LIFE+ARTS | laloyolan.com: Mona May was given a relatively low budget of $200,000 to design costumes for the cult classic “Clueless” — a film in which the main character, Cher Horowitz (portrayed by Alicia Silverstone), wears over 60 outfits. May managed to design chic ensembles that are still talked about 25 years after the film’s release.
3 comments:
Although the article focused on (iconic) costumes, I think that the point it brings up is applicable to all aspects of our art form. Even though the movie was released in the mid-90s, we are still talking about the costumes today. They feel timeless, they were an element that made sense back then as much as they make sense now. Finding the balance between catching up with the trends and trying to guess what the future may hold is incredibly difficult, but it adds so much when done in the right way. For example, take jokes that make reference to current events now. Sure they may be funny for a few months, a year maybe, but what happens after? The same can be said about the other design elements of a production. I have been a witness to too many choices that have not aged well, which leads me to think that this is a conversation worth having when working on a production.
This week in Foundations of Drama we were reading David Ball’s Backwards and Forwards and he wrote how playwrights (even good ones) are not writing for a piece to be timeless, they are just writing for their moment and era, and if the piece is really good, it will become timeless all on its own. I think that is a really good way to think about costume design (and really any type of art making) also. People still wear the iconic yellow plaid set today, and it is just that, iconic. But when May was designing the show, her intent was not to make pieces that people would wear years later, but instead to design excellent costumes. I think this goes to show that when you really create something great, you never know the impact it will have or how long it might be around for. I loved reading about how important May considered color to be, and it is funny to imagine how different that iconic set would be if it were not yellow.
I had to read this article because the costumes in clueless are some of my absolute favorites. I agrees with Bridgets comment that the reason these clothes are so iconic is that they were designed for the time but they became timeless because they were so good. I would add that because she deviated from popular culture at the time and used high fashion and European influences, the outfits don’t necessarily look dated. If she had used 90s LA or Grunge fashion as inspiration, it wouldn’t have been as instantly iconic and definitely not timeless. She is also the designer of Enchanted and I would love to ask her a question about that movie. While I absolutely loved Giselle’s colorful, floral, flowing dresses, in the last scene she was given a straight silky purple dress that did NOT fit her character. I would want to ask her what the thought process was behind that dress.
Post a Comment