Costumes – Human Influences

The next steps to the costume design process is to;

1) Research what the uniform code can be. a & b (Section B will be explained in a later post).

2)  Decide of a singular bird (or style of woman in the case of the Mistress) for each character to be.

3) Research human influences in fashion and design for them all to have.

 

1) Uniform: Section A – Firstly, I thought about the structure of a uniform. In a military sense it would be a clean-cut jacket with medals and spit-polished boots, but that’s not what I’m aiming for, I’m thinking more of the birds being imprisoned behind their cage bars… like a prison cell.  So, what do they wear in prison, apart from the stereo-typical, non-slimming black and white stripes? In America, I know they sometimes wear the bright orange jumpsuits, but that’s too bold a statement for our piece, we need something that underlines the fact they are in a prison-like cell but nothing too obvious that will distract from the story of the piece. Usually prisoners wear the vest shirts under the jumpsuit, simple yet can be uniformal.  Vests it is, now to the next step.

 

2) talking to the director and some of the cast members then making some alterations, I came to this final decision of what breed was for each character…

 

  • The Wild One  – Eagle (Aguila Chrysaetos) 
  • The Gloom – Great Thick-Knee (Esacus Recurvirostris)
  • The Thump – Bearded Vulture (Gypaetus Barbatus) 
  • The Guzzle – Pigeon (Columbia Livia)
  • The Gazer – Peacock (Pavo Cristatus) This character in particular the director wanted to be in the style of a Peacock so from henseforth shall be so.
  • The Twitting – Canary (Serinus Canarius Domesticus)
  • The Gossip – Parrot (Psittacidae Ara Chloroptera)
  • The Mistress – An Eccentric Old Woman (Ecentricus Antiquus Fēmina)

 

3) Each of the birds will have and individual costume items that relate to their character’s personality etc; a colour scheme, a regulation uniform vest tip, bottom half, footwear,  headpiece/fascinator, accessory, hair style and make-up design.

 

See Slideshow for Images

 

The Wild One – Earthy colours of brown go best for this character to match her need to be free. Her bare feet and leather jacket also helps the hippy/freedom loving sense to this character with her hair freely blowing in the breeze. Wind swept and interesting.

Personal Colour:- Brown

The Gloom – Due to her sickly nature of being a hypercondriact a dull grey colour will go well for this character, and long length pajama bottoms that can be easily pulled up to show the knees will show the mentality of this gloomy, bed-ridden believing character.

Personal Colour:- Grey

 

The Thump – Orange and black match this bold yet dark nature of this character. He is the only male in the piece, so a grumpy old man with a duck headed cane and flat cape will go well with this Victor Meldrew-like, (see the popular television programme One Foot into the Grave) grumpy guts. Instead of the uniformal vest, to keep with his character he will wear an orange sweater vest on top of a black shirt,

Personal Colour:- Orange

The Guzzle – Comfy trousers  that stretch (Food Pants) is key for this character, the more room to fill the better, and tied back hair so it doesn’t get in the way of all the lovely food that she fantasies about. Blends of grey, teals, a hint of purple and the nature of the character will hopefully make the audience realize that shes a parallel of the type of bird that they see in everyday life.

Personal Colour: – Teal

The Gazer – Pretty as a picture and eye-catching is the main theme for this character’s costume. a long formal skirt that relates to the flamboyant male peacock unveiling his tail-feather plumage for all to see, with matching feather peacock feather accessories and fascinator will really show the self-adoring persona of the character.

Personal Colour:- Royal Blue

 

The Twitting – Yellow, yellow,yellow, that’s the theme for this character. Yellow vest top, yellow fasinator and even yellow shows. Her braid will show how interwoven she is with the ways of the cage that will be symbolized in a necklace that will hang round her neck. Her bonds to the life of a caged-bird.

Personal Colour:- Yellow

 

The Gossip – This little chatter box reminds me of a stereo-typical American high school girl you see in all the flick-chick movies, so modern fashion is a big influence in the character’s costume design. Big chunky belts and the blue skirt in the image above is very popular at the moment with young women and looks rather like a parrot’s tail in the way that it hangs gracefully from the back.

Personal Colour:- Red

The Mistress – Once again the Mistress is a tricky one, due to the fact she is not a bird herself but a rather a as a flamboyant elder lady. But style wise I am currently thinking of a blend of three different women; Lady Gaga – the popular singer, Iris Apfel – an eccentric fashion designer with a thing for overly large rimmed glasses and Norma Desmond – the ageing silent movie star in Sunset Boulevard.

From this Human Influence boards I will now draw up some designs and gather research on acquiring the materials/items for each character costume.

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