A mom turns Disney princess gowns into one-of-a-kind outfits for her son who wanted to dress like his favorite characters

• Nickson Vargas has loved Disney princesses since before he could talk, according to his mother, Jolene Vargas.
• Jolene began making Nickson custom costumes after he told her he wanted to look like the princesses but didn't want to wear dresses.
• Jolene posts videos of her making Nickson's costumes, and of him meeting the princesses on TikTok, where she had over 84,000 followers at the time of writing.
• Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

Of all the characters created by the Disney company, few are as beloved as the princesses.

They're celebrated at the Disney parks, heralded as the stars of films, and you're even going to be able to buy wedding dresses inspired by the characters in 2020.

The popularity of Disney princesses inspires generations of supporters, but their No. 1 fan might be Nickson Vargas, a 3-year-old boy from California.

Nickson Vargas has loved the Disney princesses since before he could talk, as his mother Jolene Vargas told Insider

Jolene and her husband Christopher Vargas have two sons together: Nickson and their 1-year-old, August.

"When he was 9 or 10 months old, we'd have Netflix on and we'd put on a different variety of movies, but he would start pointing out 'Moana,'" Jolene said of Nickson when he was a baby.

"It was actually pretty funny because if I tried to put anything else on, he would almost like, just scream."

Once he could talk, Nickson would request toy versions of the princesses whenever he was at the store, and he grew more interested in the princesses after meeting Vanellope from "Wreck-It Ralph" at a meet-and-greet.

Nickson's love for the princesses really took off when he had the chance to meet Snow White at Disneyland

The Vargas family stopped by the Royal Hall, which is where many of the princesses can be found at the California theme park.

"He walked up to them like he knew them," Jolene said of Nickson's reaction to meeting Snow White and the other princesses.

"It was just really cool to see this shy boy open up."

The meet-and-greet solidified Nickson's love for the princesses, which has only grown since then.

"Now, when we go to Disneyland, that's the mandatory stop," she said. "We have to stop to see the princesses first."

Today, Nickson's favorite princess is Cinderella, who he had the chance to meet before Disneyland was open to the public a few weeks ago.

"She feels like a best friend at the moment," Jolene said of Nickson's feelings about Cinderella.

Nickson's interest in the characters turned into him wanting to dress like the Disney princesses

"It started off with Elsa," his mom told Insider, as Nickson wanted to dress like the ice queen from "Frozen."

"My husband actually went and just got him the Elsa dress from Walmart."

"Believe it or not, he just didn't really care for the dress part," Jolene said of Nickson's reaction to the costume. He wanted to dress like Elsa, but he wasn't interested in wearing the dress.

"So I went in and just altered it, so it'd be a little more comfortable for him," Jolene said of her solution, which was to create a version of Elsa's costume with shorts.

Since then, Jolene has made Nickson a variety of Disney princess costumes, including Anna and Cinderella looks, along with a vest that features all of the princesses.

When she spoke to Insider, Jolene was currently in the process of making her son a Tiana costume inspired by "Princess and the Frog."

She said it takes her around 15 to 20 hours to alter Nickson's costumes. "Luckily for me, it's mostly just moving parts from here to there," she said of the looks.

Jolene recently began documenting Nickson's love of the Disney princesses on TikTok

She posts videos of Nickson meeting Disney princesses, as well as clips of her making his costumes. At the time of writing, Jolene had over 84,000 followers on TikTok.

Many of the reactions to her posts are positive, but she told Insider she does receive a lot of "hate" from people who don't approve of Nickson's interests, or her and her husband's parenting.

But Jolene told Insider that, as parents, they work to be accepting of their children's interests no matter what they are, ignoring the negative reactions they receive.

'We limit our children,' Jolene said of the expectations society puts on kids

"Maybe your child doesn't want to play sports. Maybe your child is a makeup artist," she gave as an example.

"You're going to be suppressing a really big talent if you try to force something that possibly you wanted, or that you just feel is normal."

"It was a no-brainer," Jolene said of her reaction to Nickson liking princesses, which was supportive. Her husband was also on board. "We just said it's so cool we can go to the toy store and just let him do what he wants to do."

"I don't shame him for liking it because I'd be telling my son that admiring a strong woman is a weak thing to do," she said of her son's love of princesses.

"I like that they're strong, and I like that they have messages of being kind and forgiving."

"They have these characteristics that you want anybody to follow and to be a fan of," she said of the princesses. "So the fact that they're women should not really matter."

Jolene recently created an Instagram account to support Disney cosplay

During a recent trip to Disneyland, the Vargas family had an interaction with a family that reacted negatively to Nickson wearing an Elsa costume.

The interaction bothered Jolene, and it led her to brainstorm how she could create positive role models for Nickson and his friends.

She and a friend decided to create Princess Boy Bounds, an Instagram account dedicated to spotlighting gender-bending cosplay.

"I know we're not the only ones out there, and it just kind of helps teach people that their words and their bullying have an impact," Jolene said of the account.

Jolene works to teach her sons to be empathetic towards everyone they meet

"The biggest thing I feel like is raising confident children," she said of her thoughts on parenting.

"I want to teach my son that people who bully are people who are bullied, too. It's coming from a place of them being hurt and them not being treated well themselves."

"So don't take it so personally when someone is saying something bad about you. Just try your best to brush it off and ignore it you know," she said.

You can follow Jolene on TikTok here.

• Read more:
• Disney is releasing 16 wedding dresses inspired by your favorite princesses and they start at $1,200
• A couple had a Disney-themed wedding complete with a glass slipper to hold their rings
• A man proposed to his girlfriend during a screening of 'Sleeping Beauty' by editing himself into her favorite Disney movie
• A mom creates fun characters out of her son's school lunches, and the elaborate bento boxes have gone viral