After Twilight . . .

This weekend was Labyrinth of Jareth, and I had a pretty good time. As promised, the costume pics:)

I've been designing and building this costume for the last month, so it was pretty sweet to see it finally come together. It's a little modified for the evening's festivities (read: shorter), and I added my black petticoat. I just thought it would be fun to wear it in a way I never would at Faire.

The headpiece turned out looking pretty cool, though it is definitely not something I'd wear as a Fantastickal! It's made of gold paper, so while it is sturdier than I expected, still not terribly sturdy. But, it looked pretty:)

The ensemble wears pretty well. The ombre dyeing on the silk chemise came out really beautifully, and of course, nothing wears like silk. And the Indian overskirt is sparkly and rich and lovely. The bodice wasn't too terribly uncomfortable: it's royal dupioni boned in the front (the wings provide the boning in the back), and though I wore it from 5pm until 10pm, I didn't feel too constricted. The wings were a learning curve, but I didn't hit too many people with them, luckily; I even drove in them!

Doing airbrush makeup on myself is always an experience, so I thought I'd give the highlights:) This is me dressed and wigged, face bare, at 5pm. It's amazing how plain it looks without makeup!

My high-tech way of keeping makeup off the silk: papertowels:) Let the fun begin.

I'm not as young as I used to be, folks. If I want white makeup to get into the fine wrinkles around my eyes and mouth, I need to start with a white cream base in those areas. Yes, it looks pretty strange.

White base. This is how I know I'd never be the most popular Geisha in Gion.

Cosmic Blue. A little known fact: cosmic blue smells. It has a vaguely cookie-ish smell, if you baked cookies with liquid makeup:) I have also done the first coat of spray on my hair; I set the wig back on my head slightly and pinned the front of my hair into it, for a slightly smoother transition. The makeup was sprayed pretty thick on there, and was not a lot of fun to wash out at the end.

Blue and purple lowlights. The purple in the eyes did not turn out terribly well, but you have to remember: I am spraying over my own eyeballs, which means I can't actually see what I'm doing. I have to position the airbrush, close my eyes, and pray. I usually spray really lightly as a result, for fear of overdoing it.

Finished makeup. Yes, there were quite a few steps in between, but you can't expect me to show everything. And, there were several mishaps too. Both the dark blue and the yellow bottles overflowed/exploded at one point, and I had a few cleanup jobs. I did not take pictures of the times I had dark blue dots sprayed across my cheek, or the explosion of light yellow right in the center of my forehead; I figured I'd leave that to your imagination:) The process is not always smooth, but the result is always pretty damn cool.

I'll post on the ball tomorow, with some pictures of attendees. I didn't take a lot of pictures; I had my iPhone as my only camera, so a lot of the pictures are dark and grainy or blurry. Also, I was more interested in looking than in snapping:) But, there were a few I had to capture, so stay tuned . . .

Follow the White Rabbit . . .

I know these images have been spreading around the web these last few days and you may have seen them. I don't care. I simply have to share these pictures. Kirsty Mitchell, a UK-based costume designer and photographer, recently lost her mother to cancer. She was inspired to do a photo shoot called "Wonderland" in her memory, and the results are, quite simply, stunning.

The images evoke loss and longing, beauty, sadness, and a sort of far-eyed hope. There is a silence in these pictures that speaks of strength, of the power of fragility.

Kirsty intends to release a book of her images in 2013, but you can go to her website and see extensive behind-the-scenes information of how each of these images was produced. I remember preparing and shoting my pictures for the Seamstress Shop, and though these are 100 times grander, I think I can understand the acheivement and the joy she has in these images. They are visual poetry, and I want to climb inside.

Inspired By. . .

When I sit down to design a new costume, often a lot of the work goes on, in the initial stages, inside my head. I see an image somewhere, often completely unrelated to what I'm doing, and it fires a synapse and gets me thinking in a new direction. My costume for Labyrinth of Jareth started like that, with an image of a sunset in purples, pinks, and blues. Thus the Twilight Faery was born.

But, you can't build a costume from a picture of clouds. So, I started to look at lots of other images, and for this costume I went to an area I haven't before: Eastern Europe. Usually if I say one of my designs has Eastern influences, you can safely assume I'm talking about Japan or China. The change is exciting to me; I got to do research in a totally new area.

Once I knew that I wanted a "bodice faery", I started to contemplate the headpiece, and I found several images of a Rssian traditional headdress, often worn by brides, called a kokoshnik.

I started with the images as reference, and then looked at Russian and Eastern European design motifs in art and architecture for ideas as to the specific design.

The above borrows on some of these elements while also leaning on my love of the swirly, freeform Art Nouveau style. My intention is to do a two-layer leather crown, with the outer layer in gold and the under layer in a purple-blue gradient.

Unfortunately, I don't have time (or money!) to do this in time for LOJ. So, I took the above image as inspiration, and I built out the kokoshnik frame in wire, which will then be covered in gold foil Dresden paper lace. I'm hoping for a delicate, fragile look.

The costume itself is very much inspired by Eastern European traditional garb, with a front-lacing bodice and two layers of skirts, the top skirt heavily ornamented, the chemise very blousey and full, the bodice with embroidered motifs. In the end, I think I have a fantasy costume that owes a lot to real garments, fantastickal and familiar at the same time. I'm hoping once I bring everything together with the makeup, it will turn out well. Stay tuned for pictures after the 30th!

Into the Wild . . .

I've been looking at a lot of different inspirations for my latest costume, from purple sunsets to sparrow wings to Russian and Indian traditional garments. I think it might be time to try a project I've wanted to do for ages.

I have always loved gazelle and antelope horns, and have wanted to do a character that wears them (either that, or deer antlers). I just might tackle this project this weekend. I'll keep y'all posted!

Preview 3 . . .

I'm hoping to be able to attend the Labyrinth of Jareth at the end of this month, and I'm busily working on an ensemble for it. I'm sort of worried they'll sell out before I can afford a ticket; I'm planning to get one by this Friday so I can go on the 30th, but, with my luck . . . we'll see. It's also contingient on my being able to get a new airbrush compressor and makeup before the 30th, so we'll see about that too. But, the costume is looking pretty good! Stay tuned for finished pics . . . .

Preview Number 2 . . .

Here's another preview for my current project . . .

Preview Number 1 . . .

I'm working on kind of a secret project right now . . . but I figured I'd give y'all a few peeks:) Stay tuned . . .

A Tale of Terror . . .

There are spoilers ahead. You have been warned.

I went to see "Snow White and the Huntsman" on Friday, and, I have to say, I was fairly excited. I've devoured whatever I could get my hands on regarding the costuming, and the previews made it look dark and scary and beautiful, like the fantasy films I remember from my childhood.

All that being said . . . ahem. Well, it was pretty. Very, very pretty. Visually stunning. If you could have a remote control and turn off the sound for most of the film, you really wouldn't miss much. In fact, you might have a better viewing experience. That sounds pretty harsh, I know, and I'm not saying it's a terrible movie. It's not, really. It's just not all that good.

There are way too many questions that don't get answers, and for an analytical mind like mine, that doesn't sit well. After leaving the theatre, my companion and I immediately started to dissect the editing/script issues:

-If Snow White is really locked up for, like, 10 years, how is she any level of functioning human? Why is she not horribly psychologically scarred or at least completely socially awkward? Does she sew her own clothes? Does she read to pass the time? Seriously, that tower room is empty, dank, and terrible, and she comes out of it pretty much normal.

-If Snow White can calm and enchant all the creatures of the faery forest, why doesn't she utilize this in the final battle? It would have been awesome to see her ride that troll into battle, and command a small army of moss-covered turtles and rabbits and birds. It might even have been cool to see her use birds against the Queen, who uses her own birds so prominently for evil. Instead, we are treated to a Narnia-like, LOTR retread, with a bunch of people riding horses across the beach in shiny armor and getting arrows shot at them. Boring.

-What the hell is the geography of this place? They go through three or four distinctly different areas and several different climates, all in the space of a few minutes, with no idea how much time has passed or distance has been crossed. The castle is on a frigging beach. The forest appears to be surrounded by swamp. The faery forest is in some kind of perpetual summer. Then, it's winter. Some sense of location might have been helpful.

-If the Queen has no powers in the Dark Forest, then how the hell does she get Snow White to eat that apple?

-Is Finn the dumbest villain alive? After the Huntsman finds Snow White and holds her hostage for the return of his wife (promised to him by the Queen), instead of agreeing that the wife will be returned and taking Snow White, Finn laughs in the Huntsman's face and tells him the Queen can't fulfill the bargain, and he's stupid for thinking so. Big fight, no Snow White. WTF?

-Zero chemistry between KStew and either of her male leads. Zero. And, it's not hard to have chemistry with Chris Hemsworth, who smolders and glowers and weeps in beautiful measures. He's handsome covered in three layers of filth. Jesus, what would it take to smile at him a little more, instead of that vaguely pained expression she seems to default to?

-What is the Queen's ultimate endgame? Why take over a second kingdom, when it is clearly explained that she already took over one by killing the last rulers? Did she use that kingdom up? Did they run her out of town on a rail? Is her army from there? Again, no sense of geography. And, why take over Snow White's country, just to run everything into the ground? It might have been more interesting to watch her try to rule the country (ie: be a real person and not a 2-dimensional symbol), and struggle with a populace that hates her. Why just come in and kill everything? What's the point?

There are, literally, a hundred more questions and issues I could raise here, but there's little point. The film is a beautiful spectacle, and my hat is off to Colleen once again for one of her most incredible costume design jobs. But, I need more out of my movie-going experience than just sitting back and turning down the sound on my brain for two hours. I wish "Snow White and the Huntsman" had tried a little harder to be a film, and not just eye-candy.

In Memoriam . . .

One of my inspirations has died.

You may never have heard of her. I sometimes forget that not everyone is as deeply into film costuming as I am, and I assume my readers have the same familiarities with famous costumers that I do. You may not have known her name, but I guarantee you know her work.

From Dracula

Eiko Ishioka was not a costume designer by trade. She did not sew. She did not construct garments, or even seek to have much understanding of how garment construction worked. But she was an artist, and she designed things in fabric that made you gasp. I first saw her work when I was 12 years old, and it changed the way I looked at film costuming forever. Her designs for Bram Stoker's Dracula were stunning, to say the least: the costumes transcended the historical constraints of the setting and gave life to the darker symbolism in the story. Dracula wore rivers of blood, and seemed to be skinned, his muscles exposed. Lucy, turned into a vampire, was a predatory lizard in white silk. Garments were embroidered with dragons and snakes and leaves, all to give you insight into the characters who wore them. I learned an important lessons from her: costumes are not just what characters wear. Costumes tell you who a character is.

From The Fall

Eiko collaborated several times with Tarsem Singh, designing four of his films, and all visual tour-des-forces: The Cell, The Fall, Immortals, and Mirror, Mirror (yet to be released). Her costumes in each push the boundaries of what film costuming means, almost becoming characters in themselves. She showed Eastern influences in many of her designs, but really her style conforms to no period and no map. It was simply Eiko.

From The Cell

From Varekai

She worked once with Cirque Du Soleil in a partnership that seemed inevitable: the costumes for Varekai were strange blends of lizard and bird, rooted to the ground and flying through the air, a mix that should not have worked. But, the fins and feathers married well, and the results were astonishing.

From Dracula

From The Cell

From Mirror, Mirror

From Spiderman

Her last two efforts, completed while she was battling pancreatic cancer, were collaborations with two demanding directors: once again she worked with Tarsem on Mirror, Mirror, and she designed the costumes for Julie Taymor's Spiderman: Turn off the Dark. You could not find two more different projects, but Eiko's stamp is obvious on each: Spiderman shows her penchant for biological dismorphism and insanely bright colors; the characters sprout spikes and wear their muscles on the outside, terrifying and beautiful. And Mirror, Mirror returns to the territory she walked for Dracula, with garments that bridge the gap between historical and fantasy in richly saturated colors and covered in embroidered motifs.

I am deeply saddened that such a great and visionary artist has been lost. She is one of the reasons I got into this business, and I can honestly say that the business of film costume will not be the same without her.