The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang tells the story of Frances, a young seamstress from Paris, and Sebastian, the crown prince of Belgium. With Frances’s bold designs, Sebastian transforms into the beautiful and elegant Lady Crystallia, allowing Sebastian to take the streets of Paris by storm and Frances to have her designs proudly showcased. However, both of them must keep Lady Crystallia’s true identity a secret as the world is not ready for a prince who likes dressing as a princess.
What does featuring Crystallia in panel breakouts contribute to her story?
An iconic element of comics, known to even those who don’t really read them, is the use of panels. Their use in succession is the essence of comics as they are the snapshots of the story the reader interacts with and gives meaning to. While the layout may range from the simple and linear of comic strips to the more complex of action comics, panels are the fundamental unit of all comics. What happens when a creator decides to remove those margins, though? When the action is simply too great to be contained by simple box? This leads to a panel breakout: an illustration that is part of the comic’s storyline but is not featured inside a traditional panel. They can range in size and placement just like panels do: some may take up roughly the same size as previous panels while some may take a half or whole page. Their purpose, however, is the same: to feature an element of the story prominently.
Credit: Jen Wang
A three-part page: one breakout illustration of Crystallia on the top-left corner, another breakout illustration of Crystallia on the bottom-left, a close-up of Frances’s face in a triangular frame along the right side of the page.
First breakout: A full-bodied Crystallia walking from behind a screen divider. She is wearing a long, flowing orange dress with a cape.
Second breakout: A close-up of Crystallia, her face profiled to feature her long red hair adorned with pink flowers.
Side panel: Frances stares at Crystallia with a wide-eyed look, a pink blush on her cheeks.
As such, in Prince and the Dressmaker, panel breakouts are used to showcase the various characters’ clothing. This is more than understandable in a comic where fashion plays a pivotal part in the story. A character’s choice of clothing is indicative of not only their identity, but also their place in the world. It is worth noting that this isn’t either an archaic concept or groundbreaking observation. In both reality and fiction, clothing is an excellent characterization device. It offers insight into who a person might be and hints of the social cues that must be observed. All people, in varying degrees, willfully or not, express who they are in relation to others through their clothing. This is Sebastian’s characterizing dilemma. The clothes he desires to wear openly challenge the public perception of who he is and who he is expected to be. He is not a young, fashionable socialite; he is the crown prince of Belgium.
Credit: Jen Wang
A two-part page: One breakout illustration of Crystallia on the top-right corner, another on the bottom left.
First breakout: Crystallia is modeling the orange dress Frances made, her left hand on her waist and her right on the dress making it fan out. Behind the image, there is an illustration of oranges and orange flowers.
Second breakout: Crystallia is twirling around, hands above her head, as the dress fans around her.
Off-panel announcer: Oh my goodness, a goddess from the land of citrus!
Credit: Jen Wang
A four-panel page with a superimposed breakout illustration of Crystallia between the last two panels.
First panel: A close-up of Sebastian handing Frances a pair of glasses.
Second panel: Frances is putting the glasses on with a happy look on her face.
Third panel: Frances is pinning sections of a new dress together. She is working happily with her glasses on and holding another pin with her lips.
Fourth panel: Crystallia is surrounded by a group of people, wearing the her new dress, drink in her hand as she speaks with the crowd. Evreryone is taken in by her.
Breakout illustration: A side, full-bodied shot of Crystallia in a brightly colored dress made of feathers. The feathers change from a bluish-green, to yellow, to orange; the feathers in the middle of the dress are bright red. Crystallia’s hair is done up in a big pompadour with a long braid in the back.
Having finally found a talented designer and confidant and wearing the first dress specifically tailored to his desires both lead Sebastian to a momentous occasion that cannot be contained in a panel. While the practical purpose of featuring Crystallia for the first time from head to toe is evident, the use of a breakout illustration fuels the idea that this is, in fact, a breakout moment. Crystallia has broken out of the confines of Sebastian’s head, creativity, and anxiety, and she is finally allowed to emerge. For this initial moment on, Crystallia’s breakout illustrations are both a treat for the reader, to fully appreciate the design of her dresses, and a glimpse of Crystallia’s development as a persona. Sebastian’s own emotions and personality are able to break out through her to finally interact with the world as he pleases.