Tag Archives: maleficent

Maleficent has a huge hoop. Bugger.

Maleficent has a huge hoop. Bugger.

I had suspected but a few images put together really do reveal this quite clearly.

If you watch the Awkward Situation clip you can see how the train skims the ground without folding or dragging. If you watch the edge of the train as she goes up the steps it even catches and springs just like a hooped skirt. If you have ever worn hoops or a cage crinoline with flat steels/plastic it wibbles a bit like a jellyfish.

 

 

Note how the front edge of the train stops, it doesn’t just pull like fabric under tension it moves like there is a wired edge. And in movement the edge then springs forward once released from that first step.

 

Here the train is caught on the last step but this is mainly to show the front of the gown is not also stifened. It does have a fairly deep hem which does has some sort of facing but it still flows. It also looks like Angelina is wearing platforms to add to her height- note how the toes push the fabric out above hem line.

You can also see the wired edge also extends in to the seam where the train is sewn to the gown. This makes sense to help support the full train. Having now made mine it is very heavy indeed.

This then explains why that seam appear to be top stitched or otherwise additionally reinforced in other images.

So I had a look at stills again and they do also support the idea of a supported train. In the still below (screengrab) you can see how the train edge is under a lot of tension, but also there is a mystery “bump” near the join between the leather and shell fabric- it does not correspond with the step or any fabric componant of the gown. This is most likely due to a support underneath lifting off the ground- as she is turning this makes sense.

And in this still you can see a ridge that follows the main curve of the leather. And even where the layers are caught to the support hoop in the 2nd to left panel.

So a U shaped hoop on the bottom of the train and two gently flared strips inside the front edge of the train. Imagine a curvy scoop. To make mine I’ll be making a tube of fabric to tack to the underside of my train. And a wrapped facing on the front edge. Then wrap three layers of plumbers coil with sports tape to insert just before putting the entire piece on. I will have to use temporary fastenings to hold the ends in place so as to be able to remove them for convention safety!

I have also just overdyed a huge metal zip (possibly for a sleeping bag) so I will have a super mega firm fastening that will survive the pull and drag of this train. Then I can cover it with a spine.

And now to resize my collars 🙂

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Maleficent, so much wrangling

Maleficent, so much wrangling

This is a sample of the crazy construction.

Interior: CF seam allowance at very top of photo. This shows the intersection of the hip/skirt gores fronts, sleeve, side back and back hip/skirt gore.

 

Same view but from the bottom looking up. No train or CB pieces so as to reduce weight when moving the pieces.

Overcasting the sleeve to the front panel. By overcasting I could then tun the body inside out and smooth over that join to sew properly.

After overcasting:

And both sides done:

Then the train…. oy. The train panels are not the same shape as the CB gown. So I had to undo the outer panels of the train and lay them on top of the two back panels:

So not only that but the CB panels also didn’t match up so I had to baste the  layers together, also undo a lotof the overlocking so that the bias laid flat on all four layers of each side…

 

And then I cut and trimmed to shape:

And just a full view of the layers that are almost all sewn up. The sleeves have also been prick stitched along the edges to keep them nice and crisp.

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MALEFICENT at The El Capitan Theatre

MALEFICENT at The El Capitan Theatre

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Maleficent, new parks costume, maybe….?

Maleficent, new parks costume, maybe….?

Well it was made for the Social Media Moms’ event so it may or may not be permanent.

 

 

The gown in action sheds a lot of light on the train of the original. It fits to the back after all unlike her other robes.

https://twitter.com/samhowzit/status/454767382804721664/photo/1

https://www.flickr.com/photos/aloha75/13991128094/in/set-72157643806632283

(many more, scroll through to see them all)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/hyku/13787915495/

And even more, scroll backwards for images from the meet and greet.

So from the recreation:

The gown is less full but is made from a knit mounted over a more stable fabric. The sleeves have extra details to reflect the original gown (deep wedges/notches at the hem of the front of the sleeves.

The headdress appears all in one and has more sculptural lines on the leather parts.

The collar sits wider, possibly not hooked to the choker, which is what I suspect may be needed.

The choker has a centre front seam.

The fabric is not purple but the lighting was used to make it so- another nod to the original.

The hem of the gown and the train is not as large as the original. Makes sense having just tried to wrangle the back alone….

There are skirt gores and they are similar to the ones in the Game of Thrones Westeros gowns. But narrower! There is a sculpted detail like a tail that covers the top of the gores and appears to go through in the recreation, it appears flatter in the original so may just be butted.

The back has a spine of some sort. Probably to cover a zipper- a good quality metal zipper as per the burlesque corset reblogged the other day 🙂  I’ll attempt a sculpted urethane piece.

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Why Maleficent? Why that costume?

Why Maleficent? Why that costume?

Costume is art. The costume can tell a tale all on its own.

So take this gown.

Why? The film hasn’t come out and even based on the leaked script (which I haven’t read) I can’t surely be a fan of either the character or the film yet? Well true, maybe not. But costume is part of the art department and what art does in any form is make you think and feel,

Maleficent’s gown is the biggest Eff You I have seen in film for a very long time. It is on the same level of brilliance as Mina’s red gown in Dracula and Michelle Pfeiffer’s catsuit in Batman Returns. It’s on par with the world building the costumes affect in Game of Thrones- where one costume spoilt me months in advance.

When you design you do not just draw pretty things or interesting lines. You have to think about the character, their mind and spirit and how they are reacting to the world they live in. And how that world responds to them

Catwoman’s catsuit was literally Selina tearing down the life she had built, and had others build around her, and reforming it. She took a practical item (at least in this bizarre world) and made it into a symbol. Her costume says yes you objectify me but I will kick your ass for doing so. You treat me like this? I’ll take that and make you regret it.

Mina’s red gown is another iteration of Eiko Ishioka’s obsession with the raw self. Being literally and figuratively ablated, exposed. It’s hard to think of it as part of the same theme as Dracula’s armour from the same movie, or the foam latex muscle suits from The Cell or the lycra and paint/cord/ink piece from Der Ring des Nibelungen. It’s a concealing dress after all.  But the texture, colour and self pattern in the form of organic leaves and striated pleats puts it firmly in place as a reminder that Mina conceals herself in the trappings of the society she lives in. In this gown she is letting herself see who she is and what she feels.

So Maleficent. What makes this gown over all her others so special?

In the world of the movie humans are very much dressed as we expect. At least what we expect from years of what Hollywood has shown us of the past. Which is mostly based on modern textures and materials, foundations and construction.

At the start Maleficent is a child of nature, her clothing is loose and flowing and not made from a drafted, and thus mass produced/industrialised. Even her other gowns seem to flow and drape with little relation to the methods used to create the costumes of humans. She is apart. And clearly so.

The gown she chooses to wear to the christening however is very complicated in structure. It mixes both draping and drafting techniques. It is fitted to the body but does not follow the lines of clothing worn by the members of the court.

Bias cutting alone makes the gown different. Bias cutting is so intrinsically different to even the most complicated multiple panel garment cut on the straight. It shifts and requires exquisite fit and shaping and multiple fittings. It is insanely personal and bespoke.

Maleficent has taken great care to dress herself splendidly for this court. Her fabric even mimics the watery weave of the king’s own robes. But again it is different. The texture is not woven but created by hand, organic and deliberately unable to be copied. A true one of a kind.

Her horns are covered but barely. The threat of nature is present though sheathed.

Her gown is bigger, more sophisticated than any other garment at the court. She outshines everyone. Yet the cut, fabric, and scale clearly single her out. No  one could mistake her as being expected or meant to be there.

Her gown says everything her speech does. It says you tell me I don’t belong, well, that’s true; I am more than you. 

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Maleficent assembly

Maleficent assembly

Bias cut is evil and with bat wing sleeves even more evil. So it’s perfect for Maleficent.

Above is how I finally left her tonight. Due to the big waist wrinkle that showed up in the photos below.

 

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Latex and silicone ahoy :)

Whipped up some fluffy latex mix for a new set of Togruta montral 🙂  Also a mix for a set of asari tentacles as the last set pulled apart badly. Luckily even though it’s wet today the latex in both cases is curing and settling nicely.

And now there is a layer of silicone on the maleficent horns as well as matting worked in the outer layer. Very difficult  to smooth the stuff on as the horns fall over.

But now my hands are not happy typing so an early night again and some lovely hot cocoa.

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Horn sculpt is done! Woot!

Well done enough. It’s a case where if I keep going I’ll probably undo the good stuff and then need to redo all over again.

I thought I had two cartridges of silicone but I don’t Shoot. I need at least three more. So no more work on them for a while.

sm_DSC_2894 sm_DSC_2893

sm_DSC_2892 sm_DSC_2891

And reverse progress:

One horn done!

sm_DSC_2889

 

 

I actually had to undo the previous texture and shave both horns back to get a narrower front and more blade like through the cut through view at the base. Here you can see the horn on the right is smaller than on the left which is the one I textured first.

sm_DSC_2888

 

The only way to safely shape these were to lay them on my chair and even them up with the filleting knife. Yes. This is why I can’t have nice things because that chair is covered in lumps of resin and latex. And now clay.

sm_DSC_2887 sm_DSC_2886

 

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Cotton tulle! Get it while it's there!

I finally have a cape fabric for Elsa that I can easily dye with predictable results! I can’t believe it is available so randomly… Geoff’s Emporium on Lincoln Rd, Henderson has two rolls of about 30m each of off white cotton tulle.

I may have grabbed what I could of the white. There is a little colour variation as I think it was from their older pre-fire stock. But it’s $NZ8/m and about 140cm wide (about 40″ to a metre, about 55″ wide). So if you want some 6m is more than enough for a very generous cape 🙂

They also have a a magnificent wool gabardine. Or satin. I want to say satin but there is just enough definition of the Z wale. But it’s more like a heavy cotton satin with that clear direction of the face. And it’s black. It is magnificent and glorious and I want to make a proper suit out of it and I will as soon as I decide between c1600 Cologne or c1500 Nuernberg. It will both drape beautifully for 1500s and pink well for 1600s. I think Nuernberg as it will be comfortable and I can line it in my maroon silk and be not quite historically accurate Maleficent 😉

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Cotton tulle! Get it while it’s there!

I finally have a cape fabric for Elsa that I can easily dye with predictable results! I can’t believe it is available so randomly… Geoff’s Emporium on Lincoln Rd, Henderson has two rolls of about 30m each of off white cotton tulle.

I may have grabbed what I could of the white. There is a little colour variation as I think it was from their older pre-fire stock. But it’s $NZ8/m and about 140cm wide (about 40″ to a metre, about 55″ wide). So if you want some 6m is more than enough for a very generous cape 🙂

They also have a a magnificent wool gabardine. Or satin. I want to say satin but there is just enough definition of the Z wale. But it’s more like a heavy cotton satin with that clear direction of the face. And it’s black. It is magnificent and glorious and I want to make a proper suit out of it and I will as soon as I decide between c1600 Cologne or c1500 Nuernberg. It will both drape beautifully for 1500s and pink well for 1600s. I think Nuernberg as it will be comfortable and I can line it in my maroon silk and be not quite historically accurate Maleficent 😉

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