How do you tell the cast member with the ankle tattoo it’s okay but their colleague standing next to them has to cover their gun tattoo?
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
Deflection of what? The look of the Cast Members is part of the show just like everything else you see.
If you feel like it, read all my posts again. If you still don't understand my point, what can we do. It's about more than just a tattoo.
But you know that.
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
I get your point. You don’t think it matters. That point applies to almost everything you see in a themed experience.
UNCgolf
Well-Known Member
Well, it used to be. Not so many elaborate costumes these days.
Makes it harder to care about something like a hair style when many CMs are wearing slight variations of the same uniform.
Oh no, I do think it it matters. I think taking someone's cultural identity - hair, hair wraps, turbans, tattoos, whatever it is - is extremely important when Disney is considering "appearance" guidelines.
Crisp and clean does not always mean (what some people consider) just "clean-cut American"(whatever that means).
There are thousands of CMs that don't need to be "themed" to an experience. Give me a break.
"• Conservative braided hairstyles without beads or ornamentation are permitted." - hmmm, what is this addressing?
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WondersOfLife
Blink, blink. Breathe, breathe. Day in, day out.
^^There's one.
Head hair is another. Tattoos and piercings are another. Facial hair styles are another (not saying they can't be mandated to not look scruffy...
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