Disney Princesses Go West

Kelsey, also known by her Instagram handle as @theprairie_gypsy started a new Western fashion series inspired by Disney princesses! 

This Southern Alberta cowgirl is not only a boss babe on the gram, but one in life, too! She works full time as a Medical Laboratory Technologist. 

She got her start by falling in love with all things Western fashion, “specifically fringe.” She admits it took her some time to embrace her love for it, but was inspired by other big names in the industry. Kelsey says, “My love for Western fashion has become a creative outlet for me and has led to me meeting some amazing people and have the most incredible opportunities!”

Her go-to look is, “a pair of cut off men’s wranglers, a black tank and a leather belt! Of course I am also rocking a fun pair of cowboy boots or booties to top it off!” Perfect for those Alberta summers! 

When asked about her inspiration for the series, she remarks she had always been told she looked like Elsa, the queen from Disney’s Frozen, especially with a fishtail braid. She continues, “I had coincidentally just planned a shoot with my photographer Ciara Sandum and the dress I was going to shoot was very Elsa like. I told her my idea to do a princess goes West series and she was totally excited and into it! We haven’t looked back since! It was cold here in Alberta and we went out to a frozen snow covered pond at golden hour. The dress, the lighting, and the snow was just perfect. After seeing those pictures I knew we couldn’t stop and were doing something pretty awesome!” 

As obsessed as she is with each character they shoot, her two favorites are Princess Fiona, from Shrek, and Jessie from Toy Story. 

“My first [favorite] one is Princess Fiona, who I did as an April Fool's Day joke. I decided to be the ogre version and I painted my body green! Ciara also had a donkey so we were able to shoot with him and it made for the funniest pictures. We couldn’t contain our laughter and the photos came out so fun! I had a great response from everyone on that one!”

“The second [favorite] one would be Jessie from Toy Story! Honestly I thought this one wasn’t going to be anything special but Ciara and I ended up getting super creative with the posing and it just all came together! I looked at those pictures and thought wow this exceeded my expectations by 1000 percent!”  

Kelsey admits, “I try and find as many props as possible to have for the shoots but somethings we just can’t find certain things. So that’s when the app PicsArt has come in handy to do some photoshop haha!” How perfect do these pictures come out! 

They did expand their series to more than just Disney. As for her next series, she comments, “I would like to move next into the villains! And do people like Ursula, Jafar, the Queen of Hearts, etc.  I am always open to new ideas so if there is a character people would like to see I’m all ears!!”

In the end, Kelsey says, “This series has been so much fun and I truly enjoy the planning of the looks and the execution of the photos so much!” We love what you do, too! 

To keep up with her series, future shoots, and Western fashion inspiration, check out her Instagram!