Variety: In Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ classic 1986 graphic novel “Watchmen,” the superheroes and vigilantes make their own costumes. This gives every look a level of accessibility that’s not often a consideration for big-budget action projects, but was a theme that needed to be carried over into HBO’s adaptation of the award-winning comic book.
3 comments:
I love that Meghan Kasperlik is keeping true with the stories convention, that the superheroes are making their own costumes based on what they have around them. However, what the article describes sound far from the DIY the everyday person could do. As this article states, many of the superhero costumes were handmade, most likely by professional costume makers, and they had to add special aspects like gussets and pads. Also for the hood, they added neoprene, which is not a standard fabric everyday people have around. Though I love the idea that Watchmen is keeping the costumes within the world, I don’t think this article demonstrates that point. However, I love the idea that the Angel dresses dramatically different as Sister Night. All to often in movies and TV shows I think the superhero looks identical in their disguise, which ruins the allusion. I’m excited to see the costumes for Watchmen and see how they progress throughout the show.
As a preface, after reading this article, I found and downloaded the 2009 movie, Watchmen, and the following 2019 TV show, Watchmen (at least the first two episodes). I’m rather excited to start watching the show, and the movie (I’ve only seen the trailers before the movie started on the Dark Knight DVD) always intrigued me, so I think that this’ll be interesting. Especially since the director’s cut of Watchmen is more than 3 hours long. Onto the costume design, I love how they resorted to simplicity. In shows like Arrow or the Flash, I know the superhero uniforms are meant to be made by scientists and billionaires and such, and I know the shows have sort have become synonymous with cinemagraphic cheese, but the whole rubber and spandex look never really appealed to me as much, especially when the characters take it so seriously. I think the simplicity of making a costume look as though someone made it from their own closet takes hard work, especially from a costumer’s professional experience, and I think they did a wonderful job executing it in the show. I feel as though it works very well in the universe the creators are trying to establish, too.
What I have always adored about costumes is how the clothes they wear can add an extra layer to their development. There is so much thought that goes into each piece for its function and its relation to the character who is wearing it. Meghan Kasperlik clearly did a wonderful job demonstrating her thought process especially for the character of Sister Night. It is articles like this one that excites me to hopefully join the costume industry one day. Character dissection has been a fascination of mine and to be able to do that in the art I love sounds like a dream come true. Superhero shows offer plenty of opportunities to be creative with its characters and a story like “Watchmen”, known for its deeply complex characters, give the artists of the show plenty of creativity for their designs. It draws me to wanting to watch the show. If only HBO didn’t cost money...
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