{"id":522,"date":"2021-07-22T15:32:48","date_gmt":"2021-07-22T15:32:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tyrannyofstyle.com\/?p=522"},"modified":"2021-07-22T15:32:48","modified_gmt":"2021-07-22T15:32:48","slug":"costume-design-of-disneys-moana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tyrannyofstyle.com\/costume-design-of-disneys-moana\/","title":{"rendered":"The Costume Design of Disney’s Moana"},"content":{"rendered":"

Moana<\/i><\/b>, the latest film from\u00a0Walt Disney Feature Animation<\/b>, is the powerfully moving story of a brave young girl on an epic journey to save her people. Set in the Pacific Islands, Disney has pushed the boundaries of animation to create some of the most breathtaking environments and characters you\u2019ll find in an animated film.\u00a0The skin glistens, every strand of hair seems to dance in the breeze, and the\u00a0costumes<\/strong>, while simple in nature, are wonderfully designed to support and enhance the story.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Visual Development Artist Neysa Bov\u00e9<\/b>\u00a0was critical in the development of the\u00a0costume design of\u00a0Moana<\/i><\/b>. Born and raised in Adorra, Spain, Neysa pursued a passion for fashion and art, studying at both Fashion Institute for Design and Merchandising (FIDM) and Cal Arts. We recently had a chance to find out more about the costume design development for\u00a0Moana<\/i>\u00a0directly from Neysa.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Tyranny of Style: \u00a0Can you tell us about how you first approached the costume design research and development for Moana? And what was most important to the team to achieve within the overarching story of clothing as culture\u00a0and character?<\/i><\/p>\n

Neysa Bov\u00e9: \u201cThe entire team’s goal was to capture the amazing Pacific Islander culture at its best, as well as creating something inspiring for the entire world to enjoy. For each\u00a0character, and I’ll talk Moana specifically, I always think about our viewer- what can we design to inspire people and specifically little girls? I wanted to create something\u00a0aspirational, and something that would totally transport you to the magical world of the Pacific Islands.<\/p>\n

Secondly, research,\u00a0research AND research! It is so important for all Disney films to get\u00a0our facts right. The Pacific Story Trust was created, involving a lot of the Pacific Island people to help us with our research. I was very much inspired by what the directors and team came back with on their research trips. Doing my own research also helped me mold a specific look for costumes.\u00a0\u201c<\/p>\n

\"\"\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

T\/S: Can you talk to us about the physical materials being recreated through animation to create the authentic costume design of this world?<\/i><\/p>\n

NB: \u201cThe biggest\u00a0challenge on the film was the limited materials. We only had two, \u2018tapa\u2019 and \u2018pandanus.\u2019 Tapa is made from the\u00a0mulberry\u00a0tree\u00a0bark. They pull out the\u00a0bark\u00a0and go through a\u00a0strenuous\u00a0process of making a mass\/paste and eventually tap it all together (hence \u2018tapa\u2019). This process is very similar to making felt. The \u2018fabric\u2019 is quite soft. We don’t have easy access to this fabric in the United States, so we asked the islands to send us some for reference, and we used it for our film. Similar story with the pandanus weaving, pandanus is actually a\u00a0tree, and they pull the pandanus leaves and shred them into strips. These dry and later you take each piece and weave it together. You can even braid it!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Moana costume concept art by Neysa Bov\u00e9<\/em><\/p>\n

Specifically with Moana’s outfit, her travel outfit with the salmon-orange top, and woven skirt, her bodice and sash are\u00a0made\u00a0from\u00a0tapa. Her skirt is the woven pandanus, with added beautiful embroidery.\u00a0 The \u2018beading\u2019 was always made from materials that could be found in the island. We had a specific rule \u2018if you can find it in the island, you can make it.\u2019 Like on Moana’s travel outfit (orange top), creatively speaking, I added macram\u00e9, which we have no physical evidence of this being used in the islands, historically. This is when that rule comes in.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

T\/S: \u00a0Can you talk to us about the construction and finishes of the clothing in the film, how you researched the techniques of this culture, and translated those realistically into animated costumes?<\/i><\/p>\n

NB: \u201cMost of the garments worn in the past 2000 years ago were just draped garments. We took the liberty of \u2018interpreting\u2019 and adding certain techniques, which we were unsure of their actual\u00a0existence at the time, due to the lack of photographic reference. Like sewing as an example, some\u00a0garments worn by Moana would definitely\u00a0require sewing\/cutting, but I was able to explain that sure enough they could create a sewing needle from a \u2018whale bone\u2019 and use \u2018sennit\u2019 (coconut fiber made into a thread) and actually sew garments.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Moana concept art by Bill Schwab<\/p>\n

T\/S: \u00a0Can you talk specifically about Moana, this strong girl that goes on an epic journey, and how her clothing reflects her as a character?<\/i><\/i><\/p>\n

NB: \u201cMoana is an action hero, and as such her clothing has to reflect that. This is why we added a slit to the front of her travel outfit skirt, to allow movement.\u00a0Also, the way we design each costume is more of a fun stylized depiction of a real historical costume; we tried to be true to the real colors of the islands historically-wise. When you watch the film, notice the transition of Moana’s costume coloring, from orange hues to vibrant red. The reason we did this was to showcase the color \u2018red,\u2019 it’s a sign of royalty, so you would\u00a0only see Moana and her family with this color.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Moana costume concept art by Neysa Bov\u00e9<\/em><\/p>\n

Moana’s epilogue costume, the last one she wears, is definitely my favorite. At this point in the story, Moana knows \u2018who she is\u2019 and the costume had to reflect a strong young woman. I\u00a0wanted her to almost feel \u2018warrior-esque\u2019 and empowering. I added a shoulder detail to resemble an epaulette, with red feathers and fresh leaves. Her entire bodice is made from red feathers, a symbol of royalty in the Pacific Islands. We wanted\u00a0this\u00a0costume to be a\u00a0combination of her people of Motonui and her ancestors. The ancestor aspect was adding all of the greenery to the costume.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

T\/S: In this changing world of animation, we are seeing more of a use of costume designers, or people with a more specialized costume focus or skill set. And a lot of that has to do with the level of detail in computer animation and audience expectations. Can you talk to us about how that played out on this film?<\/i>\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

NB: \u201cI consider myself a visual development artist, developing costumes a lot of the time. But as an example of how collaborative Disney is- I got to design the Heart of Tefiti. I think it was crucial to have someone work on this film in the costume department because while Moana’s world is fictional, we’re basing it on a real world with rich history that needs to be depicted properly, and with respect. There’s an immense amount of research that goes into it, and it really comes from everyone. My background is Fashion Design, and with the way CG is moving, you have to build pieces just like you would in real life, so I would say it’s absolutely helpful to have a costume\/fashion construction knowledge to really hone in on making each piece authentic.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A huge thank you to Neysa Bov\u00e9 for taking the time to share her beautiful work and the process behind it with us.\u00a0Make sure to\u00a0follow her on Instagram!<\/a><\/p>\n

If you haven\u2019t already, make sure to check out\u00a0Moana<\/em>– in theaters now!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Moana, the latest film from\u00a0Walt Disney Feature Animation, is the powerfully moving story of a brave young girl on an epic journey to save her people. Set in the Pacific Islands, Disney has pushed the boundaries of animation to create some of the most breathtaking environments and characters you\u2019ll find in an animated film.\u00a0The skin … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":802,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,4,2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyrannyofstyle.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyrannyofstyle.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyrannyofstyle.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyrannyofstyle.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyrannyofstyle.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=522"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tyrannyofstyle.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyrannyofstyle.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyrannyofstyle.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyrannyofstyle.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyrannyofstyle.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}