Costume Design

I have drawn up two possible designs for the African womens dress. I have taken my main inspiration from the Church Elder outfits. This style of dress would be relatively easy to adapt into a Puritain dress by merely tucking the top into the skirts  and adding an apron. Also if the whole outfit is made up of nutral colours than an accent shawl or scarf in an African print can be added to give the piece an extra accent. The headdress also is quite a strong indicator of nationality, so even with a plain top annd skirt it is clear that they are African.

Costume Designs

African Textile

Although the top half of the African Ladies costumes need to be white to allow for Multimedia projections, I have been looking at African textiles and patterns that could be incorporated into the skirt to inject a bit of colour and personality to the costume.

African Clothing

This production also includes adult roles, so part of the brief was to design some costumes for African Women. I have begun by doing some research into African clothing as peoples ideas and concepts of African clothing varies from person to person. I have alsready looked into the Afican Gele head piece as a statement item to show that the ladies are African. Another of the main ideas talked about was a simple top and skirt. I have found the for this kind of clothing the internet has not been particularly forth coming with good examples of clothing, luckly my mum has been to Zambia a couple of times so I asked her to send me some pictures of people in traditional dress.

 A side part of the brief was if possible the costumes could be reused in a production of The Crucible which is set in the 17th Century. I found that the African Church Elders outfits below have a Puritain look about them with the large collars and the overall style of the clothing.

Church Elders

Designs for Childrens Costumes:

I have been drawing up designs for some child friendly costumes that can be made quickly and cheaply and versatile so they can been worn on a one size fits all basis. The foundation of the designs is African style clothing that embodies elements of Fire, Air, Water and Earth.

I began by researching into symbols and motifs that represent the four elements, so I could use them as a start point o basis my designs around.

Element Motifs

 I wanted all the costumes to follow a similar theme, but with subtle changes in colour and style. The basis of all the costumes is a T-shirt and drawstring or elasticated shorts. Part of the design requirements were to have coloured ribbons trailing from arms, tied around the wrists and sewn into the sleeve of the T-shirt. 

The Fire element costume has a base colour varying in shades of red, orange and yellow with a black printed fire motif on the breast and thigh. Both the top and shorts have an irregular jagged hem line to suggest the movement and shape of flames. I decided that the ribbons show also be of irregular lengths and varying in colour to again suggest flames.

Fire Costume

For the design for the Air element costume I wanted to try and capture an element of wind and the lightness of air. I gave the costume an A symmetric hem along the bottom of the T-shirt and the shorts. I also used a line of smaller air motifs that could be printed down the outfit. These possibly need to be more dramatically placed around the body to greater enhance the idea of wind and movement. I also gave the arm ribbons and irregular curved hem line.

Air Costume

 The water element costume is based around quite a loose free flowing theme with a curved hem and a large printed motif across the chest. I choose curves to suggest waves and flowing water which I used in both the hems and the ribbons. I found this element quite a difficult one to design as water is so free and my style of design is so controlled I find it hard to be loose and flowing with my drawing.

Water Costume

The earth costume I based around solid lines and squares to show the stability and strength of the ground. I similarly wanted to show this through the colours. The earth motif is bold and square, so I wanted this to emulate out with the hard lined strips of colour, straight hems and ribbons.

Earth Costume

I also thought that a transfer printing technique that we used in Blood Sweat and Tears could be used on the base colours of each costume. Where a dye is painted onto a piece of paper and an item placed between the paper and the material under a hot press transfers the dye whist leaving a silhouette of the items. So the costumes have a subtle pattern.

Costume Research

The initial part of the brief that captured my attention was the ladies African Headdresses. To start I have been doing some basic research into the different styles and head pieces commonly used in African clothing. The main scarf style headdress is called a Gele and consists of a length of stiff or starched fabric which is very simply tied and pin in place around the head.

 I have also been looking into how these Gele are actually tied. I found a couple of useful video demonstrations on youtube. This video shows you exactly how the Gele is tied:

There are many very exotic materials used for gele, here are some of them

• Brocade material which is 100% cotton material that usually comes with the outfit. This material is usually soft and sometimes not big enough to do the creative styles. 

• Hayes original- These are beautiful hard material sold as a piece specially to wrap the very creative styles. It is usually very colorful and does not come with a shawl 

• Damask- This material is usually used for special occasions like weddings, damask comes with its shawl called ‘iborun’ and can give any outfit and the wearer a million dollar look. 

• Aso-oke- These are hand woven materials made usually with silk. Kente is a very popular type of Aso-Oke . Aso-oke comes with the shawl and are also very colorful. They really add beauty and style to the outfit

Commission, Community and Collaboration

 WALK TALL PROJECT:

Costume Design Brief:

The brief involves designing and making costumes for:

·        . Children aged 6-11

·        . Costumes based of the four elements

Fire – Red, Orange, Yellow

Air – Grey, Pink, Violet

Water – Blue, turquoise

Earth – Brown, Green

·       .  Adult African Costumes

·       . 1 Chief

·       . 12 Ladies outfits – a white top half and head piece to allow for multimedia projections. Possibly multi-.purpose so it can be used in a production of the Crucible.

·        . Brazilian sewer children costumes

·        . Brazilian Death Squad costume – Tim Burton-esq, Victorian rat catcher.

·        . 2 Victorian Ladies costumes

·       . Victorian Butler

·       . Victorian Undertakers   

Semester Two: The Plan

After quiet a turbulent first week I have finally got my schedule for this semester work out. I was originally planning to complete the 15 week work experience, however lack of work and slow responses from companies means that I have had to rethink my plans. From now until March I am working on a project for Commission, Community and Collaboration which involves costume design and production for a performance that will include both adults and children. Throughout March I will be completing a month of work experience with the scenic painting department of the National Theatre. To finish the semester I will be working on a mural for the church that I am involved in at Hurstpierpoint. The project is something that my church has asked me to produce for them and will include designing and painting the mural itself.