Janet Arnold Competition Update

The 1827-29 wedding dress I made for the Costume Society of Great Britain's 2012 Janet Arnold, Patterns of Fashion Competition made it to the final! In fact it won!

There were four finalists selected to present their costumes and the Society's Annual Symposium in July 2012, three of which were from the University of Glamorgan. It was held in the Masonic Hall in Bath which was a beautiful building and a fitting backdrop. Each of us had to display our costume on a mannequin, beside which we displayed all of our research and construction photos so the delegates and judges could see all of the work which had gone into the detail of each one. We each had an individual session with the judge to discuss our work and answer their questions then during lunch we stood beside our costumes to talk to the delegates about our work too. In the afternoon we were all brought up on stage with our mannequins and had to each give a short speech on how we made our dress and what we had learned from the process, we even took a couple of questions from the floor.

It was then that the judge's decision was announced. All of the costumes were beautifully and skilfully made but the judge felt that the time and effort I had put in to ensuring all of the details were correct, such as sourcing wool for the padded trims and making my own lace, made my dress worthy of first place and a cheque for £500! It was a wonderful day and I'm sure I went bright red stood up on that stage when they announced the result.

Follow these links to the Costume Society's website for more information on the Patterns of Fashion Award and their write up of the 2012 competition final.

1827-29 wedding dress - Janet Arnold Project

This dress is an reproduction of an original 1827-29 wedding dress held in Gloucester Museum and studied by Janet Arnold in the Patterns of Fashion book 2. The top images show the original dress and the drawing of it by Janet Arnold in the book. My reproduction is as close to the original as it possible, being completely hand sewn and being made only from materials which were used in the original garment, including silk thread treated with beeswax and natural wool for the padding. It is being entered into the Costume Society's Janet Arnold Patterns of Fashion competition to be judged in July. The lace is hand made bobbin lace replicating the same design as the original dress, made jointly between myself and lace maker, Louise Wilson.

Tailoring

This jacket was both designed and made by myself for my second year tailoring project. The design is inspired by Gothic architecture, the seam lines and fluting shape of the extended back intended to reference gothic pillars and ceilings. It is made of 100% wool Melton dyed to the specific rifle green I requested. For this project we had a professional tailor as a guest lecturer so this jacket has been made with advanced tailoring techniques including specific interlinings for the front and collar. All the button holes were hand sewn and the collar was designed in such a way that it could be worn in several different styles depending on how many of the buttons were fastened.

Costume Research in Hereford

As part of my Final Major Project at the University of Glamorgan I am working with the View+ project in Hereford to reconstruct an 1889 costume from an original photograph. For this project I am doing a great deal of primary research including taking pattern from original garments and taking detailed drawings of them.  I am using the collections at Hereford Museum Resource and Learning Centre as my main source. This research will be ongoing for the next few months, below are a few of the items I've looked at so far.

1) Drawing the interior of a grey and black c.1883 day dress.

 2) Dawing an 1880s maroon and grey bustle dress on the stand. This dress would be worn with a bustle support underneath which would make the skirt stand out more at the back.

3) Drawing 1870s bustles

4) Taking a pattern from an 1877 bustle.

5) Taking a pattern from the skirt of the c.1880s dress drawn in photo 2.



The Tempest - Miranda

In August Squeakydoor Theatre Company presented William Shakespeare's The Tempest at The Niddry in Edinburgh as part of Edinburgh Fringe Festival. All the costumes for the show were designed and made by Louise Wilson and myself. You can read a review of the show by the Edinburgh Spotlight here.

This Costume was for Miranda, Prospero's Daughter, played by Rebecca Denmark. This version of the play is set in the 1860s so Miranda's costume was imagined as if created from the items a young girl may have been given in 1850 when sent into exile. The corset was made as if for a young girl and then parts were broken down, widened, added to and repaired to show the wear and tear of island life as well as adapting the child's corset to Miranda's now more adult body.

The costume was intended to be practical for running around the warm island and pretty to a girl who had never seen a ball gown, hence it being adorned with scraps of ribbon and shells from the beach. However the costume also shows a lot of skin, helping to make her even more mysterious and irresistibly sexy to Ferdinand, who has never seen so much of a woman's skin before.

 Click on any of the images to view them full size. Further information about the play can be found at www.squeakydoor.co.uk. Makeup by Hilary Knight.

Also from The Tempest: Prospero and The Sprites

The Tempest - Prospero

In August Squeakydoor Theatre Company presented William Shakespeare's The Tempest at The Niddry in Edinburgh as part of Edinburgh Fringe Festival. All the costumes for the show were designed and made by Louise Wilson and myself. You can read a review of the show by the Edinburgh Spotlight here.

This costume was designed for the lead role of Prospero, played by Marcus Belassie. Prospero was the Duke of Milan but was usurped by his brother 12 years before the play begins and was set to sea in a rotten boat with his baby daughter Miranda. They had few supplies, save for Prospero's books of magic and a few garments given to them before their banishment in charity. Therefore Prospero will have had only a few sets of clothes to see him through the last 12 years and they will be very broken down. 

The text of the play refers to prospero's 'magic grament' and we chose to realise this as a cloak. The cloak fastened at the neck with a giant gold covered hook and eye so the actor could remove it easily. The cloak could be richer and less broken down as it was precious to Propsero so he would have taken extra care of it and only worn it when performing magic. The border designs on the cloak represent the 4 elements whilst the black and gold corner pieces are the elements combined. the collar was trimmed with hand made gold lace and recycled gold cord. Unfortunately there are no pictures of Prospero wearing the cloak on stage as he only wore it briefly.

Prospero also has a magic staff which he uses throughout the play. The staff was made from a naturally twisted length of wood into which we carved spiral designs and would colours metallic threads round to reflect the colours of the element in the sprites and his cloak. A circular shell was mounted in the fork of the top of the staff creating a powerful and unusual focal point. The staff was a really useful tool for the performers and really helped give Prospero a sense of power.

More information on the show can be found at www.squeakydoor.co.uk including, in future, the dates of any future performances. The company hopes to return to the fringe with The Tempest in 2012. Click on any image to see it full size.


Also from the Tempest: The Sprites

Panic Button DVD release

The DVD and Blu Ray for Panic Button are now available in the UK you can find more information on where to buy them here. More information on international release should be available through that page soon.

In September 2010 I worked as a costume assistant on this film under Costume Supervisor, Zoe Howerska. The film premiered in early 2011 and has been part of the Film4 fright fest 2011. It's received some great reviews and is really worth the watch. There are trailers and teasers on Panic Button's official website.

"Four young people win a competition of a lifetime; Jo (Scarlett Alice Johnson – Adulthood), Max (Jack Gordon – Heartless) Gwen (Elen Rhys – Season Of The Witch) and Dave (Michael Jibson – The Bank Job) head off on an all expenses paid trip to New York, courtesy of social network All2gethr.com. As they board the private jet, they are asked to relinquish their mobile phones and take part in the in-flight entertainment – a new online gaming experience.

Once airborne, it soon becomes evident after some provocative and disturbing challenges, that their mystery host knows far more about them than they’d ever dared imagine. Trapped at 30,000 feet with everything at stake, they must play for the lives of their loved ones, as a series of twists lead the game toward its gruesome and shocking finale. Panic Button is a breathless psychological horror for the 21st century, which carries the stark warning to us all… When you live your life online, there is no Esc"

My previous posts about Panic Button can be read here and here.