In my next life, I want to be a costume designer...
Updated: Mar 14, 2019
So yesterday I went to the costume exhibit at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising--that's the West Coast sister to New York's Fashion Institute of Technology. I attended classes there many years ago; it's a wonderful education for apparel designers, merchandisers, visual artists, and interior designers.
They have an exhibit hall on the lower level, where wonderful things go on display! Every year, this hall plays host to many of the beautiful costumes worn in Oscar nominated films. In all their glory, one can get up close and personal with the dresses, suits, armor, capes, coats, boots, shoes, masks, and all other paraphernalia that makes motion pictures come alive for us! Although there are employees who will make sure that the costumes are not touched, one can get close enough to see the remarkable amount of detailing and craftsmanship in these magnificent garments.
Although all of these examples are beautiful, I did have my personal favorites! First up: In the film Mary Poppins, there is the fantasy sequence where all the actors are wearing these wonderful colorful outfits of red, blue, and yellow. The colors are PAINTED onto the fabric! Literally hand-painted. Those aren't different fabric colors sewn together, the fabric making up the outfits is white, and then painted. Wild. 2nd: The Favourite. The detailing in those gowns, pictured below, is something else. One of the garments worn by Emma Stone has a "side bustle" on each side, that stands out from the dress about 10 inches. No passing in doorways!
3rd: The Nutcracker and the Four Realms. These fanciful confections boast enough glitter, stones, brocade, and damask to rival Louis the XVI! One called "Shiver" worn in the film by Richard E. Grant, is positively festooned with silver brocade, silver lace, and glorious silver beads that resemble ice and snow. 4th: A Wrinkle in Time, another fantasy
of fabric and trim, made me want to go swim with the mermaids. A skirt of long strips of blue, aqua, green, and yellow filmy material, blended with a bodice with seaweed designs, gave a complete feeling of floating amongst sea kelp.
And of course, no costume exhibit this year would be complete without Freddie Mercury! Rami Malek's glorious red and white king's robe with crown was the centerpiece of the whole exhibit.
It is impressive.
As was Freddie.
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