The costume designer has decorated his walls with inspiration: stills from the original movie, multi-colored fabric swatches and photos of “bad boys of all time.” Next to Marlon Brando hangs a photo of James Dean — because “our Danny is blonde,” says Long, referring to star Aaron Tveit.
3 comments:
I really wish the article gave the information on how long the entire costuming process took, from initial design to fittings to opening, just because I literally cannot even begin to wrap my head around having to design and fit 633 costumes. While I'm sure Mr. Long has a horde of assistants and an army of unpaid interns desperate for jobs at Fox, I still can't even believe that he managed to put 633 costumes together. The fact that he was doing any of the actually fabric painting is even more surprising, because you would think that he would just simply not have any time. His day would have to be full of constant decision making without ever being able to actually do construction work, but I guess not. I wonder what his system is with his assistants that would allow him to work on the project while not constantly having to be in meetings and at fittings.
William Ivey Long is incredible and maybe the best costume designer for Broadway of our time. He is an absolute genius with all the designs and quick changes he created. He is known for making incredible quick-change outfits such as Cinderella and her crazy onstage complete outfit change. His deigns for quick changes are very secret. I think it is great that he is also working on the costumes and making sure all the details are perfect. That shows he is not there just to design and let everyone else do all the labor. He really cares about his costumes and wants to make them as authentic as possible. I cannot even imagine how he was able to design that many costumes and know exactly who wears them all. I really liked Marty’s quick change from her pajamas into the red dress and then back into her pajamas. The Grease Lightning change was also very cool.
How cool! I remember watching Grease Live several times, and I really appreciated all of the work that went into it. Every time I watched it I found a new thing to ogle at. There is so much eye candy! Everything was so well done. I love how hands on Long is and his way of thinking. The fact that he took the time to paint on scorpions just because that is what the characters would have done is really admirable. The costumes all seem like they would be so fun to wear and it looks like the actors had so much fun in them. The environment Long works in, although busy, sounds so exhilarating if not exhausting. What a cool show to be able to work on. Linking such a classic film to the present is so important since our current generation is unfamiliar with such gems, so Long will definitely be an important part of history with his brilliant costumes.
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