![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Until--or rather, unless--i have permission from an employer to post about my work, things around La Bricoleuse are going to be low in project content, process pictures, tutorials inspired by what i'm working on, etc. (That reminds me that i have a post in process about permissions, copyright, design ownership, and intellectual property in the works, as part of that "Last Lecture" series i've been working on, but it's not finished yet.) However, since NYC is such a cultural metropolis, i'll still be contributing quite a bit of content on topics like costume-related museum exhibits, current productions, etc.
Though i can't show you exactly what i'm doing in terms of the costume design renderings or photos of the costume items themselves, i can show you a picture of the research we're working from. Essentially, Shakespeare in the Park's Hamlet is (surprise!) set in Denmark in the royal court, but in a 20th century setting rather than "olde timey" Denmark. As such, we're looking at images of the actual royal family as research. Check out this image of the Queen and her Master of Ceremonies, paying particular attention to the piles of gorpy medals and orders all over the both of them. Those are what Grier and I are making. Every person attached to the court has at least three of those starburst-shaped badges, as well as medals around their necks and on their sashes and such. If you look closely, you'll see that the queen has an elephant hanging around her neck as well--Denmark's Order of the Elephant, in fact. We're making those, too.
If you're a TV celebrity fan, you'll be interested to know that Sam Waterston (Law & Order) is playing Polonius, and Lauren Ambrose (Six Feet Under) is playing Ophelia. Shakespeare in the Park is one of the great "free culture" resources available in NYC--anyone can get tickets for free by going to the Delacourt Theatre after 1pm on the day of performance and asking for them.
After work yesterday, i went to the Metropolitan to check out several of their current exhibits.
The one getting the most press for its crossover pop-culture appeal is the Costume Institute's installation, Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy, which features costumes from superhero films juxtaposed with couture creations influenced by superheroic visual tropes. Each section is devoted to a particular superhero or supervillain (Superman, Batman, Catwoman, Iron Man, etc.) and is supplemented with analytical and historical text printed on the wall, as well as a backdrop of some sort, often original source comic art reproduced huge-scale.
I loved seeing this exhibit because i was able to check out fairly close-up some of the fantastical couture artwear pieces i've seen for years in books, like Thierry Mugler's carapace dresses and motorcycle bodices (amazing), one of Hussein Chalayan's airplane dresses (bizarre), and Syren's latex Catwoman catsuit (actually far less impressive in person than i thought it would be).
I admit i've never been into comics themselves, so i can't speak to it from that perspective, though i do typically love offshoots of comic heroes in other media--superhero television shows and films and such. Lynda Carter's Wonder Woman costume put a smile on the face of my inner nine-year-old, and took me back to when i had huge posters of her in my bedroom and Wonder Woman bedsheets.
A couple of other special exhibitions at the Met which i also enjoyed perusing were the Tibetan Arms and Armor exhibit (great to see the stuff up close, but only one small room worth of pieces made it seem kind of "enh" compared with the general Arms and Armor halls) and the Peruvian Featherwork exhibit. I might even go so far as to say that the Peruvian featherwork was my favorite feature of the entire visit, simply because it was like, this enormous lightbulb going on with respect to those kinds of pieces. The pieces shown were hundreds of years old in some cases, and the exotic bird feathers from which they were made still retained staggeringly intense color. The handiwork was completely off the hook complex and intricate, as well. They even had a featherworker's tool basket on display with partly-made pieces in it! Super cool.
Though i can't show you exactly what i'm doing in terms of the costume design renderings or photos of the costume items themselves, i can show you a picture of the research we're working from. Essentially, Shakespeare in the Park's Hamlet is (surprise!) set in Denmark in the royal court, but in a 20th century setting rather than "olde timey" Denmark. As such, we're looking at images of the actual royal family as research. Check out this image of the Queen and her Master of Ceremonies, paying particular attention to the piles of gorpy medals and orders all over the both of them. Those are what Grier and I are making. Every person attached to the court has at least three of those starburst-shaped badges, as well as medals around their necks and on their sashes and such. If you look closely, you'll see that the queen has an elephant hanging around her neck as well--Denmark's Order of the Elephant, in fact. We're making those, too.
If you're a TV celebrity fan, you'll be interested to know that Sam Waterston (Law & Order) is playing Polonius, and Lauren Ambrose (Six Feet Under) is playing Ophelia. Shakespeare in the Park is one of the great "free culture" resources available in NYC--anyone can get tickets for free by going to the Delacourt Theatre after 1pm on the day of performance and asking for them.
After work yesterday, i went to the Metropolitan to check out several of their current exhibits.
The one getting the most press for its crossover pop-culture appeal is the Costume Institute's installation, Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy, which features costumes from superhero films juxtaposed with couture creations influenced by superheroic visual tropes. Each section is devoted to a particular superhero or supervillain (Superman, Batman, Catwoman, Iron Man, etc.) and is supplemented with analytical and historical text printed on the wall, as well as a backdrop of some sort, often original source comic art reproduced huge-scale.
I loved seeing this exhibit because i was able to check out fairly close-up some of the fantastical couture artwear pieces i've seen for years in books, like Thierry Mugler's carapace dresses and motorcycle bodices (amazing), one of Hussein Chalayan's airplane dresses (bizarre), and Syren's latex Catwoman catsuit (actually far less impressive in person than i thought it would be).
I admit i've never been into comics themselves, so i can't speak to it from that perspective, though i do typically love offshoots of comic heroes in other media--superhero television shows and films and such. Lynda Carter's Wonder Woman costume put a smile on the face of my inner nine-year-old, and took me back to when i had huge posters of her in my bedroom and Wonder Woman bedsheets.
A couple of other special exhibitions at the Met which i also enjoyed perusing were the Tibetan Arms and Armor exhibit (great to see the stuff up close, but only one small room worth of pieces made it seem kind of "enh" compared with the general Arms and Armor halls) and the Peruvian Featherwork exhibit. I might even go so far as to say that the Peruvian featherwork was my favorite feature of the entire visit, simply because it was like, this enormous lightbulb going on with respect to those kinds of pieces. The pieces shown were hundreds of years old in some cases, and the exotic bird feathers from which they were made still retained staggeringly intense color. The handiwork was completely off the hook complex and intricate, as well. They even had a featherworker's tool basket on display with partly-made pieces in it! Super cool.
