Historical Project-1st Critique

For a little while now we've been working on our Historical Project, which will be one of the pieces that shows in the fashion show next year. These characters are from the play "School for Scandal", which is set in late 18th century England. My character is Snake, a servant of Lady Sneerwell who helps her perpetuate her evil schemes... my inspiration collage:

and my illustration for Snake's costume:

Francois didn't have a lot of comments to make on my costume... I think he was happy with my explanation of the colour and style choices. We did talk about whether Snake is a character who feels as though he is above the other servants, or if he is not a proud man, and decided on the former. Francois suggested that maybe we could add a detail such as a rip or a hole that Snake had tried to cover with a ribbon to get this point across... and I had been looking forward to dirtying/distressing the garments to make them look well used so I really like that idea. As well, we decided that a wool type fabric would work well for the suit, so I'm going to start fabric shopping next week. Overall I'm happy with how I (and the whole class) did and I'm excited to see these costumes come to life!

Alice In Wonderland

Recently we went to see Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland movie with the costume design crew. Although I wasn't overly impressed with the plot content of the movie (predictable...), there is no question that the movie was as visually stunning as any of Burton's other films. Here's my opinion on the costumes of the four main characters:

Alice: I loved the way that Alice's costume changes were incorporated into the plot, and the resulting costumes were pretty well done. Her dresses were feminine and innocent, representing the character well. I think they kept her in her traditional shade of "Alice blue", and when the colour varied it was for good reason; ie. wearing red while in the the Red Queen's court, wearing metallics while fighting the Jabberwocky. My favorite outfit was the chainmail armor she wore at the end of the film, during the fight scene.

The Mad Hatter: I liked the Mad Hatter's costumes, there wasn't anything new to his hat or suit. I strongly disliked the facial makeup however. The crazy eyes and eyebrows were interesting but for me it just didn't add up and was a little distracting to be honest.

The Red Queen: The Red Queen's costume was also nothing much new (this is not a criticism... it's important to keep established characters recognizable), and I liked the addition of her over-sized head. Likewise, the different over-sized features of the members of her court were really well done and I loved that element.

The White Queen: The White queen and her court were by far my favorite visual in the movie... the pale pale hair, faces, and costumes were stunning and Burton's signature "evil" look was maintained by giving them dark facial features. Beautiful!

Dancing Bird

A while ago we had an assignment to design a costume for a ballet dancer inspired by exotic birds and the work of ground-breaking costume designer Leon Bakst. I'm just now getting around to putting up my bird-dancer...

Warrior Grrl

This is our first assignment for the illustration class. We were instructed to create a character for the movie The Warriors.

My group designed costumes for our gang that were meant to reflect a mix between modern headbanger subculture and traditional American Indian dress. My warrior...

I wouldn't want to mess with her.

You can see the other illustrations from my group at Mireille and Nick's blogs.

xox, s

I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship...

Greetings! Welcome to my new blog, I believe some introductions are in order...

This is me, Sasha. I'm 22 and I live in Montreal. This blog will document my progress through the second half of my degree in costume design at LaSalle College. Now enough about me... some other important folks:

My adorable and ridiculously supportive parents.

The smile that makes me smile, N.

And some of my fashion icons:

Tank Girl

This girl has such kickass DIY style. I'm a huge fan of both the comics and the movie.

Billie Holiday

Her life story fascinates me. You can see the struggle in the eyes... so gorgeously sad.

and

Michelle Tea

My quirky queer indie tattooed soul sister.

Thanks for reading, more soon...

xox, s