Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 2005 - 69

Science fiction and fantasy film designers create worlds
unbound by historical or contemporary styles. Nevertheless,
they often look to the past for inspiration, and creatively combine ideas not usually associated with each other. Two films in
this exhibition, Van Helsing and The Chronicles of Riddick,
reveal very different approaches to this genre.
Gabriella Pescucci and Carlo Poggioli blended nineteenth-century romanticism, Victorian gothic revival, and contemporary ideas with traditional Transylvanian details in their
costume designs for Van Helsing. An additional consideration
for this film is the 100 years of film history an audience associates with the horror genre. The costumes exhibited at FIDM
are a tribute to the lush details for each garment, but one in
particular is an unexpectedly poignant example of character
design in its purest form. In this film, very loosely based on
Bram Stoker's vampire tracker, all the famous nineteenth-century monsters make an appearance. Frankenstein, exiled from
humanity, must forage to survive. His apparently self-made garment, best described as "eat and wear, " consists of patches of
scraped hides roughly overcast together with leather thonging
to create a monster-sized full length coat. Large wood splinters
and a found-object luggage buckle serve as closures, with
enormous shoes made of scrap metal. This costume not only
provides the character's back story at a single glance, its
cobbled components brilliantly reflect Frankenstein's own
bodily creation from plundered parts.
In the elaborate, futuristic film, Riddick, the costume designs by Ellen Mirojnick and Michael Dennison reflected a sophisticated synthesis of historical influences. The designers
found inspiration in an unexpected blend of Art Deco bronze statues by Erte and the work of Renaissance armor designer Filippo
Negroli. Creative materials also played a big part in the look of a
future world controlled by death cultist Necromongers. Mirojnick
used a complicated silk-screening process to create a pebbly,
scaled surface for her fabrics that she termed "Mockadile." 3
Mirojnick and Dennison demonstrated a clever use of
materials in the copper and green gown worn by Thandie
Newton as Dame Vaako. The bodice was created in the shape
of a corset with each seam outlined by painted spiral bones.
Used this way, the spiral bones look both reptilian and mechanized, perfectly suiting the design concept. The skirt for this
gown trailed to a point in back, and featured fifty-four rows of
burned, melted and painted synthetic fabric ruffles. The center
back of the gown was decorated with metal motifs evoking a
spinal column.
With the twenty-five films presented together in one exhibition, it is possible to see evidence of changing construction
technology influencing design decisions. This year, several
costume designers used micro beads to create shiny decoration on costumes, regardless of period. The tiny marbles,
sometimes called holeless or no-hole beads, are glass or metallic spheres affixed to fabric with a special tape or a heat activated powder. The effect is a lustrous beading effect requiring
no sewing. Used to best effect in a gown from Phantom of the
Opera, the micro beads were set onto a printed pattern to
simulate elaborate beading.
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Another trend spotted over the past few years is an increasing use of Indian sari style fabrics and trims featuring
metallic embroidery. These silks, brilliantly colored and
elaborately embroidered or trimmed, offer a relatively affordable sumptuous material for costume designers.
Trends in film production over the past few years have
created a big demand for chain maille. The WETA Workshops
in New Zealand, creators of the arms, armor, and special effects for the Lord of the Rings trilogy, developed a modern
method for making plastic maille. Rings are cut from the end
of PVC pipe similar to slicing a salami. Each ring is slit open,
individually linked into the maille and then glued closed. Finished sheets of maille are dipped in an electroplating tank to
give the plastic a metallic coating. For the film King Arthur,
however, a company in China manufactured an improved
maille out of rubber which was mechanically joined. This
maille is lighter and even stretchy for actor comfort. Best of
all, this new manufacturing method reduced the cost of maille
to as little as one dollar per meter, according to Kevin Jones.
Observing the past thirteen years of Hollywood Motion
Picture Costume exhibitions, it is interesting to note the trends
in the choices made by the creative teams. Some years, most
directors and designers strive for accurate recreation of historical times and places. In other years historical reference is
the last thing on a creative team's mind. In 2004, many film
creators imagined stylized worlds for their stories. When Merchant of Venice director Michael Radford asked costume designer Sammy Sheldon for a stylized version of Renaissance
Venice, she crossed period Venetian sensuality with the nineteenth-century sensual feel of John Singer Sargeant's portraiture.4 The influence of India was an important theme for Mira
Nair, director of Vanity Fair. She asked costume designer
Beatrix Aruna Pasztor to fuse muted Neo-Classical England
with strong Indian colors and patterns.5 Colleen Atwood, basing her designs for Lemony Snicket on the illustrations in the
children's books, created an eclectic collection of periods
with an overall Victorian feeling. Riddick's director David
Twohy charged his creative team with designing a totally
unique world, saying, "If we've seen it before, throw it away." 6
Costumes in the 2004 exhibit, which ranged from
Alexander's ancient Macedonia to Riddick's interplanetary
religious war set far in the future, were colorful, elaborate, and
exciting. "Some years we've had a lot of suits" says Jones. "Now,
everyone loves a sequel" he noted, indicating that many films released in 2004 followed trends established several years ago, such
as the long-left-for-dead "sword and sandals" genre revived by
Gladiator four years ago and the renewed interest in Western
European mythology kindled by the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Eight of the twenty-five films on display are about creators or performers, a connection that lends the exhibit another kinship with the entertainment world itself. The Aviator
portrays Howard Hughes as an early Hollywood film director
and inventor, Finding Neverland is a fictional account of J.M.
Barrie's real-life relationships which were immortalized in his
beloved stage play, Peter Pan, and De-Lovely is the story of
Cole Porter's adult life. Ray and Beyond the Sea are stories

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 2005