Cinderella, the Sasenach, and Other Fantasies

Cinderella 2015

Who doesn’t love a ball and a wedding?  Especially fantasy ones…

http://tinyurl.com/k8cmvkt

Cinderella’s ball gown caught my eye on the billboards, and I’m dying to see the movie.  I was also dying to see the gown’s construction.  It’s interesting that so many of the techniques used to make this very grand gown were pulled from nineteenth-century understructures and couture techniques.  The crinoline, in particular, is almost a direct copy of some of the ones in museum collections.  Likewise, the corset is based on corsets similar to those in the Museum at FIT’s collection, like the one here:

http://tinyurl.com/nq6qcqn

There just happens to be an exhibition up at the Bard Graduate Center, at 18 West 86th street, all about these under-structures, if you want to go see some for inspiration.

http://www.bgc.bard.edu/gallery/gallery-at-bgc/fashioning-the-body.html

The Eveningwear specialization in the Fashion Design Department offers a number of classes where students learn how to create boned bodices, types of skirt supports, and elaborate embellishments, such as silk flowers and the delicate butterflies that float in the tulle at Lily James’ shoulders in this ballgown.  There is also a class on corset making in the Fashion Design department.

The library at FIT is a place full of ideas for fantasy costumiers, like the team designing for “Outlander”.

outlanderSome of the fancier costumes have gone on display recently, at the show’s season opening:

http://tinyurl.com/khlkkxc

The library at FIT offers many resources to do the sort of historical-clothing research the costumers for “Outlander” have used.  Besides using corseting and understructure techniques, the costume team for this show have also clearly spent a lot of time researching mid-eighteenth century (the show takes place in 1743-46) clothes in England and Scotland.  There is a lot of information to tell a researcher exactly what British soldiers would have worn, but dress in the Scottish highlands wasn’t so well documented (until Queen Victoria became besotted with the highlands in the 1850s).

Outlander green silver

 

This allows the designers more rein to imagine the costumes any way they like.  In this article, I love the designers’ talk about the silvery grays and greens of the landscape.  That those colors inspired their design palette.

The other inspiring thing the designers talk about in the above article are the ways they manipulated fabrics and furs to give different surface effects. (Go Textile and Surface-Design people!)

 

 

I’ve posted images of the costumes from “Game of Thrones” before, but the costumes are so intricate they deserve a lot of looking.

Game_of_Thrones_Oslo_exhibition_2014_-_Royal_court_costumesMichele Carragher, the designer, has used the embellishments (embroidery, creative appliques, jewel-like attachments) to convey the characters of the story so individually.  And because the show unfolds over time, she can manipulate these images over time to show the way each character grows and changes.

http://www.michelecarragherembroidery.com/Game-of-Thrones-Gallery%282829575%29.htm

While “Cinderella” is embedded in our social consciousness as a common fairytale theme, the stories in “Outlander” and “Game of Thrones” bring newer characters into our imagination, partially depending upon their costumes to tell their stories.

Comments

4 responses to “Cinderella, the Sasenach, and Other Fantasies”

  1. Beth McMahon Avatar

    Because I am that kind of historical-costuming nerd 🙂

  2. Megan Holdings Avatar

    Hi Beth,

    I loved the article. I really believe we all should be that type of “historical-costume nerd”. It’s easy to get caught up in the story lines of these historical shows and forget to appreciate the intricate details that go into the breath taking costumes!

  3. Beth McMahon Avatar
    Beth McMahon

    At one of the Museum at FIT symposia, Deborah Nadoolman Landis, a Hollywood costume designer, pointed out that costume design is integral to the depiction of a character on stage or on screen. This is true of how we portray ourselves on the street, but it’s doubly true when the person on a screen is wearing an outfit planned to convey personality and contribute to the plot.

    And also, I’m a reenactor, so I’m always interested in how designers interpret historical information to bring it to entertainment. Sometimes, like with “The Tudors”, I’m horrified. Other times, I’m pretty thrilled. I loved ‘Cinderella’s’ pretty revamp of 18th c. style and the ‘Outlander’ costumes look pretty reasonable.

  4. ask Avatar

    Heya just wanted to give you a brief heads up and let you know a few of the images aren’t loading
    correctly. I’m not sure why but I think its a linking issue.
    I’ve tried it in two different internet browsers and both show the same outcome.