I was asked to design and create 35 costumes, built onto the black and white T-shirts that they had already bought, and they were keen for me to take inspiration from the work of Keith Haring. After watching a section of the rehearsal, I drew up a selection of designs loosely inspired by the abstract, linear nature of Harings work, using only black and white. Due to the theme of piece and being part of the 'Up in the Air', I incorporated stylised wing motifs through the majority of the costumes. After selecting the set of designs they wanted, I collected the T-shirts and materials and transformed them into these! I used t-shirting fabric to create both the sleeve extensions and the patterns to ensure that they would have the same degree of stretch as the T-shirts.
After attaching the sleeve extensions, I fitted the T-shirts to make sure that all the sleeves were all the correct length as it was only after correcting the sleeve lengths that I would be able to fully attach the patterns. Due to the rehearsal schedule I was able to fit the costumes just under a week before the main show, and leaving me four days to attach the patterns before the dress rehearsal. To save time I used a temporary fixative spray over traditional pinning as it meant more then halving the time per-t-shirt.
Left - Pattern pinned Centre - Pattern Sprayed ready for sewing Right - Pattern sewn on
The dress rehearsal was the first opportunity for an onsite rehearsal. Due to it being an outdoor evening rehearsal and performance in September temperature was an issue and to most effectively use the rehearsal time it was decided to save makeup for the show the following night - also due to the temperature many of the cast had to put coats and jumpers on over their costumes as the temperature dropped later in the evening but I got these photos before. Everything fit and fit well and the cast, and director Anna, were all very happy with how the costumes look. They are at their most visually effective in a group.
I incorporated make-up into the designs in a new way, using face paint. For the production I was assisted by the adult cast members in painting the full cast- they painted all the casts faces white while I painted the black patterns. The concept for the makeup was to marry up with the patterns on the costumes, and where the patterns joined the necklines to follow the lines onto the face. As a whole, the group was entirely cohesive with an almost tribal appearance. Myself and the leaders of Remix, Anna and Jude, were all incredibly happy with the costumes and makeup and how they worked with the performance, and the performance as a whole was beautiful. Due to the size of the audience I was able to get photos from the side, but I am so glad that I still managed to get photographs of the array of costumes and the make-up.
