2008 FIDM Movie Costume Exhibit Review
(For you hard core costumers, I'm going to hyperlink some
of the films to more research on the costume... so click away for more
research. A full list of the movie costumes on
this exhibit, see the
chart at the bottom.)
Once again the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising has setup a
great exhibit to showcase movie costumes of the past year. While there
are fewer films represented than some years (21 plus last years scrumptious
Oscar winner for Best Costume, Marie Antoinette) they have staged over
100 costumes for us to admire from afar and examine in close detail.
FIDM's exhibit space is continuing to evolve. This year they set
the stage by greeting us with giant, glittering film reels, a sparkling
screen showing previews of the showcased costume movies and a couple of
mannequins dressed only in artistically spiraled jewels. A tight turn
and we are treated to a hall exhibit of the posters of the represented
movies. One more turn and the sharp angles end. The main costume
area's curves smoothly leading from one room to the next creating a smooth
viewing flow.
The first room is devoted to historical flicks and has some of the most
talked about movies costumes of the year, including two of this year's Oscar
nominations for Best Costume. Your eyes travel across luscious drapes
of silk and wonderful tailoring.
The eye is quickly drawn to "that" green gown from
Atonement.
Glowing a magical custom dyed green, it's bodice is cut on the bias, minus a
back, of course, and the shirt is cut on the straight, cascading into a
wonderfully wide rippling train. The bodice, while giving a flavor of
the 1930's is decorated with pure 21st century styling - instead of beads
around the bodice neck, the design is laser cut. Worn at an iconic
moment in the film, already Keira Knightley's green dress is being compared
Audrey Hepburn's little black dress from "Breakfast at Tiffany's".
While this dress is already being seriously documented on line, it's still
something to see in person. Pictures do not do full server to show
it's delicate nature.
Turn around and enter a much darker kind of costume magic -
Sweeny Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street. where "the costumes are
another character in the movie". They are all dark with a limited
color palette, but bit of color jump out and set the mood. While
Sweeney's Butcher outfit
is darkest of the 7 costumes representing the
movie, it's texture brings it to center. His thigh length black
leather coat is finely striped, laser cut. His vest is course brown linen and the
trouser (from the beginning of the firm) are dark brown denim with heavy mud
spattering (tan paint). Since Johnny Depp owns all his own costumes,
and this outfit is being shown by special arrangement, this is a rare
opportunity to see this costume in person.
Mrs. Lovette is represented by a couple of costumes -- the
red and white
stripped dream outfit and her opening bakery number. The shear
patterned black lace overlaying most of the gown, and the collar is heavily
decorated with copper chips instead of beads. Her bodice is decorated
with bits of blood red net.
Contrasting the darkness, is
Joanna's aqua gown with the
diamond
cut outs on the bodice and sleeves. Note, those areas and the skirt's
scalloping edges are finished with 1/8 inch binding and just a bit of gathered
lace. It gives the silk dress a clean innocent, yet elegant look when
compared to the rough earthly-ness of the rest of the costumes from the
movie.
The centerpiece of the next room is last year's Oscar winner for Costume
Design,
Marie Antoinette. Marie's gown was white and silver with
the large panniers, and Louie's matching suit. Stunning. As
mentioned last year, the tailoring is perfect.
The rest of the movies in this room are fantasy. The Harry Potter
costumes reflect the darkness of this last year's movie - the Order of the
Phoenix. Lot's of black and grey texture and quilting for the Death
Eaters, Lord Voldermort, and Sirius Black except for the crazy pink suit of
Delores Umbridge. It's a variegated pink knit with yarn fringe, pink
velvet buttons, a kitten pin and other crazy little details including an odd
length waist and 3/4 length sleeves with a wacky cuff. Lucius Malfoy's
robes are quilted silvery black wile the Death Eater robes are painted on a
textured canvas fabric with a thick cord design. There is
lot of detail to study on all the outfits from this movie.
The much overlooked movie,
Stardust, is represented by four costumes.
They are fun to stare at up close for all the wonderful detail. The
Princely brothers are represented by Primus. (Each brother's number in
line to the throne are repeated throughout their costume in roman numerals.
The fabric is custom woven; buttons are belts have been cast custom for each
brother and his retinue.) Tristan's hero outfit is there - from the
fabulous white linen jacket to the protecting charm glass flower in his
lapel. His outfit also has great detail from the mini "Jack Sparrow"
buckle on his sword belt to the elaborate fabric buttons with star
embroidery. The falling star herself is represented by her dark blue
Victorian gown.
Yvain's gown is shot taffeta and with the bodice having
velvet accents and piped edging. Lamia's dark green gown with the sari
trim is also on display. It is the version that has started to fray
and sag as her power is expended in the chase for the fallen star.
There are only
3 outfits from Enchanted... but the whole area has been done up as a fun
little cartoon from shinny red apple to magical cottage. Prince
Edward's plum prince outfit dominates - rich velvet, lots of gold embroidery
on the panes, gold edging, beautiful cream and gold undersleeves.
Giselle wears a white gown from the middle of the movie. The fabric is
thickly decorated with glittering designs. The vilan queen's outfit is
fun. wonderfully reptilian, iridescent fabric. Stomacher and
crown are chromed. Much more texture and detail than we see on
most Disney films. Yummy fabric though out.
The Golden Compass is represented by 6 outfits. Most are the winter
outfits. What "reads" as embroidery in the film, is elaborate
painting, much of it is floral. Our vilan, Mrs. Coulter, is decked out
in her most elegant - golden
silk bias cut dress with an over layer of small golden sequins.
This
form fitting top ends at mid hip on a diagonal cut.
Elizabeth: the Golden Years, winner of this year's costume Oscar is the
center point of the final room. The 8 costumes are on a
semi-circle stage allowing you to get a look at the back of many of the
dresses -- which have almost as much detail as the front since the standard
closures have been removed from these dresses and hidden in the front. (No,
that's not a hidden zipper, it's a hidden laceup.)
There is a nice selection of characters from the movie, both English and the
Spanish, including the little
Infanta's costumed Elizabeth doll and the very textured
Walter Raleigh's suit. Besides Elizabeth's dressing gown, corset and
underpinnings, they have her wonderful
gold gown
which is fun to study for the placement of the beads using the lines of a
fabric's brocade pattern but not being forced to only bead in a certain
area. The more sever purple gown of
silk-moiré . (For detailed pictures of these gowns and notes
about the layered trims, etc, see our
Arclight exhibit pics.)
Across from Elizabeth is the absolutely silly
Blades of Glory costumers, Costume Designers Guild Winner for
Contemporary Film. The skating costumes, while almost practical for
real skating are just slightly twisted. They're a fun mix of sequins
and metallic pink leather, powernet and
tulle, appliquéd spandex and little odd bits that push the costumes over
the top.... and would make then dangerous for real skating.
Displayed side by side are two pseudo-historic (er fantasy) films that
rely on heavy computer enhancement. The costumes from
300 have a fair amount of texture. These are done by a combination
of fabric and painting. Most of the armor and extra bits of "leather"
are actually cast latex. This is most pronounced on the
elaborate jewelry of the Persian King. However, in the film it looks like
he's decked out in heavy metals.
In contrast, Beowulf has
intricately detailed outfits. Ursula's
cream linen gown has a heavy overdress/open surcoat. Its trim is
thickly textured cord with sliver thread and turquoise beads interwoven.
The
underdress is a light crinkled fabric that peaks out at neck while the
sleeves are embroidered.
King
Hrothgar's maille and leather armor is just as magnificently detailed.
For the film, all the costumes were build and then scanned while being worn
by the actors.
There are many more costumes from 2007 films to enjoy. Check out
a full list just below.
ExperienceLA.com has a selection of pictures from the exhibit.
Remember, the exhibit is free and open through April 12, 2008. (Full details
here)
Movies Exhibited |
Designers |
List of Costumes * |
Awards |
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Marie Antoinette |
Milena Canonero |
Marie Antoinette-
white/silver gown with large 'toaster' pannier, Louis XVI- complimentary
white/gray/silver coat, wasitcoat and breeches |
Oscar Winner 2007 |
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300 |
Michael Wilkinson |
Persian Emissary; Immortal;
Xerxes; Leonidas |
Costume Designers Guild nominee, Fantasy Film |
3:10 to Yuma |
Arianne Phillips |
Emily Nelson - Brown stripes
& red knit petticoat; Ben Wade - black velvet jacket, leather riding
trousers; Grayson Butterfield - Grey suit; Alice Evens - green-grey
calico gown, quilted petticoat; Charlie Prince - white leather jacket,
suede trousers; Dan Evans - distressed canvas cotton |
|
Across the Universe |
Albery Wolsky |
Clown band; Blue Meanie;
Hendersons |
Oscar Nomination in Costume Design |
Atonement |
Jacqueline Duran |
Briony Tallis- Nurse outfit;
Cecilia Tallis- green gown; 'fountain' skirt, top and camisole; nurse
outfit; Robbie- work outfit and soldier's uniform |
Oscan Nomination in Costume Design |
Beowulf |
Gabriella Pescucci |
Aescher- purple robes; Black
Warrior; Ursula- cream linen dress; King Hrothgar- chain mail/brown
leather outfit |
|
Blades of Glory |
Julie Weiss |
Jimmy MacElroy- peacock suit;
Chazz Michael Michaels- flame suit; Fairchild Van Waldenberg- pink tuttu;
Sranz Van Waldenberg- pink pirate suit; Mascot |
Costume Designers Guild Winner, Contemporary Film |
Eklavya: The Royal Guard |
Raghavendra Rathore |
Eklavya; Rajjo; Princess
Nandini; King Jaywardha; Jyotiwardhan |
|
Elizabeth: The Golden Age |
Alexandra Byrne |
Mary Stuart- red chiffon
dress with black robe (I do not believe that this is the same
configuration as it was in the movie); Phillip II, the Infanta (check
out her doll!); Walter Raleigh- 'pirate lord' outfit; Elizabeth
Throckmorton- light blue gown; Elizabeth I- stays and dressing attire;
purple gown; gold gown |
Oscar Winner in Costume Design & Costume Designers
Guild nominee, Period Film
(ACS exhibit pics) |
Enchanted |
Mona May |
Prince Edward- plum price
outfit; Giselle- white gown, but not the wedding dress; Narissa- rainbow
alligator dress |
Costume Designers Guild nominee, Fantasy Film |
The Golden Compass |
Ruth Myers |
Ma Costa; Serafina Pekkala,
Lyra- Winter outfit; Lord Asriel- winter expedition; Marisa Coulter-
gold beaded gown; Lee Scoresby |
Costume Designers Guild winner, Fantasy Film |
Hairspray |
Rita Ryack |
Penny Pingleton- light blue
'curtain' dress; Tracy Turnbland- red/blue plaid skirt with white top;
Girl Singer- orange dupioni dress; Amber Von Tussle- black/white plaid
dress; Velma Von Tussle- pink/white gingham dress |
|
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix |
Jany Temime |
Sirius Black; Nymphadora;
Delores Umbridge- pink fuzzy jacket adn skirt; Death Eater; Lord
Voldemort; Lucius Malfoy- Death Eater |
Costume Designers Guild nominee, Fantasy Film |
La Vie En Rose |
Marit Allen |
Edith Piaf- black dress with
lace sleeves, turquoise dress with a 'V' seam on the chest; black dress
with a sweetheart neckline |
Oscar Nomination in Costume Design & Makeup &
Costume Designers Guild nominee, Period Film |
Love in the Time of Cholera |
Marit Allen |
Juvenal Urbino- cream jacket,
plaid pants; Florentine Arizo- black silk suit |
|
Lust, Caution |
Lai Pan |
Chih-Ying Chu- light
blue/tan/cream striped Mandarin dress; Wang Chia Chi- Navy overcoat with
blue dress; green plaid overcoat with blue dress; Lee; Mr. Yee |
(ACS exhibit pics) |
Nancy Drew |
Jeffrey Kurland |
Nancy- detective outfit; Mod
dress; modern outfit |
|
Shooter |
Ha Nguyen |
Bobby Lee Swagger- civilian
outfit; desert ghillie suit |
|
Silk |
Carlo Poggioli |
Herve Joncour- brown suit;
Helene Joncour- purple/white/pink striped dress; blue embroidered robe
with a cream colored nightgown |
|
Stardust |
Sammy Sheldon |
Primus- purple robes;
Tristan- cream linen jacket, black pants (The 'makeover' outfit. Be sure
to check out the mini-Jack Sparrow belt buckle); Yvain- dark blue gown;
Lamia- dark green dress with black/gold jaquard bodice |
|
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street |
Colleen Atwood |
Judge Turpin; Pirelli;
Sweeney Todd- striped leather jacket, barber's coat, brown linen vest,
neck tie, linen shirt, dirty pants from beginning of movie (hard to give
it a name since it seems like they threw everything up there); Joanna-
light blue gown; dressing outfit; Mrs. Lovett- shabby 'original' outfit;
red/white striped dress |
Oscar Nomination in Costume Design, Costume Designers
Guild Winner, Period Film |
Youth Without Youth |
Gloria Papura |
Veronica- SS uniform; cream
robe with black swatstika lingerie (check out the embroidery); Dominic-
cream colored outfit; black jacket with mink collar; Laura- early 1900s
dress |
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