Merge is an original character of mine from a story I’ve been working on for awhile. It is a symbiotic creature that began life as a kind of stem cell. It’s taken me some time to settle on the design, I think this is its finalised look.
Mermay 2018
Commission: Traversing History
Project director and photographer: Marla Bishop
Make-up artists: Kat Winslade and Camila Cufré
Costumes: Courtney Coulson
Models:
Nic Färgglad
Erin Delaney
Jasper Storm
Luciano Spadoni
Courtney Coulson
This was an unusual project, I was approached by Marla, a photography student who had an ambitious photoshoot that they needed costumes for. The concept was androgynous reinterpretations of various periods in history, I love history and I have a fascination with androgyny, so I was keen. In total there were fifteen costumes, I was assigned these five pre-20th century periods and one futuristic one. Marla gave me rough idea of what they wanted but I had a lot of creative freedom and they were happy with these initial illustrations you see below. It was an intense project, very little budget and very little time, but such is the life of a costumer and I was up to the challenge. I only had one fitting with the models and it was one week before the shoot, I was sewing right up until the minute some of these costumes were photographed. But I always meet a deadline!
I enjoyed this collaboration, Marla is a talented photographer and they assembled a fine team of make-up artists and models. I can now say my work has been on display in a gallery now too. Continue reading “Commission: Traversing History”
Night at the Museum- Ahkemnrah Redesign
I love the Night at the Museum films and I also love Ancient Egypt, so naturally I was inspired to reinterpret Ahkmenrah’s costume. The goal was to be as historically accurate as possible while still being recognisable.
This took me a couple of months just to research, turns out there’s not a lot of information on clothing from 4,000 years ago. I’m still uncertain of how certain pieces are supposed to be constructed but this is essentially as accurate as possible given the available information. The costume in the film isn’t too far from reality, though it’s evident they were more inspired by Yul Brynner in the Ten Commandments.
Star Trek:TNG Data Redesign
A redesign of the uniforms for Star Trek: The Next Generation
I looked at the Abrams films and Discovery and even Alien, as well as modern uniforms and fashion for inspiration. While I like the TNG costumes, they don’t look like official uniforms that would be worn in any context, they look more like superheroes, especially in season 1. I wanted to achieve something that would have the presence and authority of a military uniform while being practical, like a uniform someone could wear every day, all without departing too much from the TNG look, so of course it still had to be a jumpsuit.
I gave Data a bit of an upgrade or perhaps downgrade, I gave him a more modern haircut and emphasised his robotic qualities. I like the idea that he is incomplete, it reflects his character, plus it’s more readily achievable with modern make-up and effects. Ideally he should appear to be a soft gold colour, which didn’t always translate in the TV series. I have a lot of ideas as to how this costume and make-up could be executed, so I may make this costume at some point.
