Beauty and the Beast Costumes

For my colleges production of Beauty and the Beast this year, I designed the costumes for the main characters of Lumiere, Cogsworth and Babette. I also constructed the textiles elements mainly from upcycling old garments, and with an extremely tight budget...

Costume Design Board:

 Babette:

For Babette, the feather duster's costume, I merged the idea of traditional Victorian maid and modern French romance/attraction, so the garment included tempting cuts and hemlines but with traditional trims of frills and inclusion of an apron, etc... As she is quite a sexual, seductive character, I used quite a provocative pleather fabric for the skirt with a thigh-high slit. As the enchanted objects have to transform back to their original human state, I created a Velcroed waist belt of feather boas which sat of her hip as this is where the actresses main movement came from in characterisation.

Lumiere:

After designing Lumiere's costume for the suave man he is, I was able to create the god suit-like garment, one of my favourite aspects being that the actor would be able to use their hands still as a lot of other costume designs for this character don't allow. I created flame ruffles in the cuffs but decided to have the main frame of the candelabra going across the shoulders. However, there were a lot  technical difficulties rigging this up and I ended up deciding to have it lower down on the back. The transformable parts of this costume were the candles.

Cogsworth:

 Originally, I was set to play Cogsworth in this production but I had to pull out, so I initially started designing a costume for myself and my characterisation of the enchanted object. But when someone else took over my role, I had to rethink aspects of the design. Without using a sandwich-board-like structure, I tried to create the shape of a clock, using a grandfather clock as inspiration with the pendulum the length of the body and face as the actual clock. In the transformation, the entire bodice comes off, head pieces and key for back... This was a more quirky costumes with elements such as clock handles as a moustache.

Elphaba's Act 2 Dress, Wicked

Elphaba's act II dress in Wicked is my favourite theatrical costume. Designed by Susan Hilferty, I believe that the incredible detail and depth this dress possesses, truly makes it one of the most beautiful and meaningful costumes in the theatre. The dress fits Elphaba's character in act II perfectly as the story gets darker and her character becomes more complex like the detailing in the garment... As she matures throughout the show we see her grow into her 'witchy' style and this costume is the pinnacle of it, especially when complete with the hat, cape and broomstick. The darker, earthy colour/textures, in comparison to Glinda's bright and floaty dresses shows how grounded and "connected to the earth" Elphaba is - "green for good" being a phrase. 

The fabric for the bodice of this dress is not just simply one fabric, but around 20 different fabrics quilted together (no bigger than 3 inches a piece), 40 yards of fabric is needed to create the ruffles in the skirt of the dress and it takes 1 person 2 weeks to sew the entire piece together! Crazy! It is also said that this particular costume weighs around 40 lbs with a value of between $10,000 - $20,000!

Glinda's Costumes - Wicked

 Glinda has 6 costumes at different key moments in her life throughout the show. The first one we see is the 'Bubble Gown' in the first musical number 'No One Mourns the Wicked', however, the ending of the story is at the beginning, hence why the Bubble Gown is last on the list as it is also the final costume we see Glinda in in the 'Finale'.

From the beginning of the story, her first costume is the 'Shiz University Uniform'. The ensembles uniforms are themed turquoise/blue and creamy-white but as Glinda's bold, bright, shining character, she stands out with a complete white uniform different from the others. As her character starts off less mature, her skirt is shorter but we go on to watch her character (and dresses) grow throughout the show.

The second costume is the 'Popular' dress which she wear to the 'Ozdust Ballroom' to impress winky prince Fiyero. With the continuing theme of standing out and impacting whatever world she walks into, the dress is pink, whereas the ensemble's theme is black and white. The key moment                                                         in this dress is when she bonds with Elphaba.

As her friendship with Elphaba blooms and she has relationship issues with Fiyero, her 'Emerald City dress' makes an appearance. This dress is now longer with uneven hems that symbolize her gradual growth in maturity as she experiences new things but still has younger traits. In this costume, Glinda goes to the Emerald City with Elphaba to meet the Wizard of Oz but it doesn't quite go to plan and ends up in the scene of Defying Gravity - another two key moments in her character's story. Still standing out from all the green in the Emerald City, her dress is bright yellow.

Once some time has passed since Elphaba's flight, Glinda appears in her 'Thank Goodness' dress, throwing a surprise engagement party for Fiyero. Again, the dress has increased in length as she moves forward in life, making important decisions but still has lessons to learn - there is a short trail at the back of the dress symbolizing this similar to the Emerald City dress.

Glinda's next dress is her 'Engagement Gown' which is now full floor-length. The garment does not appear for long but still has the key moment of Glinda's despair over loosing both Fiyero and Elphaba alongside being a catalyst in the effort to set Elphaba up and capture her using her sister Nessa.

Finally, there is one of the most extravagant costumes, the 'Bubble Gown' which is the longest and most layered of all the dresses. The piece is flourishing with the sequined petals almost like a flower symbolizing Glinda's new start as 'Glinda The Good'.

Glinda's Bubble Dress

Glinda's Bubble Gown is one of the key costumes in Wicked the Musical. Designed by Susan Hilferty, this stunning dress consists of 42 petals, with each one taking a day and a half to hand sequin.