For the past few weeks, I’ve found myself watching my old VHS movies, especially movies that I watched when I was a little girl. While doing this, I have found some great underrated films that tend to get lost in between all the princesses, Pixar animated films, and the newest live-action remakes.

They are also a great source of fashion inspiration.

So for my next few posts, I’ll choose one of these underrated movies each week and give you a quick recap of the film and its production, a rundown of each character’s style, and my own real-life recreation of each look.

I’ve already gone over The Rescuers and Oliver & Company. This week, let’s dive into one of my all-time favorites, One Hundred and One Dalmatians, the 1961 animated version. Read on for my 101 Dalmatians fashion guide!

Table of Contents

Based on a children’s book, One Hundred and One Dalmatians is the 17^th entry into the Disney Animated Canon. It has many spin-offs, sequels and two live-action films from the ’90s and early 2000s. It is usually marketed with the Arabic number 101 instead of the spelled-out name of the film.

101 is the second animated Disney film that was set, unambiguously, in contemporary times. It was also the first to use xerography in order to ease the process of animating a technically difficult film and make the 101 Dalmatians, and their respective spots, possible.

This style of Disney animation is easily recognizable and known as Disney’s Scratchy Outline Period. It was eventually changed to a smoother look sixteen years later, after technological advances allowed for a softer Xeroxing on The Rescuers. 

If it’s been a while since you’ve seen the film, a quick recap: Anita and Roger are the perfectly happy owners of a pair of Dalmatians, Pongo and Perdita. When their litter of Dalmatian puppies are abducted by the minions of Cruella de Vil, the parents must find them before she uses them for a diabolical fashion statement.