Shameless costume design self-congratulation...

[breakinglight11]

It occurs to me that now that To Think of Nothing is over, I can talk about an aspect of it I've been incredibly proud of without fear of spoiling it for those coming to see the show. :-)

As I mentioned, I believe all the costumes in a given play have to work together to create an effect. A big aspect of this is color. I don't just mean the colors all have to complement each other, though they do-- I mean I really like it when the colors mean something, separately and in comparison to each other.

To Think of Nothing is a play full of parallel characters. There are real people and their literary counterparts, there are various embodiments of the same aspect of the main character's psyche. I decided to indicate those parallels through use of color.

Cassander, the playwright who thinks too much, unwittingly projects himself into his character of Damon. Also connected to them and their overthinking nature is the analytical aspect of the Graces, Thalia. Therefore these characters were dressed in various shades of blue.



Please excuse Plesser's remarkable out-of-characterness. :-)

Andromeda, the woman Cassander has fallen for, is represented in his play by Selene. And, since he sees them as the bastion of all that is good and kind, the nice Grace Aglaea is connected to them. So they all wear shades of red.



And finally there is Palamon, Cassander's dear friend but also sternest critic. So he and the harsh Grace Euphrosyne are both dressed in green.



All these pictures and more can be seen on Facebook.

I was incredibly pleased with how these costumes came out. I got lucky enough to find pieces that were all in different shades of the relevant color, so that the connection was always present but not so screamingly obvious as it might have been if they were all in the same value-- Frances's dress has an orange cast to it while Charlotte's gown is burgundy and Liz's sash is crimson, for example. It makes it much more subtle. I polled the audience a little after both shows to see if anyone picked up on it, and the split was about fifty-fifty, and fortunately nobody thought it was obvious from the start. That was important to me. My goal was that people would realize it gradually, and I'm okay with some people not noticing it if it means it doesn't whack anybody over the head. I am also quite relieved I didn't go with my first instinct of dressing Damon and Selene in black-- they would have completely disappeared into the black box theater. I think back then I was worried that ANY color similarity between the real people and their literary counterparts would be beating the audience over the head with that connection. But it looks so much better this way. 

So, yeah, I think I did a pretty damn good job, if I may say so myself. If anyone with more costume design knowledge and experience wants to weigh in with comments, criticisms, or suggestions, I'd be happy to hear them. This is one aspect of the show that I thought was just really slick, so I wanted to share my process on it. :-D

Comments

[dendron-ges.livejournal.com]

I was aware ahead of time that you were using parallels of color, so (sorry) I did notice that from the beginning. One thing I didn't pick up on for a while, though, was the use of black and white. None of the `real' people (Cassander, Andromeda, Palamon) had any white, whereas they did all have black (the males their pants and Andromeda her shawl and---less visible to be sure---hair decoration). Of those whom I classified as `imaginary' (the Graces, Selene and Damon---the latter being Cassander's creations and the former being, well, not at least based on real people), only Damon had any substantial amount of black (and imagining that character in white pants and boots is probably stretching things a little too far), and all had distinctly visible white.

Was this also an intentional distinction, or have I just gone and read entirely too much into your use of color?

[breakinglight11.livejournal.com]

Well, if you were forewarned, I'm glad you didn't ignore it completely. :-)

You are right about the white-- I didn't want any of the real people wearing white, partially as a distinction, and also to minimize the distraction from the Graces as these substantial white entities. The black was more incidental. In fact, I was actually trying to use as little black as I could by that point for fear of them disappearing against the black stage. Still, it was the only color that made sense in some places, such as for men's dress pants, and for a shawl that wouldn't clash horribly with Frances's dress.

I love how observant you are. :-)

[offside7.livejournal.com]

I love the Graces' costumes- they were draped well.

[breakinglight11.livejournal.com]

Thank you! They look so good thanks to Rachel Feldman, (blendedchaitea on LJ) our hair and makeup girl, who worked her magic on them.