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Thursday, November 30, 2023
Costume design enhances characterization, comedy, time period of 17th-century comedy
commonwealthtimes.org: Costumes act as a subconscious element of theater that helps transport people into a different world; when producing a period piece, such as “The Imaginary Invalid,” costumes do so and set the period, said Kasey Brown, costume designer of “The Imaginary Invalid.”
I felt the need to click on this article because although I am not a costumes person– I am definitely a clothes person. I don’t necessarily use clothes to express myself as others do but more of what I feel good and looks nice. Fashion is something so subjective and having a sense of it also is. I think I do have an eye for this but costumes and dressing characters really doesn’t speak to me. Costumes is such an important part of theater, it can show status, and time period, personality with color. While clothes can show all of this in real life as well, it is less extreme because of theaters nature of being extra and over the top to show people themes through superficial things. Not just actions. So, after reading this article I feel like my appreciation for costumes is just more, and I can relate to it in a personal way now.
I really enjoyed reading the article “Costume design enhances characterization, comedy, time period of 17th-century comedy”. As someone who wants to go into costume design or costume production I love getting to do research into historical fashion. It is so interesting to me to learn about how fashion and clothing have changed over the years. One can really understand how politics, the economy and technology have affected the way that people dress. When I was a senior in high school, my Acting IV class did scenes from a Moliere show, so I am familiar with his work and how silly, fun and lavish it can be. I think this can be a good example of taking creative liberties when designing a show. Using the elements of 17th century clothing, but then exaggerating it and emphasizing intentional aspects in order to add to the comic element of the show. I also love how the costume designer described the characters, found visual images of that represented at and incorporated it into the costumes.
Personally, I really enjoyed reading this article because I have been looking about joining the costuming world for a while now, and this was a great article to get some more information! From what I've been hearing, School of Drama offers a class which is all about the history of costumes, or more so, the decade breakdown of fashion trends. I would totally be interested in taking that class! I think Susan mentioned it in Basic Design, and this article definitely reminded me of that. This has always fascinated me, the art of creating a design for a dress that is meant to look like it came from a specific decade. For example, my high school did Little Women my Junior year, and that is a show that would definitely require for you to do research into the historical context behind the play and what the actors would need to wear on stage.
Personally, I really enjoyed reading this article because I have been looking about joining the costuming world for a while now, and this was a great article to get some more information! From what I've been hearing, School of Drama offers a class which is all about the history of costumes, or more so, the decade breakdown of fashion trends. I would totally be interested in taking that class! I think Susan mentioned it in Basic Design, and this article definitely reminded me of that. This has always fascinated me, the art of creating a design for a dress that is meant to look like it came from a specific decade. For example, my high school did Little Women my Junior year, and that is a show that would definitely require for you to do research into the historical context behind the play and what the actors would need to wear on stage
One of the things that I love about design is to be able to dive into the details and motivations of a character, and their effect in the world they live in. Also, I love period costumes and researching historical fashion is fascinating to me. It’s so cool how in this article they mentioned that the 17th century clothing helped them to emphasize the comedy and lighthearted tone of the piece, as though the clothes were quite serious at the time nowadays they are looked at quite humorously, and so thus the context of this present time is informing the audiences reaction to the design, which is so awesome to think about. Kagarise’s quotes were really interesting to read as well. I’ve often been of the opinion that one of the reasons that costuming is so important isn’t just for the looks or the scene but also to help the actors performance. I’ve heard that having a costume that really helps to tell a character’s story can help to inform the actor with what they do sometimes, like how Kagarise commented how he now has a ton of new comedy opportunities due to the clothing he’s wearing.
5 comments:
I felt the need to click on this article because although I am not a costumes person– I am definitely a clothes person. I don’t necessarily use clothes to express myself as others do but more of what I feel good and looks nice. Fashion is something so subjective and having a sense of it also is. I think I do have an eye for this but costumes and dressing characters really doesn’t speak to me. Costumes is such an important part of theater, it can show status, and time period, personality with color. While clothes can show all of this in real life as well, it is less extreme because of theaters nature of being extra and over the top to show people themes through superficial things. Not just actions. So, after reading this article I feel like my appreciation for costumes is just more, and I can relate to it in a personal way now.
I really enjoyed reading the article “Costume design enhances characterization, comedy, time period of 17th-century comedy”. As someone who wants to go into costume design or costume production I love getting to do research into historical fashion. It is so interesting to me to learn about how fashion and clothing have changed over the years. One can really understand how politics, the economy and technology have affected the way that people dress. When I was a senior in high school, my Acting IV class did scenes from a Moliere show, so I am familiar with his work and how silly, fun and lavish it can be. I think this can be a good example of taking creative liberties when designing a show. Using the elements of 17th century clothing, but then exaggerating it and emphasizing intentional aspects in order to add to the comic element of the show. I also love how the costume designer described the characters, found visual images of that represented at and incorporated it into the costumes.
Personally, I really enjoyed reading this article because I have been looking about joining the costuming world for a while now, and this was a great article to get some more information! From what I've been hearing, School of
Drama offers a class which is all about the history of costumes, or more so, the decade breakdown of fashion trends. I would totally be interested in taking that class! I think Susan mentioned it in Basic Design, and this article definitely reminded me of that. This has always fascinated me, the art of creating a design for a dress that is meant to look like it came from a specific decade. For example, my high school did Little Women my Junior year, and that is a show that would definitely require for you to do research into the historical context behind the play and what the actors would need to
wear on stage.
Personally, I really enjoyed reading this article because I have been looking about joining the costuming world for a while now, and this was a great article to get some more information! From what I've been hearing, School of Drama offers a class which is all about the history of costumes, or more so, the decade breakdown of fashion trends. I would totally be interested in taking that class! I think Susan mentioned it in Basic Design, and this article definitely reminded me of that. This has always fascinated me, the art of creating a design for a dress that is meant to look like it came from a specific decade. For example, my high school did Little Women my Junior year, and that is a show that would definitely require for you to do research into the historical context behind the play and what the actors would need to
wear on stage
One of the things that I love about design is to be able to dive into the details and motivations of a character, and their effect in the world they live in. Also, I love period costumes and researching historical fashion is fascinating to me. It’s so cool how in this article they mentioned that the 17th century clothing helped them to emphasize the comedy and lighthearted tone of the piece, as though the clothes were quite serious at the time nowadays they are looked at quite humorously, and so thus the context of this present time is informing the audiences reaction to the design, which is so awesome to think about. Kagarise’s quotes were really interesting to read as well. I’ve often been of the opinion that one of the reasons that costuming is so important isn’t just for the looks or the scene but also to help the actors performance. I’ve heard that having a costume that really helps to tell a character’s story can help to inform the actor with what they do sometimes, like how Kagarise commented how he now has a ton of new comedy opportunities due to the clothing he’s wearing.
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