Invisible Design

When I tell people what I do (and I'm sure many girls on my course would agree with me) I generally get the response: "Oh, you can do a degree in Costume?" or "So you're doing a Fancy Dress degree?" or "Do you make big fancy ball gowns?".
In response to the last question, in a way, yes. But costume is so much more than that. To study costume design is essentially studying several degrees at once: Literature, Psychology, History as well as have a creative eye for design and be a damn good dressmaker! It's hard work!

Costume is technically more about character than the elaborative clothing which is why I want to focus this Blog post on contemporary costume to demonstrate what I mean.

Yesterday Jane Petrie (costume designer for Fish Tank, 28 weeks later, How I live now and more) came to my university to talk about her career in contemporary costume. She talked about how in some ways, contemporary costume is harder than period costume in the sense that the audience are more knowledgeable and can therefore be more critical of the costumes.
Jane discussed the costumes she designed for the television series 'Top Boy' on channel 4 (shown below). As you can see, they all look extremely natural. Like they are wearing their own clothes. This is what is called good costume design.

Top Boy
Costumes designed by Jane Petrie

I know it's easy to assume that there is no design behind contemporary costume but there is just as much research involved as there would be for period costume, if not more. To make something that is seen in everyday life believable is what's called invisible designing. Analysis of the character's past, present and future is extremely important in order to get into their mindset and think about what they would chose to wear and why.

To make the costume seem lived in it is taking through a process called 'breaking down'. This involves dying, staining and general wear and tear on the costume. This, again, involves a lot of thinking and the designer must consider what the character has done in their clothes. For example, things to consider would be: would the character eat some food and wipe their hands on their trousers causing greasy finger marks? Would the character lean on a table causing wear and tear on the elbow? Does the character have a pet that would leave hair over their clothes? It is this sort of analysis that makes costume design a lot more complex than one might assume and what helps make the character believable and bring them to life.

This video demonstrates basic breaking down at the National Theatre.


I often also get asked the question, "So what is you favourite costume?" 

The purpose of costume is not necessarily to make a beautiful ball gown that's taken weeks to make. In film and TV the best costumes are the ones that you don't notice. The costumes that are true to character and making you believe what you are seeing is when the designer has 'invisibly designed' the costume. When you can just sit and watch a film and not notice any of the design behind it, ironically this is the sort of design that should be noticed and applauded. Just something to think about when you next watch a film or TV show.

London Mime Festival

London Mime Festival is a 25 day festival of contemporary visual theatre of wordless performance including physical theatre, puppetry, new circus, object theatre and live art. Storys are told throughout the festival and it opens with Company Non Nova which present work exploring issues relevant today. Read more about London Mime Festival here.

Fet a Ma

Compagnie 111 Aurelien Bory/ Stephanie Fuster

Gecko

Compagnie Non Nova

I have never been nor heard of this festival but it sounds like this is the sort of thing I really love. I will definitely try and go to a performance or two.

The video clip below shows Company Non Nova performance to Debussy's Prelude a l'apres-midi d'un faune. An extremely interesting performance through the use of dancing plastic bags controlled by fans. I am not sure whether I would like to see the whole performance of this but it does leave me intrigued and inspired!

Take a look at their website. It hurts my brain!

This video clip shows a little about how this is done.

London Mime Festival runs from 8th January to 1st February 2014. Check their website to see all the events and book tickets.

Akram Khan Company - iTMOi

As a complete contrast to a hip hop show I saw at the beginning of the month (Some Like it Hip Hop), at the end of May my Mum and I were lucky enough to go and see Akram Khan's iTMOi. For those of you who don't know, Akram Khan is an artistic director, choreographer and dancer. You might recognise his work from the London 2012 Olympics opening ceremony - in my opinion, the best part of the it! See here. 

However, I have only just discovered that American broadcasters chose not to show his sequence as it was not commercial enough. See here. I am extremely shocked and disappointed to hear this as I really really love his work. 

Akram Khan's sequence in the London 2012 Olymic Opening Ceremony

After reading a few reviews for iTMOi I didn't feel as guilty for admitting that I didn't really understand it! But in my opinion, that is the beauty of dance. I really think that dance is an art so even if the audience don't fully understand it, it can be interpreted in many different ways allowing the mind to wonder and get lost in the performance.

A report of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring in 1913

The piece is inspired by Igor Stravinsky's Rite of Spring (iTMOi : In the mind of Igor) celebrating it's 100th anniversary. Now if my understandings are correct when the Rite of Spring premiered on 29th May 1913 it caused an outrage to the point that Stravinsky's dissonant chords and energetic rhythm caused a riot amongst the audience. 

So is it really a bad thing that some (according to reviews) were unimpressed by Khan's iTMOi? The Rite of Spring remains one of the most famous and inspirational ballets over the past century didn't exactly receive a good reception! 

Although I found it hard to follow I still personally thought the piece was absolutely fantastic! I particularly loved how the creative team had clearly worked so well together and every aspect of the production: the minimalistic set, costume (Kimie Nakano), choreography (Akram Khan), lighting (Fabiana Piccioli) and composition (Nitin Sawhney, Jocelyn Pook, and Ben Frost) blended so effortlessly together. It was very impressive to watch.

Something I really loved about this performance is the innovative way the dancers interacted with the costumes and props. For example, the dancer (I think Denis 'Koone' Kuhnert) would use the structure of the crinoline combined with the choreography to create different shapes and movements. Very clever! Also, the use of chalk in the performance I though felt very dream-like and mystical which was a very interesting way to create a mood and atmosphere.

I really admire Akram Khan and his team. The work they produce is exactly the kind of thing I love. Although people (including myself sometimes!) struggle to understand it I can only describe it as a good thing because it means I'm still thinking about it and I saw it a week ago! Overall, a really powerful, intense and mesmerising performance that I simply couldn't take my eyes off.