FIDM Opening Night

Last night I got to attend the opening night of the 19th Annual Art of Motion Picture Costume Design exhibit at FIDM and it was absolutely amazing! So many costume designers were there to talk to and don't even get me started about all the costumes. The exhibit features True Grit, Alice in Wonderland, Inception, The King's Speech, Clash of the Titans, and The Last Airbenders to name a few. For interviews with the designers, check out Frocktalk.com. Unfortunately, my camera was acting up when I got there which about killed me. All images here were taken by my lovely Frocktalk co-correspondent Kim Ngo.

CLASH OF THE TITANS

Costumes Designed by: Lindy Hemming

BURLESQUE

Costumes Designed by: Michael Kaplan

ALICE IN WONDERLAND

Costumes Designed by: Colleen Atwood

 And we got to meet Colleen!

WALL STREET: MONEY NEVER SLEEPS

Costumes Designed By: Ellen Mirojnick

TEMPEST

Costumes Designed by: Sandy Powell 

 

And my personal favorite

TRUE GRIT

Costumes Designed By: Mary Zophres

The Fabulous Mary Zophres:

Opening Tonight

All my dying and distressing is finally going to be seen. If you're in the Los Angeles area you should come and see the show!

SOMEONE WHO'LL WATCH OVER ME

Directed by Angela Scott

An Irishman, an American and an Englishman are being held in an undisclosed place. Not knowing where they are, who is keeping them and whether they will be released or killed, their biggest concern is not going insane. Frank McGuinness explores the possibilities of the human condition and the hilarious tragedy that is life in a world gone mad. 

At UCLA'S Freud Playhouse
February 3-5, 2011 at 8 p.m.
February 5, 2011 at 2 p.m.
For tickets: 310-825-2101 UCLA Central Ticket Office
Parking for UCLA performances available at Structure 3 ($10)
Presented as part of the Department of Theater 2010/2011 Season

Crazy Excited!

Saturday is the opening night for the FIDM 19th Annual Art of Motion Picture Costume Design and I am lucky enough to attend as a correspondent for FrockTalk. I was fortunate to attend the event last year and see all the costumes nominated for Academy Awards up close and interview a number of costume designers. Oh man, I can't wait to see what beautiful costumes will be on display this year! And most importantly, what will I wear?!?!

Faux Dirt

This past week has been one big distressing party! My show Someone Who'll Watch Over Me goes up next week so I'm busy layering dirt, sweat and grime into the costume pieces. The best part about using sprays is the garments can be washed every night without loosing any of the dirt, which makes my life a lot easier.

Someone Who'll Watch Over Me

Since the beginning of the year I've been busy working on the show Someone Who'll Watch Over Me by Frank McGuinness. Set in a dark windowless basement Lebanon, an American, an Irishman and an Englishman are held hostage by unseen terrorists. I'm having a blast designing their disgusting, sweaty clothes that they have had to live in for months without ever taking them off. It's going to be a great show!

The Murderous Ink Blot

There's nothing I love more than a murder mystery, particularly if it is set in a British country manor in the 1940 during a raging thunderstorm. I think I'm drawn to stodginess, elaborate hairdos. And a little Edward Gorey reference never hurts. I don't think I'm quite suited to live in California with constantly beautiful weather. Sometimes a girl just wants a thunderstorm.

This is an illustration I did for my figure drawing class using ink quills and washes. Fun Fact: Midway through my quill splattered smack in the middle of my project so I had to just roll with it and incorporate it in the drawing. I think it actually worked to my advantage! Death by ink blot?

A couple of images that helped me set the mood:

Befores and Afters

Unlike my evil nemesis Watercolor, Photoshop and I get along just fine. ;)

Typically I will sketch my characters out on paper and then scan them and finish them up digitally. These are my most recent completed renderings so you can see what I work with when Photoshopping. If you have a drawing tablet you can draw your body and outlines pretty easily, but I prefer sketching them out by hand and then layering that scanned outline over what I've photoshopped to keep it from looking too clean and perfect.

Le Marionette

Behold! Another set of rendings for Tartuffe. For my third and (hopefully) last Tartuffe of my academic career, I chose to turn the characters into dark marionettes with Tartuffe pulling their strings as the twisted puppet master. Each character is loosely based on different decades from the 1800s through the 1940s.

I think it's pretty clear that I'm a huuuuge Colleen Atwood fan, the costume designer who works with Tim Burton. If I could ever work/intern for her I would be in heaven! I would happily sort her bric-a-brac and get her coffees for free any day.

 

.

 

completely gratuitous Bergdorf shots

God, I love all the beautiful christmas window displays on 5th Avenue. These astrological/adventurer/steampunk-esque displays from Bergdorf Goodman are absolutely incredible.  

A Bavarian Christmas

I had a pretty amazing Christmas. My parents moved back to Garmisch-Partenkirchen deep in Bavaria and I was lucky enough to go and spend xmas with them. We used to live in in Garmisch when I was in high school and it was a bit like old times. Went to the Christmas Markt, forced down some Glühwein (the most awful drink known to man), trudged around the snow, went snowboarding ate some schnitzels and got some much needed downtime while hanging out with my parents.