Asia Society: Costume designer and production designer Michelle J. Li got her big break with Emma Seligman’s 2021 breakout comedy feature Shiva Baby. She hasn’t looked back since. At a time when a lot of Hollywood productions slowed on account of the pandemic, Li has had the busiest years of her career, working on star-studded projects like the 2022 Sundance Film Festival short film Chaperone featuring Zachary Quinto, and the upcoming feature project Meet Cute starring Kaley Cuoco and Pete Davidson, and more.
5 comments:
Something that I really liked about Li’s process is that she really seems to envelope herself in the story that she has to portray. She seems to really know how to enter the world of whatever she is working on. I really like that she creates a playlist of songs that reminds her, because music is something that also really can ground me in a world and learn more about it. Overall I just related to a lot of her development, I did art in high school and theatre but just wasn’t really aware of the potential of doing costume design. It’s also really awesome that Li got a lot of support from her family to pursue the arts cause that is not something a lot of kids who want to make art their life get which can be so discouraging. Li’s work so far already seems incredible and really well thought out, so it will be interesting to see what she does in the future.
This article was awesome to read. I really love seeing POC representation backstage, they are almost always forgotten about. Their artistry is always undermined, and their wisdom is always taken for granted. It makes me sad because I see things like this too often. But I really appreciate this article for not asking condescending questions and actually asking questions about her work rather than using her as a “diversity” case.
Focusing on Michelle Li, I really appreciate the sensitivity she has when clothing her characters, especially those of not her culture. She goes to research with the indigenous communities directly, and not just googling random stuff and calling it a day. It is really important for all designers to design around a culture that is not their own. I think that it is amazing how Li is still able to bring herself and her own vision into these kinds of costumes. She somehow stays true to the characters she is making while also still giving herself the kind of creative freedom.
I was initially drawn to read this article because I loved Shiva Baby, and the costume design in the film is very subtle but complements the storyline and characters perfectly. Li’s story is very inspirational to me as I had a similar upbringing parent-wise and artistically, and her success demonstrates the power that having a supportive family has in furthering a career that requires creativity & artistry. She seems to be drawn to contemporary works, which I also gravitate towards, and would love to design for music videos as well. Her response discussing the additional factors in play when designing for musicals or other pieces involving choreography shows her experience and thoughtfulness in design, and demonstrates her adaptability to various genres and situations. While I was surprised to hear that the pandemic didn’t severely hinder her career, it inspires hope that dedicating yourself to your work can keep you working even in unpredictable situations.
This article was so inspiring to read about Michelle J. Li, because firstly she’s a fellow New Yorker, and secondly, a CMU costume student alum, and she has gone on to do amazing work in the industry. For a long time, I’ve honestly questioned if CMU was the right program for me to go to when I already lived in NYC which is where I hoped to work, but Michelle’s work showed to me that CMU was absolutely the right choice. Her work on Shiva Baby is absolutely incredible and I really liked that the article included her costume sketches. I’ve actually been meaning to watch the short film Chaperone for quite some time now and had no idea a CMU alum costumed it. Michelle clearly has an incredibly good eye for costume design and her work is so inspiring for me. CMU is very theatrically based which has always worried me as well, but it is reassuring to see how Michelle has taken her career into the film industry. Costuming modern pieces is also no easy endeavor, especially when designing a specific area, and I thought that her work of visiting local high schools to visually see what locals wear was incredibly interesting.
I resonated with her when she talked about stumbling into costume design, not the same field but for me how she described her experience is very similar to how I view theatre and in a lot of ways scenic design; it's the right combination of skills and interests and engagement that, if I play it right, is the centering of a lot of my different interests. Another note that she talked about really struck me. She described how every aspect of what she did in her own personal life affected her art, particularly for inspiration, new ideas were always there because of what she did, even what we might describe as mundane activities. I’m at a point where I feel yet to determine where exactly some of my ideas come from, they are often begin from image research for texture and color or vibe and then branch out from there, or from very specific arrangements I see in the real world but I have yet to reach a point where I can consciously bring in new ideas from every esect of my life.
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