Glam up with the Cullen girls from The Twilight Saga: New Moon

Hit the party with the glamorous dresses seen on Alice, Rosalie and Esme.

The wait is finally over! For all Twifans in America today is the big one as The Twilight Saga: New Moon DVD hits store shelves. For those in Britain, there are another excruciating few days to wait (it’s not out until Monday), yet this is the weekend to really dial up the Twilight fun with New Moon parties popping up everywhere. They’re a great chance to enjoy the vampire phenomenon, whether listening to the soundtrack albums, playing the board games or just watching the movies and to help really get the party started why not dress up as one of the characters?

The fashions of Twilight have become almost as popular as the books and movies, a stylish extension of the world of vampires and werewolves that we all wish we were a part of. And arguably the most glamorous and gorgeous fashions are flashed at the 18th birthday party of Bella (Kristen Stewart). Hosted at the Cullens’ house, the party is suitably sophisticated and elegant-looking with oodles of lit candles artfully strewn along the wood floors and multi-coloured bouquets of roses giving it a really dreamy quality.

In the midst of all this is Bella in a green and black taffeta dress, as selected for her to wear by the Cullens’ resident fashionista, Alice (Ashley Greene). Usually seen scuffing about in jeans, it’s a lot more showy than Bella’s used to, but with a black shrug, her Vans Gisele pumps and her style staples – her moonstone ring, Goody Stay Put headband, wooden bead prayer bracelet and St. Jude protection bracelet – she manages to gradually relax into her starring role as the birthday girl (that is until she gets a nasty paper cut and all hell breaks loose).

Yet while catwalk chic doesn’t come naturally to Bella, it certainly does for the Cullen women. And while we got to know them and their style identities in Twilight, there were a few tweaks to their wardrobes for New Moon as the movie’s costume designer, Tish Monaghan explains. “For the Cullens, the new director [Chris Weitz] felt their world was a little too separated, colour-wise, from the rest of the people in the town,” she says. “He wanted to maintain their cool grey world, but with a minor shift in the colour palette. Rather than pastel hues, he steered me to greys and blues. Of course, the actors had also done a lot of work with the previous designer, and the studio was pleased with their general look, so I jumped on board to honour both the previous discussions from the first movie and what Chris was requesting.”

With the pastels binned, Tish brought in these darker, more dramatic colours and at the party the trendsetting trio keep it simple it mono-coloured dresses. Esme, the caring matriarch of the Cullen clan played by former Grey’s Anatomy actress Elizabeth Reaser, wears a Club Monaco Jolie silk dress in a luscious lilac shade. It’s quite a loose straight dress, pretty yet demure in its subtle simplicity the eye-catching detail coming from the elaborately frilled neckline tapping into the current craze for all things ruffles. She pairs this with black heels, her wispy necklace and, like all of her family, her piece of Cullen crest jewellery, in this case a bracelet worn on the right wrist.

Her adopted daughter, Alice works a similar shade, albeit darker, more of a moody indigo in her Rebecca Taylor silk dress with gem detail. This has a feminine and flattering sweetheart neckline, wide straps and an empire line for a romantic, classical feel. More party punch is provided with the satiny sheen of the fabric, the rich purple complementing the lilac Hugo Boss shirt as seen on her husband, Jasper (Jackson Rathbone). The outfit is completed with black heels and jewellery, Alice’s Cullen crest choker again the star attraction.

And rounding out the fashionable threesome is Rosalie (Nikki Reed) who dusts off a classic little black dress for the occasion. The Diana style by Elie Tahari, this dress is a bit more sultry and sophisticated than Alice’s and, on first look, seems almost plain yet on closer inspection you realise how unusual it really is. The spaghetti straps add delicacy; the draped flow of the fabric provides fluidity and movement, while the handkerchief-esque hemline is playful and fun. With her long blonde hair worn loose, black heels (maybe they got a three for one deal) and the odd flash of jewellery – she has a gold and black chunky bangle and the customary Cullen crest item, a pendant – the dress is kept simple and unfussy, not overloaded or too busy. Just classic and cool, a bit like the Cullens themselves.