Fittings

Had our first ever official fittings yesterday. As well as being quite intense, scary, and high-pressured they were actually the most enjoyable experience.
Seeing your costume, something you've made yourself, from scratch, with your own hands, (and a needle!) in 3D on the model and not just a stand is an amazing thing. When you've spent hours drafting and redrafting patterns, and sewing and unpicking and sewing again. It makes it all worth it when you see it all come together.
Chatting with the designer Frances Tempest (costume designer of BBC's Robin Hood) and getting her feedback was incredible. Her enthusiasm for getting her hands in there (literally - and sometimes down the cleavage) and pushing and pulling the model and your costume around was great, if a little worrying. Especially when she decides to simply rip your stitching apart.
All in all, an amazing experience, can't wait to carry on!


Here are some photos from the fitting with my wonderful model Imogen.

In her costume before it got ripped apart.

The 'puff' with hip pads underneath to make it even larger!

At the end of the fitting, with all the alterations made. Can't wait to get hair & make-up into the mix.

Lack of activity..

I knew it would take me a while to get into the flow of actually posting, but I didn't realise it'd been this long!

Here's some updates:

- Vampire project is coming along pretty well, we've got our first model fittings tomorrow, so will have more to say then, plus hopefully some photos.

- Met with the make-up students who are going to be making us up and there's talks of fake fangs, extremely long false nails and lots of wig work. Going to be exciting to be on the other side for a change!

- We're learning more & more each day about the importance of historical accuracy. Construction isn't a joke. Making costumes is hard work.

In the meantime... Stumbled across an amazing artist the other day. Let me share.

These beauties, come from Willard Wigan, Micro Sculptor. If you're wondering quite what is it, and if it's true, yes, they really are modelled inside the head of a pin. As someone who makes clothes, I know how hard it is just to get a piece of thread through my needle so cannot imagine the dedication (and magnifying glass!) that helps toward creating these. My personal favourites found from his collection on, www.willard-wigan.com are these two. As a massive Harry Potter fan, I love the character models done here, especially the addition of Hedwig. The top Fairy tale image is just beautiful and the detail out of this world. Having tried my hand at model making, these sculptures are no mean feat.

In the words of Mr Wigan:

 “It began when I was five years old,” says Willard. “I started making houses for ants because I thought they needed somewhere to live. Then I made them shoes and hats. It was a fantasy world I escaped to. That’s how my career as a micro-sculptor began.”

If only we could all discover our talents and career at age 5.

Vampires...

Received our new project brief last week. Three words:

Construction

Corsetry

Vampires

With original designs by Francis Tempest and a feature length music video in our Vampish costumes directed by Gareth Corke to culminate, this project is sure to be good.

The fellow costume housemates & I started researching last night with a film, the incredibly dated, 'Interview With a Vampire'. Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, Antonio Banderas and a young Kirsten Dunst strut around the screen encapsulating everything 'horror'.

There is no doubt in my mind about the beauty of the costume and styling throughout this film. It shows so beautifully their progression through the eras as they live for hundreds of years. Although dated and tame in its horror values (simply not scary at all), 'Interview With a Vampire' gave great context into this realm and style I will have to recreate.

What's it all about.

So, I've heard blogging is a good way to get yourself out there - let's see if it works..

I'm currently a Costume Design & Making student at AUCB & that's as far as it goes. What I want to do & where I'll end up has a mind of its own. I'm only a first year (although this year has gone ridiculously quick!) so there's plenty of time to sort myself out. Hoping this will help organise my thoughts & keep myself on track, make me actually think about my research a bit more.

Right now, I have no real direction. I'm drifting.