Oscar Predictions from LCF Costume Experts

My tutors at London College of Fashion were recently interviewed for the Times to get their opinions on the Oscars this year. They outline a really good breakdown of the nominated films for costume design and what makes good costume for film.

'What role do costumes have in blockbuster movies?
Costume Design should be more than just clothes on an actor, and definitely more than just the fashion of a particular time. A costume has to enhance the actor’s performance and helps to move the narrative along. The costume should give the audience clues to the character within the narrative without the costume becoming ‘seen’. For me, a good costume is one that goes unnoticed, one that subtly fits with the character and adds to the story and the performance.'

Read the full article here.

Find out the Oscar award winners tomorrow (02/03/2014) on their website.
See the full Oscar nominations here.

The Grandmaster -
Costume Designer: William Chang Suk Ping

American Hustle
Costume Designer: Michael Wilkinson

The Invisible Woman
Costume Designer: Michael O'Connor

12 Years a Slave
Costume Designer: Patricia Norris

The Great Gatsby
Costumer Designer: Catherine Martin

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.

Les Liaisons Dangereuses - Design project (Year 2: Term 1)

So I am now back at uni and I have to say I really love it! Next week we will be starting our five week placement where I will be working in Bridal wear for the first two weeks then in Opera at the Royal College of Music for the final three. I am extremely excited and really looking forward to using all the skills I have been learning over the past year. I will be posting a bit more about this in a week or so.

I still haven't managed to post a bit about my design project from last term as I left my portfolio in London when I went home for Christmas. This has been my favourite design project to date. We were asked to design 3 characters for either the play or script 'Les Liasons Dangereuses' and realise one of the designs. This involves script breakdown, character analysis, accurate period research, coming up with a concept for the overall performance, thinking about set, lighting, hair and make up, then experimentation and designing for the characters. From this work we had to summarise all of our ideas to 10 A2 pages to present along with our realised costume on our actor.

Les Liaisons Dangereuses is a story of seduction, revenge and love set in the 18th Century. The main character, the Marquise de Merteuil, makes it her mission to control her previous lover, Vicomte de Valmont, persuading him to seduce other women to get revenge on another previous lover. I decided to set the play in 1760-70s and use the idea that Merteuil is controlling Valmont as a concept, focussing on the quote "It's beyond my control" (Valmont, page 91).

My concept was that Valmont is schizophrenic and Merteuil is a figment of his imagination. This idea would be mainly presented through spotlighting towards the end of the play when Valmont's condition is slowly being revealed. (eg. Merteuil would be spotlit when Valmont talks to her etc.). Additionally the audience would experience Valmont's condition and feel like they are part of the play. The theatre seating would have speakers in the headrests connected to Merteuil's microphone so it will make it seem like she is in their imagination and controlling them as well.

Les Liaisons Dangereuses concept ideas

I designed Merteuil's character (Act 2: Scene 16) in a way that would suggest she was a figment of Valmont's imagination. I would use the same fabrics for both costumes for which they both appear in the same scene. In order to give her an unreal characteristic I decided to cover her face with sheer net (lit with LEDs underneath, controlled by the lighting designer) to give a ghost like effect.

Marquise de Merteuil general research

Marquise de Merteuil - Scene 16

I also designed for Valmont in scene 10 where he reveals that he has gotten one of his lovers pregnant. Because Valmont's role in the story is predominately to seduce other women, I decided to look at feminine shapes such as the ovaries. I then developed a print design inspired by the ovaries and popular fabrics of the time such as brocade. I was also inspired by painters of the 18th Century such as William Hogarth and Francois Boucher in terms of colour palette and their seductive qualities.

Vicomte de Valmont colour palette and print design

Vicomte de Valmont - Scene 10

I then designed for Valmont in scene 16 using the same fabric choices as I had for Merteuil to reflect that she was a part of him and in his imagination. The washed out colour palette reflects that he is loosing his mind and there is no life left in him. I developed the idea of using ovaries on brocade and came up with an embellishment design for the frock coat which I realised as my final make. (see here)

Vicomte de Valmont embellishment experimentation

Vicomte de Valmont - Scene 16

Victomte de Valmont realised costume - Scene 16
Designed and made by Bryony Hamer
Modelled by Harry Allen
See more on my final costume here

Bringing Gabrielle to life!

Salador Dali

In term 3 we were asked to work in a group of 5-6 and as a group design a set, costumes, make up, hair and prosthetics for our chosen concept (ours being surrealism - read about our design process here) for the play 'The Madwoman of Chaillot'.

My costume design for Gabrielle

We were then asked to realise 3 of our character designs. I was working with Liz Hedley to design for the character Gabrielle - The Madwoman of Chaillot. She's a sweet, light and fluffy woman dressed in 1880s fashion who keeps canaries and hears voices from her hot water bottle. We decided to play on the idea that she's living in a bit of a dreamland with her head in the clouds.



Everyone on my course is so talented and has a unique style. Here are some links to some of the girls on my course who are on Blogspot for this current project. It's so interesting to see what other people have come up with for the same play! Do take a look.
Charlotte Wainwright
Lucy Calder
Megan Doyle
Sanya Torkmorad-Jozavi

Here are some photos below of the process of constructing and realising my design for Gabrielle with hair and makeup artist Elizabeth Hedley.

The progression of making my final costume.
Fittings with my model, Jessica Foy

Gabrielle's final costume details

Elizabeth Hedley and Aurora Beadle applying the make-up and wigs on our presentation day

A special thank to Stefanie Kemp for being our make up
assistant on our presentation day

Gabrielle
Wig and Make up: Elizabeth Hedley
Costume: Bryony Hamer
The RagpickerWig, Makeup and Prosthetics: Aurora Beadle and Elizabeth Hedley (Stefanie Kemp - assistant)
Costume: Poppy Moorcroft

Gabrielle
Wig and Make up: Elizabeth Hedley
Costume: Bryony Hamer

I'd like to say a massive thank you to everyone in my group. They are all so talented and it has been a real privilege working with them all. I have learnt so much and learnt to appreciate how important it is to create the whole look for a character. Working in a group has been difficult at times but so fascinating to learn about the different sides of the design process and I hope to collaborate further with other students in the future!

Consolidation and Collaboration: The Madwoman of Chaillot

Finally I have a chance to update my Blog on my final term of my first year at University of the Arts: London College of Fashion. It has been very full on but extremely rewarding at the end of it all. I plan to practice dressmaking to fit over the summer and work a lot to save some pennies for my next project in October: 18th Century Men's tailoring. I will probably study this a little over the summer in preparation for it but I'm so excited!

This term just gone was all about consolidating all the skills we had learnt in the first term and being able to make a costume quite independently as part of a group of 3 Costume students and 2-3 Makeup and Prosthetics students. As a group we had analyse and break down the given script (The Madwoman of Chaillot [pronounced "shy-O"]) and come up with an overall idea and concept. 

Salvador Dali - The Persistence of Memory 1931

We decided to focus on the main point of the play: it is mad! This led onto looking into surrealism and the Mad Hatter's tea party as part of our concept. We felt that each character was in their own time period and in their own little world so we really focused on this when designing.

Andre Breton

As a group each costume designer paired up with a makeup artist to design a complete look for one character of the play (3 characters in total per group).

Poppy Moorcroft's Costume design for
The Ragpicker

Anastaysia Hochar's Costume Design for
Josephine (1920s)

We had to decide on a scene in the play we would be designing for and design and build a set box for that scene.

Our stage was designed to have an interactive audience where not only the stage will be dressed appropriately for each act but the audience's tables and chairs as well. For both acts we wanted to create real sensual elements to give the audience a life like experience and really set the scene, eg. Act 2: the tables will be dressed with antique lace, fresh flowers and the audience and actors will be served tea, cake and honey.

I was collaborating with Elizabeth Hedley to design for the character Gabrielle: The Madwoman of St Sulpice - a sweet, light and fluffy old woman dressed in 1880s fashion who keeps canaries and hears voices from her hot water bottle. We decided to play on the idea that she's living in a bit of a dreamland with her head in the clouds.

 As an individual project we then had to design 3 more characters ourselves to go in our portfolio:

The Ragpicker

The Flower Girl

Constance: the Madwoman of Passy

Term 1 at LCF

Helloooo! I thought I would start a new blog seeing as I am going to a new University now.

Last year I studied the Foundation Diploma in Art and Design at The Arts University College at Bournemouth because I had no idea what I wanted to do in the art and design world and I couldn't draw for toffee. I would really really recommend this course to anyone arty even if you already know what you want to do for a degree. I learnt so much in such a short space of time and I am so grateful to all the tutors who taught and helped me realise what the perfect (sorry to be cheesey) degree choice was for me.

I now study BA(hons) Costume for Performance at University of the Arts London: London College of Fashion and, lets be honest, it's fantastic.


Term 1 involved learning basic garment construction techniques and designing and making a Victorian Bodice and half scale petticoat.

Half Scale Petticoat 

One of my research pages that inspired my design

Final Victorian Bodice (size 12)

Final Victorian Bodice Design

I also had to write a 1500 word essay on object analysis which I really enjoyed as well as complete a design project based on Roald Dahl's book 'Kiss Kiss' - a collection of gruesome short stories, which was a really good book to start your first project on!

I chose to design for the story 'Georgy Porgy' - a macabre tale where George loves the look of but cannot bare to touch or be within close distance to women.
I designed for the character Miss Prattley - the sensual, curvaceous spinster who attempts to seduce George with coconut cake. George compares her to an octopus - fascinated by watching a creature that you couldn't bare to touch (page 140). So I used this as inspiration when designing a costume for dance, in the sense that the skirt would move in the same way as an octopus.