Tyranny of Style

• FIDM's 8th Annual Outstanding Art of Television Costume Design

  Once again, the FIDM Museum in Los Angeles has delivered a wonderful look back at the past year’s best in television costume design. The Outstanding Art of Television Costume Design exhibition, opening this week, features a diverse sampling of television costumes from every genre, from the stunning period details of Downton Abbey to the contemporary prison garb on Orange is the New Black.

  

  Read the entire FIDM's 8th Annual Outstanding Art of Television Costume Design article here...

• Diana, A Celebration

  Diana, A Celebration, a gorgeous exhibit that chronicles the life of the late Princess of Wales has been touring the globe since 2003, and is now in its final showing at the Cincinnati Museum Center. A mix of personal mementoes, paintings, as well as rare home movies and photos, but at the center is a stunning collection of designer clothing, including the famed royal wedding gown.

  

  Read the entire Diana, A celebration article here...

• Digital Costume Illustration - Phillip Boutte Jr.

  Digital costume rendering has grown by leaps and bounds in the last five to ten years. In an effort to streamline the illustration process, create more photo-realistic renderings, and match the tone and intensity of other areas, such as concept and production design, costume designers have been dabbling in a variety of computer programs with various results. While this technology is still only sporadically used in theatre, it has become the norm in the performing arts fields with much larger capitol at stake, such as themed entertainment, celebrity music tours, and the movie industry. Film costume designers and illustrators have taken the lead and are setting an impressive standard for the field. One of the star illustrators at the center of this artistic movement is the incredibly talented Phillip Boutte Jr.

  

  Read the entire Digital Costume Illustration - Phillip Boutte Jr. article here...

• 3D Printing Disney Parade Costumes with designer Mirena Rada

  Disney's Festival of Fantasy Parade, the latest parade to open at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, features some of the most vividly imaginative costumes to date, complete with exciting use of new and emerging costume technology. Truly a spectacular showcase of Disney creativity and innovation, Disney's Festival of Fantasy Parade represents a collaboration between Disney Creative Entertainment and costume designer Mirena Rada. Rada’s credits, in addition to her list of Disney show and parade costumes at their parks around the world include Big Apple Circus, DreamWorks stage productions, film and Broadway. I recently had the chance to ask her about her designs, and her inspiring use of 3D printed elements.

  

  Read the entire 3D Printing Disney Parade Costumes with designer Mirena Rada article here...

• Designing Hollywood: Sketches from the Christian Esquevin Collection

  The FIDM Museum (at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising) in Los Angeles has launched another wonderful exhibit, this time a celebration of costume design in the golden age of Hollywood. The Designing Hollywood exhibition features over 100 costume sketches from legendary designers such as Edith Head, Walter Plunkett, Irene, and more.

  Read the entire Designing Hollywood: Sketches from the Christian Esquevin Collection article here...

• Designing DALLAS: Costume Designer Rachel Sage Kunin

  When we watch a television show, we become immersed in the lives of our favorite characters. We invite them into our homes every week, following their journey and seeing them evolve before our eyes. Bringing that world to life through costume, episode after episode, is far more complicated than it seems from the outside. Costume designer Rachel Sage Kunin was gracious enough to give us all a small peek into that world.

  

  Read the entire Designing DALLAS: Costume Designer Rachel Sage Kunin article here...

• Met Gala 2014 - White-Tie Who?

  Last night’s Met Gala, the annual fundraiser for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute was every bit the star-studded event of the year it has come to be as of late. Centered on the opening of the Charles James exhibit, event hosts opted for the height of formality in setting the evening’s event as “white tie.” How celebrities on the red carpet interpreted this edict was disappointing, to say the least.

  

  Read the entire Met Gala 2014 - White-Tie Who? article here...

• Designing Victoria: Visual Sources for Historical Costume

  On Sunday at The Getty Center in Los Angeles costume designer Sandy Powell joined Professor Deborah Nadoolman Landis in a conversation about designing “The Young Victoria”. Powell is currently a Swarovski-costume designer in residence at UCLA where Landis is director of the David C. Copley Center for the Study of Costume Design. For her work on “The Young Victoria” Powell earned her 3rd Oscar and second BAFTA award.

  
  Read the entire Designing Victoria: Visual Sources for Historical Costume article here...

• Gotham - Costume Design Origins For Some of The Comic World's Best Loved Characters

  Lisa Padovani is an award-winning costume designer who has worked on such diverse television productions as Boardwalk Empire, Mad Men and Oz. Most recently she designed the costumes for the much-anticipated series, Gotham. Gotham is being described as the origin story behind Commissioner James Gordon's rise to prominence in Gotham City in the years before Batman's arrival.

  

  Read the entire Gotham - Costume Design Origins For Some of The Comic World's Best Loved Characters article here...

• Puttin' On The Glitz - Fashion & Film in the Jazz Age

  On the evening of Friday 28th March, the British Library was buzzing with a sold-out audience eager to hear about fashion and film in the jazz age. Two speakers held the talk: Amber Butchart and (Lord) Chris Laverty. Amber is a fashion historian, writer, broadcaster and lecturer at London College of Fashion and don’t forget to check out her newly released book Amber Jane Butchart's Fashion Miscellany. Chris Laverty is the creator of Clothes on Film and a writer and broadcaster regularly featured talking about costume design.

  

  Read the entire Puttin' On The Glitz - Fashion & Film in the Jazz Age here...