A dress is the attire worn by Alice Liddell in her journey throughout Wonderland and Otherlands. Most of the dresses are either based on the appearance of certain domains and citizens of Wonderland, related to the works of the minds she visited, or possess special attributes. The dresses also have different Hollow Yves to suit their themes.
All of Alice's domain and Otherland dresses have two alchemical or astrological symbols on the apron, each different in appearance and meaning. The symbol explanations are in order of the appearance of the dress and have the closest relation to Alice, her experiences and personality.
Classic[]
Eris – – Represents the Greek goddess Eris, the ruler of chaos, strife and discord.
Jupiter – ♃ – The representative of mind rising above the horizon of matter.
Steamdress[]
Mercury – ☿ – Ruler of Travel (builder of trains); represents the Hatter.
Saturn – ♄ – Represents matter taking precedence over mind or spirit (machines taking over); Ruler of Law (the new law of Wonderland being introduced).
Siren[]
Neptune – ♆ – Ruler of Illusions (builder of undersea stages and theatre); represents the Carpenter.
Moon – ☽ – Representative of Alice's emotions out of control.
Silk Maiden[]
Uranus – ♅ – Ruler of revolutions and violent upheaval; represents the Caterpillar.
Pluto – – Represents the ruler of evil and death; mind transcending matter to reach a divine spirit (Alice reaching the Caterpillar).
Royal Suit[]
Venus – ♀ – Ruler of "Love" (Hearts); represents the Queen of Hearts.
South Ascending Moon – ☋ – Ruler of karma and the past; manifested as Queen Child Alice.
Misstitched[]
Mars – ♂ – Ruler of lust; represents the Dollmaker.
Ceres – – Represents Ceres, the Roman goddess and ruler of the harvest (harvesting children for lustful purposes).
Hattress[]
Mercury – ☿ – see Steamdress
Saturn – ♄ – see Steamdress
To the Moon[]
Fire – △ – For drive and to express self and faith.
Iron – ♂ – Philosophically, iron represents a need to temper primal urges while at the same time embracing the fire within.
Around the World[]
Air – – For communication, socialization, and conceptualization.
Antimony – – Represents animal tendencies in humankind; the symbol of the wild nature in everyone.
20,000 Leagues Under[]
Water – ▽ – For emotion, empathy, and sensitivity.
Tin – – Represents a philosophical lesson to life that standing alone is weaker than if combined with another element (strong as one, but stronger in unison).
To the Centre[]
Earth – – Represents practicality, caution and the material world.
Copper – – Also the planetary symbol of Venus, which embodies love, balance, feminine beauty and artistic creativity.
Ash[]
Sulfur – – Also known as the brimstone symbol, it represents Hell and the Devil.
Fire – △ – See To the Moon
Trivia[]
Alice's Wonderland domain dresses are a little inspired by The Cell.[1]
The DLC dresses can be unlocked in the game files of the PC version of Alice: Madness Returns.
The Hattress is the only DLC dress to have symbols on it.
The Siren dress would have been the only dress that can change Alice's legs had the swimming ability been included in the final release, as the dress turns her legs into a mermaid's tail.[2]
The reason why Alice's dress symbols are different on promotional images of Alice compared to in-game were due to "poor communication/planning and/or might have to do with the marketing department being overly sensitive about the symbols and their meanings".[3]
In Alice: Otherlands, the Classic dress is the only dress to have Hollow Yves' ribbons.
Unlike the previous dresses, the new dresses in "Leviathan" have no ribbons and Hollow Yves retains its skull appearance in each of them.