Monday, December 24, 2012

The Piano

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A costume drama... Inspired by The Piano.
Romance in a barren, unfamiliar place. Deposited on an empty shore, transported from the familar after a long journey to embark on a new one.

As a costume designer, I am often privy to collecting historical costumes, or keeping pieces from a show. I get to design dream dresses and looks which hardly ever cross over into the modern wardrobe, but I love them all the same. Finding an excuse to wear them is pretty minimal, but creating one, like this shoot is fun. I had been living on the shore in Perth, and the afternoons became windy, bare and often dramatic with dark moody clouds, choppy waters in the most beautiful colours. I had really wanted to shoot this dress against the grey and blue tones of the clouds and ocean, while the grasses of the dunes also provided a silvery, grey link. This costume came from a collection for sale from the archives of the West Australian Ballet Company. I loved it, and had to stop myself from buying a few more from the same show. After all, I only have a limit of two suitcases to fly back to Adelaide with come the begining of Febuary.
The gown was handsewn, evidently over many hours, has been worn by several dancers, as the name tags have been sewn into the garment, which I feel adds to the history and value of this garment. The costume was from the ballet Lady of the Camellias, based on the Alexandre Dumas novel of 1848. It tells a story of forbidden love and the life of Parisian courtesans in the 19th century. For the Victorian period, between 1830-1860s, this dress would be designed for day wear, and obviously shortened for dance. Often the petticoats or crinolines worn beneath these cotton, wool or silk dresses were made of stiffned silks or horsehair fabric. In 1856 pliable steel hoops were invented, becoming the cage crinolines. Whale bones were used at some point as well, but I am happy with tulle.

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As a kid I remember watching the haunting and beautiful film The Piano by Jane Campion.
Also I have always loved that Anna Paquin had a gap in her two front teeth like me, it wasn't so fashionable once upon a time and I used to be so embarrassed by it.
I read recently that it was the last film that Kurt Cobain watched before he passed away.
As this is my 250th post I wanted to do something a little bit different.
A big thank you to Emma Robinson for shooting these for me.
I may have to bring in some more costume design based posts during 2013.
For now, enjoy, and have a wonderful Christmas.
xx - Nell.



3 comments:

  1. Aw, it got a other life off the stage! :) We were hoping for that, if I don't forget I will try and show the girls at work. :)

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  2. what a lovely dress, those shots look like they are out of a french movie capturing the 19th century <3
    would you like to follow each other?
    A
    xx
    http://epiquemoi.blogspot.com

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  3. YOu look lovely! Love the pictures! I loved that movie too, but must admit when I watched it as a kid I was kinda freaked out and all the 'naughty' bits! hahah

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