How the Mickey and Minnie costumes changed over the years in Disney parks and at various other Disney-related events and locations.
The early original Mickey and Minnie costumes from the November 1934 issue of The Oakland Tribune.
The Mickey and Minnie costumes from the December 21, 1937 premiere of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs at the Carthay Circle
The 1955 design of Minnie with Goofy and some of the Mouseketeers including Karen Pendleton
The costumes of Mickey and Minnie in 1959 had larger heads, and Mickey had black shoes.
These Mickey and Minnie costumes, shown in the early 1960s had even larger heads. They even wore hats. Also, Mickey had yellow shoes, and Minnie had green shoes.
In the 1970s, Mickey wore an orange-bow tuxedo and pants without buttons, Minnie wore a red bow, yellow dress and red lipstick. Both of them had five-fingered gloves.
1978-1992: The Mickey and Minnie costumes seen from the 1970s up to 1988 but retired at Tokyo Disneyland in 1992. As for Mickey, he now has a yellow-bow tuxedo and red pants with buttons and hips become rounder. And as for Minnie, she now has red and white-spotted attire and yellow shoes. Their gloves are now four-fingered. These costumes were also used for live appearances (such as Disney Educational Videos and Disney on Ice) at the time.
September 20, 1987 - present: The current Mickey and Minnie costumes. Their heads are rounder, and their eyes are smaller. They were first seen in September 20, 1987 at Walt Disney World, but they were not officially used until 1988. Even then, Disneyland did not officially use these costumes until late 1988. Tokyo Disneyland got them in 1990 during the Tokyo Disneyland Electrical Parade but were not officially used until mid-1992. These heads are still used in Walt Disney World in Florida, Tokyo Disney Resort in Japan and Hong Kong Disneyland.
This Mickey Mouse costume has an articulated head as seen in Dream Along With Mickey and other live shows.
This Minnie Mouse costume has an articulated head as seen in live shows.
April 16, 2016 - present: Mickey and Minnie's faces were given makeovers. Their eyes become taller and pull a bit closer to one another, their bottom lips are rounder, and their gloves have thinner and longer lines. Mickey's outfit gets a slight makeover with a smaller yellow bow and his pants leaving out the black lines and having slightly oval buttons. Also, his shoes are made out of rubber and curved at the front. Minnie no longer has make-up, and the white spots on her dress are now on her skirt. She now has pumpy sleeves, and her iconic bow is slightly bigger and floppier. Her bodice on the dress now consists of three white buttons and a white flower-shaped collar. Her pumps now have larger holes and red bows. They debuted at Disney Cruise Line on August 2016 and then Disneyland on September 6, 2016 after its Diamond Celebration ended, and then Walt Disney World on November 2016 during Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party, then Disneyland Paris in Early 2017.
This Mickey costume, based on the sixth design, as used in Saving Mr. Banks
Mickey gets a new articulated head for the first time in Shanghai Disneyland during the opening night of the park.
Mickey and Minnie as they appear in Mickey's Royal Friendship Faire. This marks the debut of the "Shanghai Disneyland" Mickey and Minnie at Walt Disney World. Currently, this is the only place at Walt Disney World that they are used; other shows and meet-and-greets still use the 1987 heads and variants thereof.
Mickey as he appears in Mickey and the Magician. This marks the debut of Mickey's new look at Disneyland Paris. It is also the debut of an articulated head in the Europe park.
Trivia
- In the Golden FairyTale Fanfare and Mickey's Royal Friendship Faire, Mickey and Minnie still have their 1970's gloves. Mickey still also has those gloves in Mickey and the Magician.