The Perfect Princess Peach

Hello There,

    Now as you all know I'm a massive fan of Disney Princesses. I just ador the princess esthetic: the gowns, the beauty, the grace. Disney has by far the largest collection of Princesses in their library and I am obviously by extension a huge fan of these movies and characters. But there's another famous princess who lives outside of the Magic Kingdom, and lives instead in the Mushroom Kingdom. I am of course talking about Princess Peach, Nintendo's most famous princess aside from the titular Zelda. She's been a staple of Nintendo's Super Mario franchise since the original Super Mario Bros. in 1985, and has since gone on to have appeared in more games than any other female character in video game history. Instantly recognizable with her blonde hair and pink dress, she has since evolved from being just a simple damsel in distress and has become quite a popular character.


    A little bit of background on my relationship with the Mario franchise and Princess Peach. I started my gaming career with the original Playstation, so I was by no means a Nintendo kid. However that all changed one the Nintendo Wii was released. The Wii released at exactly the right age for me to fully enjoy it. I fell hardcore into video games and of course Mario was at the forefront. The first Mario game I fully completed was Super Mario Galaxy, which means that it was actually Princess Rosalina who was my first Nintendo Princess Crush. She had an ethereal presence about her, and was from space, I mean how cool is that. Additionally unlike Princess Daisy's, Rosalina's dress was wholly unique from Princess Peach's; which helped to make Rosalina feel like a distinct character instead of a simple recolor. So for a little while Rosalina was my favorite Nintendo Princess, and was honestly probably my favorite Princess in general. This was bolstered by the fact that she was a playable character in the Wii version of Mario Kart, which I played an immense amount of, (typically playing as Rosalina of course).

    I spent many years with Rosalina as my Favorite Nintendo Princess, but my opinion would eventually change. As I stated earlier, I was playing Wii and enjoying Rosalina when I was a kid. At that age I was really only dipping my toe into the idea of femininity. I knew I kinda liked wearing women's clothes but I didn't really know what that meant. Fast forward several years and I find myself being a full blown crossdresser coming to terms with the fact that I am gender fluid. But still Rosalina was my favorite, she's a powerful space princess, how could she not be my fave? Well then I fell down the rabbit hole of Disney Princesses, and boom I was in love with the Princess esthetic. They were beautiful, graceful, wore large elaborate gowns, and were extremely feminine. Now when you took these characteristics into account, Princess Peach was the Nintendo Princess who most embodied these descriptors, not Rosalina. Peach wore a pink Ball Gown style dress with puff sleeves, acted graceful and kind, and was typically portrayed as being an attractive love interest. She was literally everything I loved about Princesses, so I ditched Rosalina and found myself a new favorite! 

    After falling in love with her character I started seeking out opportunities to play as her in games. In the years since I've probably spent more time playing as Peach than Mario himself. Thanks to games like Mario Kart, Mario Party, and Smash Bros I have no shortage of opportunities to play as the Princess herself. In addition to enjoying my time playing as her in games, I started seeking out fan art online of Peach to view and enjoy. Below are some of my personal favorites that I hope you enjoy too!

Of course how could I not also show off some great fan art featuring Peach's fellow Nintendo Princesses Daisy and Rosalina.

    While on the topic of fan creations, I can't help but highlight some fantastic cosplayers out there who have cosplayed as Princess Peach. Her blonde hair and pink dress makes the costume instantly recognizable, at any convention or event. What I always find interesting about cosplayers iare the different ways they choose to style Peach's hair since it has such an iconic shape. Additionally it's always fun to see which version of her dress they pick the classic, or smash bros, either way it's a certainly a fun dress to see. Since this is a blog catered to transgender and genderfluid people like myself, I'm highlighting both cosplayers and crossplayers below, because it doesn't matter what your gender is peach is for everyone!

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    Peach has had a bit of a character renaissance recently with the release of The Super Mario Bros. Movie in 2023. Voiced by the gorgeous Anya Taylor-Joy, in the film Peach is capable ruler who will do anything to defend her home the Mushroom Kingdom from Bowser's invasion. In the film she wears her iconic Pink dress, as well as her Mario Kart Racing Suit. In a departure from the typical characterization of Peach however, in the film Peach is depicted as a bad ass fighter who's more than capable of defending herself from Bowser's forces without the need of Mario. It was a fun new take on the character that I thoroughly enjoyed! Check out the clip below to see what I mean, Peach's charisma is just infectious!

  

     I really found myself enjoying The Super Mario Bros. Movie, it was simple but effective. As a Mario fan for over a decade I loved all the references to the different games, characters, and music. Despite the fact that the characterization of Peach was new, she still felt completely loyal to original character, just with a fun new twist! Additionally, Anya Taylor-Joy was delightful in the role, and like the rest of the voice cast was clearly having a lot of fun playing their character. Considering how much of a success the film become I'm sure there will be more Mario Movies on the way, which also means more Peach! It will be interesting to see where they take her character in the future, or if they'll add any of her fellow princesses. Either way more Princess Peach on the big screen is hopefully headed our way!

Also did you know that Anya Taylor-Joy actually dressed as Peach twice? The first time was in Halloween 2022 where she wore Peach's iconic crown, and a dress inspired by her typical pink ball gown. Check out the Video to learn how she put the outfit together!

The second time was at the Super Mario Bros. Movie film's premiere when she wore a variation of Peach's Racing Suit! She looked totally gorgeous wearing it and check out the short video to see why she decided to wear the suit at the premiere.

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    So with all the love I've been spewing about Princess Peach, I'm sure you could figure out where this blog post was going, I had to get a Peach dress of my own. But which dress to choose, the simple classic version, the detailed Smash Bros. version? Taking current events into account I went with the movie version. I like how it's a more detailed version of the classic design, and that it is made of a shiny satin like material. Thankfully the one I ordered fit like a dream! Additionally, since I typically rock a brunette wig and peach is known for her blonde hair, I went ahead and ordered myself a blonde cosplay wig to pair with my new dress. Not really sure how I feel about what I look like as a blonde, but it was still fun to try out! This was such a fun outfit to to put together and wear, hope you get as much joy out of seeing my peach as I did being her!

Also for a bit of fun I took some lingerie pics as peach to give you a peak under her pink hood, who'd have guessed it was more pink LOL!

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    Well there you have it my dissertation on Princess Peach! Hope you enjoyed all the pictures, I had a lot of fun finding them all. Not sure if I'll be doing any posts on the other Nintendo Princesses but you never know. However I definitely want Peach's Super Smash Bros. Dress so I think I'll eventually be back for a peach part 2. Finally how can I not leave you with Peaches sung by Jack Black in my post on Princess Peach?! Enjoy the song, and thanks for reading!

-Carly