Wednesday 30 December 2009

Christmas Project: EXPOSE YOURSELF TO SOMETHING NEW...!!!

Dear readers,
We have got a LITTLE assignment to do for the holidays. As you can tell I'm not too enthusiastic about it coz I hate having to write, type... whatever...??? Luckily this project isn't obligatory but it still seems that it is, as it's for our own good to improve and succeed in our course.

Anyhow..

What we have to do is to expose our brains to absorb yet more stuff unknown & new to us...!!! It can be a film, an artist, a designer, an architect, a musician, a band, a sculpture, a painting a play, an album, a book, or a poem but NOT A GAME..!!We've been given loads of interesting people, films, books etc to browse through, so I had a quick glance at most artists & films to look out for which interested me more.

Having chosen a topic of the list or from any other person's suggestion of something unfamiliar to us need to write 3 short paragraphs about:
1. Who/what & why..???
2.What was good about it..??
3. What was bad about it..??

I have always been really interested in characters and all the different aspects of them (appearance, abilities, props etc) and this is why I chose Eiko Ishioka. She is a multi-talented lady who used to be a graphic designer and artistic director and is now an award winning costume designer. She caught my attention with one of her works for the movie Bram Stoker's Dracula (for which she won an Oscar)

but her other costume designs are also really impressive - like the ones below which she designed for Cirque du Soleil: Varekai.






Most of these costumes are fascinating for their simple yet striking effect. The costume for Icarus with its pure white innocence immediately recalls the Greek myth with the holes in his wings reminding us that he will eventually fall into the sea. I like her use of bright vibrant colours and the influences of other cultures, especially her own Japanese culture, which can be seen in the red robes above. I also like the way that many of her costume designs emphasise the form of the body, not just the figure hugging costumes of the Cirque du Soleil performers but also the very muscular design from Dracula which first impressed me. It looks as though she is also inspired by animals


What don't I like? Although I think her work in general is brilliant - the detail on some of the designs is incredible - sometimes some of her costumes strike me as too simple. Also a lot of people might be put off by the wild and weird side of some of her work but this could just be because she's designing for wild and weird characters. Whatever, costume is very important in helping to define characters and her work is really memorable from that angle.

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