Warrior Women

What do a group of young college apparel designers/merchandisers have in common with Disney’s heroine Mulan? Designing a line of trendy warrior shoes together, embodying Disney’s “Mulan” live action’s common theme, “loyal, brave, and true.”

The University of Delaware teamed up with talented, hip shoe designer, Ruthie Davis to work on one of her collaborations with Disney for the 2020 live action release of “Mulan.” Ruthie Davis personally selected a team of seven fashion majors (including myself) to work with her on the collection, assisting in as well as learning about shoe design, production, and marketing components- a whole other ball park we aren’t taught during our four years of school. 

We called ourselves “Warrior Women” and were fortunate enough to attend the movie premier in Hollywood (before COVID made traveling super dangerous). Dawned in our black or gold jumpsuits and dress, riding in a limo to the event, we all felt very accustomed to the Hollywood glitz and glam. The flashing lights on the red carpet were so surreal. We even bumped into the cast of “Crazy Rich Asians,” who were there to support yet another major Asian cast and film in Hollywood (go Asian representation!). As a group of creative and passionate women, we were proud to debut the jogger shoe on the red carpet alongside our mentor, Ruthie, which had the words, “Warrior” printed on the side of the shoe platforms. We truly felt as though we embodied the power of chi and embraced the strong bond of women supporting women (as well as princesses ourselves for one night).

The movie itself was unlike the original animated film, where actress Yifei Liu played the bold onscreen warrior. She did many of her own stunts in the film (and there were plenty of fight scenes) and in person, she was nothing short of glamorous and totally fierce. We had also happened to bump into her at the after party and she held the attention of the room in her beautiful gown and presence. The movie also featured a powerful witch antagonist, Li Gong, a new character to the live action. It was evident that these women were the central characters to this film (ditching our beloved dragon, Mushu, and the catchy soundtrack), where the theme was empowering strong women to be loyal to what they believe in, brave in their actions, and true to themselves. Yet, the film did make sure to feature subtle snippets of references from the animated movie (one character was even named Cricket).

This whole experience started from an internship that none of us Warrior Women expected to be so giving and immersive. Whether we were visiting Ruthie at her HQ in NYC (right next to the Highline) or traveling to Hollywood, or even being featured on the Philadelphia news, Ruthie brought us together as a close knit, solid group of colleagues and friends with different personalities all contributing something unique to the project. Designing, having fun, and learning to work as a team was our greatest takeaway.