Pride campaigns can be very hit or miss these days, but when they’re good, they’re really good. Take razor company Billie, for instance. The brand just released the first installment of its Pride Month campaign that reimagines classic fairy tales and makes them less exclusionary by centering characters of different backgrounds, gender identities, and body types who, unlike the women in the traditional tellings, aren’t dependent on men to save them.
“In honor of Pride, we wanted to take these traditionally heteronormative stories and give them a queer retelling with the Billie spin, of course,” cofounder Georgina Gooley said in a press release. “Fairy tales shape us from such an early age. We wanted to create impactful retellings that featured a wider representation of womankind, made people feel seen and included while also making them laugh. These are the types of stories so many of us wish we heard as children.”
The first story to be released via social media is that of Rapunzel, the Disney princess with long hair who escapes the tower she is imprisoned in with help from a thief named Flynn. In Billie’s version of the story, Rapunzel is a curvy, queer woman of color, who instead of rocking a long head of hair has a buzz cut and long armpit hair. She’s also not actually locked up in a tower but living in a penthouse apartment that she owns.
Throughout the month of June, Billie plans to release three more stories that give a modern twist to the traditional tellings of Snow White, Cinderella, and Ariel, and we can’t even begin to explain how excited we are to see the rest. Additionally, the brand will donate one percent of its profits to The Trevor Project, which provides crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to LGBTQ+ youth.
Take a look at Billie’s remixed Rapunzel, illustrated by artist Sofie Birkin, ahead.
