I’m reading Breaking Dawn right now and once Bella transforms, I realised I had a harder time picturing it, or rather, my mind kept going to movie Bella as a vampire. And I never really liked how Vamp Bella looked in the movie… there are a few exceptions, but for the most part, I wasn’t into it.
So I stopped reading, and tried to take in the words and let them mix with how I would see her if I hadn’t seen Breaking Dawn part 2, and I found myself very thankful for Chris Weitz and the New Moon vision we see from Alice of Bella’s future.
I remember at the time, a lot of people didn’t like it for some reason…
I love it! Looking back, we probably shouldn’t have had this image of vampire Bella so soon because that’s what the books and movies are all leading up to, and with that clip, it’s a little spoiled. But now when I read, my vision of vampire Bella is much closer to her in Alice’s first vision than it is in Breaking Dawn part 2, and even overrides a little of what is actually on the page.
So I guess this is about my dream vampire Bella.
The Cullens were never dark, edgy vampires. In the books, Stephenie always has them in lighter clothes (especially Edward), and so this idea that when Bella transforms, she’s now wearing leather, and a very dated smoky eye (more on that later). Well, she just wouldn’t…
In Alice’s vision in New Moon, it’s much more cottagecore/fairy tale, and I think that’s much closer to the books and how it plays in my mind. Her dress is just lovely, and she looks age appropriate.
So here’s some outfit inspo for how I would have liked to see Bella, instead of all those nondescript, very flat outfits she wore in BD2.
We know how both Bella and Edward like blue (though, we did at least get her in a blue dress when she woke up…)
And then something like this one above for more casual attire.Or maybe a graphic tee tucked into jeans and boots. I think Bella still would have upped her fashion game a little from when she was human for several reasons:
1: she has more confidence as a vampire
2: Alice’s influence and Bella’s newly fully stocked, very large closet in the cottage
3: she will be travelling at some point, and getting to see new places and people has an effect on such things, even for Bella
While we’re talking about outfits, that beige whatever-that-was dress she wore when they leave the wedding for the honeymoon was… I hated it.
It seemed like something one might wear to a fancy office job or important meeting, not your honeymoon…
I didn’t hate everything about the vampire Bella we got in the movie. I loved that her hair was longer (though the style somehow strangely aged her. I think it was the parting and the way she wore it pushed away and back from her face. Instead of it having that sexy messy look that Kristen has when her hair is mussed that way, it leaned more towards lots-of-hairspray and back combing that an older woman from a different time would do). And I liked her eyes. The way the red seemed to bleed out as time went on. Her amber eyes were very unique, and we know from the books that each Cullen has a different shade of amber/gold so that fit really nicely.
I like her hair here on the right, but this was like the only time that it looked liked this. And her hair on the left is classic Bella for me, and how I picture her when I read all the other books.
Bella is only 18 when she is turned, and becoming a vampire is meant to make you more refined and elegant. To accentuate things. I felt the makeup they chose for her (and let’s be real, all of the Cullens makeup New Moon and beyond was way too heavy and smoky, and it was like each vampire had the exact same makeup too) was just a smoky eye with false lashes that really aged her. And it wasn’t very Bella-esque.
I also feel like finally getting to see Bella sparkle in the sunlight was way too quick and not very thorough, it should have been a whole moment, and Edward finally getting to see her skin like that would have made him realise how she felt about him when she saw him in the meadow the first time. Can you imagine?! Sigh.
It’s a real shame there aren’t any proper images of her like this. Just a clip where she’s constantly in motion. ✨
I think it was actually a nice twist that Bella had super self control when she wakes up. She’s so clumsy in her human life (and I’m clumsy, so I liked to see that mirrored back to me, lol), very stubborn, and doesn’t often budge once her mind is made up. So I liked the idea that she could essentially skip over the frenzied madness that comes along with being a newborn because being a vampire for Bella, was like levelling up.
But I felt like we got robbed both in the book and movie of seeing Bella learn everything. We get a quick lesson on jumping, and then the only other thing is learning to hunt. I wanted more of everything else. More of her heightened senses and how she learns to deal with having so much space for so many thoughts at once, realising she can learn new things like that *snap* and remember everything because of her perfect recall. Maybe she has trouble switching it all off what with not being able to sleep ever again.
Even though she was super good at not eating that hiker, and not lunging for Charlie when she first sees him, I wanted to see them starting over, maybe going to college, and Bella learning to be around so many people all at once, and also learning to keep the secret. How she is with those new people, and what wonders they might have re. her own eyes, and who her and the rest of the Cullens really are?! etc.
I finished Midnight Sun, and began the whole saga again, and being on Breaking Dawn now had me constantly thinking about this, lol.
