Mother And Daughter Team Up For Magical Disney-Inspired Photos

Showbusiness has given us some fabulous mother-daughter teams over the years. Well, now you can add Disney-inspired cosplay duo Camilla Courts and her daughter Layla to the list. They’ve only been in business two years, but Camilla’s bold photography and Layla’s effervescent character-work have combined with tailor-made costumes to create a true Disney wonderland. And along the way, it has brought the reserved Layla out of her shell. Is this something you think you could do with your daughter or son, or do Camilla and Layla have a rare talent?

The enterprise started in 2014 when Camilla bought Layla a dress from Disneyland’s Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. And “while it was still in pristine condition” Camilla snapped a photo of Layla wearing the dress and shared on Facebook. Family and friends loved it. 

So far, Layla has taken on the roles of Snow White, Cinderella, Ariel and Sleeping Beauty. The reason for the mother-daughter team’s success is the accuracy of the costumes and the obvious joy Layla gets out of playing those characters. 

Camilla sometimes casts herself as the villain in the photos. “I think being the villain is way more fun than wearing the crown,” Camilla says. 

Layla says her favorite photo shoot was the day she dressed as Ariel from the Little Mermaidand Camilla dressed as the villain, Usula. “I think that’s because she liked seeing me all purple,” Camilla said. 

But Layla seeks inspiration from non-Disney characters as well. 

Camilla originally bought the costumes for Layla to dress up in. But since then the project has developed, and they've found they're able to inject more originality into the photos if Camilla or a local seamstress make the costumes instead. 

Their Instagram fans love how detailed and accurate each costume is. 

Layla doesn’t limit herself to the traditional Disney princesses, the 7-year-old has also played Rowena Ravenclaw from Harry Potter, Violet from The Incredibles and Princess Leia from Star Wars. 

Professional photographer Camilla takes all the photos in their town in British Columbia, Canada. But sometimes she switches the background to suit the characters Layla depicts. 

Find out how the project has helped Layla.

At first it was just friends and family who were pressing "like" on Instagram. Now, the mother-daughter dream team have nearly 38,000 followers. 

Camilla says that their project is much more than just dressing-up. “She’s a very shy child and I see her light up when she gets into costume,” Courts explains. “She’s gained a lot of confidence since we started the project and has really come out of her shell.”

“It’s really very special and even if she wanted to quit tomorrow, I will look back on how much fun we had playing dress-up,” Courts said. “It’s truly been magical.”

So far, the mother-daughter duo has wracked up 192 posts with some attracting more than 5,000 likes. 

Celebrate Layla and Camilla's work by sharing. The world deserves to know about it.