Women empowerment is a clear overarching theme of Cinderella. With that in mind, Martin said, "In this film, we don't have ugly sisters — we're not here to put women down." That sentiment is upheld in Cinderella's (played by Camila Cabello) attitude about the ball and the prospect of meeting a prince. "The beauty of this Cinderella is she wants a life," said Martin. "She wants to do something with her life. She's not necessarily just waiting for the prince. She's more waiting for an opportunity."
That theme granted Martin permission to really expand on what the women in this fairy tale looked like. "Our women could look strong; our women could look fierce, and that's what I set out to do," she said. "[I wanted] bold looks for them, not just the nicely blushing, fainting [look] just because a beautiful man speaks to them or something like that."