Costume Designs From the Year's Top Films
A free costume exhibit at Los Angeles' Fashion Institute for Design & Merchandising showcases various wardrobe pieces from this year's Oscar-nominated films such as "Atonement," "Sweeney Todd" and "Elizabeth: The Golden Age."
Stephanie Phillips

The Demon Barber's stained shoes, Queen Elizabeth's golden collar and King Leonidas' crimson cape grace the Art of Motion Picture Costume Design, a gallery that highlights the best costumes of 2007.

The Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising's free exhibit, just 10 minutes away from USC, features more than 125 costumes from last year's best movies.

Visitors walking through the gallery have the unique opportunity to view the costumes worn by the actors in films such as "Across the Universe," "Atonement," "Elizabeth: The Golden Age," "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" and "La Vie en Rose" - all of which are nominated for this years Oscar for Best Costume Design.

Without any glass barrier blocking the view of the costumes, viewers can appreciate the intricate work that goes into constructing these outfits.

Many small details, easily overlooked in theaters, can better be appreciated in person.

In the "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" display, the detail of Professor Umbridge's pink cat broach adds such wonderful atrociousness to her pink, fluffy suit, which is right next to Nymphadora Tonks' red woven jacket and Sirius Black's musty velvet suit.

The most intriguing exhibit is the "Sweeney Todd" section, encompassed by earthy reds and dark overtones.

Johnny Depp, who owns the Demon Barber costume, allowed this vital piece, which was designed by Colleen Atwood, to be lent to the gallery.

Mrs. Lovett's working dress, another costume from "Sweeney Todd," is detailed with frayed lace around the edges of a small black corset.

Remnants of gold lacing around the neckline hint that the corsett might have once been a refined dress - as if holding on to some lost elegance.

The dress directly contrasts with pristine Johanna's blue and white Victorian dress.

Another beautiful costume from a later time period is Keira Knightley's green silk charmeuse dress from "Atonement."

The vivid color of the emerald gown, designed by Jacqueline Durran, stands out as visitors wind through the gallery. This stylized evening dress is likely to create much buzz in the fashion design industry because of its simplistic beauty.

Noteworthy designs are "Enchanted's" white wedding gown, "Across the Universe's" painted canvas outfits, "3:10 to Yuma's" suits, "La Vie en Rose's" period costumes, "Hairspray's" vintage-style dresses and the humorous "Blades of Glory" figure-skating leotards.

Soundtracks of featured movies alternate in the background as viewers wander through the gallery.

As guests enter and leave the exhibit, clips from the films' trailers are creatively fused together and projected onto a glittered background. The fountain-like effect of the images captures the excitement and spirit of costume design.

Full trailers for each movie are available for viewing in a showroom in the back of the gallery.

The Art of Motion Picture Costume Design gallery has appeared annually at FIDM for the past 16 years.

The exhibit has an impeccable record of choosing the finest film costumes in accordance with the Academy's nominees, even though the costumes are chosen before the Oscar nominations are released.

According to the gallery's tradition, a sample from the previous year's Oscar winner is featured in addition to the present year's costumes.

The winner for 2006 was designer Milena Canonero for "Marie Antionette." This year, Marie's off-white wedding dress acts as a centerpiece for the gallery.

The exhibit is held at the institute to inspire students, showcasing the best in contemporary costume design, as more than a few visitors carried sketchpads in order to draw inspiration from the costumes.

The exhibit offers one of the best ways to appreciate the skill of master designers by allowing viewers to see their work up close.


http://media.www.dailytrojan.com/media/sto...s-3184857.shtml

Rose

I was kind of hoping he would wear the costume to the Oscars! :shistle

woohoo Now this is great news--thanks so much for finding this link! I went last year and the costumes from the film are just beautiful and seeing them up close you can really see the colors and detail....With STodd costumes being displayed, this will definitely be a trip to LA! :D :thanks Rose

-Donna

Oh Rose! This sounds just awesome!! Thanks for making sure we saw this!!

I hope you get to go and see this.
The boots are supposed to have studs on them. I was it breifly when Sweeney entered a room nearer the end of the movie.
They are also supposed to be covered with sea salt.

Here's a link to another article about the display with times, etc. if anyone's in the LA area and wants to visit. I've posted just the ST related bits, but the link is here for the full article:

http://www.downtownnews.com/articles/2008/...rtainment01.txt

Turning the first corner, all eyes go to the emerald green silk charmeuse (a satin-like fabric) dress from Atonement earning raves for Oscar nominee Jacqueline Durran. Across from that are mannequins dressed in black and gray period costumes that Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter wore in Sweeney Todd. What's surprising are some of the other outfits with bold candy stripes, bright pink and royal blue. Where were those in Tim Burton's dark film?

"The costumes were used for a fantasy sequence: Mrs. Lovitt's escape world," said Colleen Atwood, a two-time Academy Award winner for Chicago and Memoirs of a Geisha, by email from Chicago where she is on location for Public Enemies.
Atwood obviously enjoys working with Burton; she's joined him on six other films. "Tim is an artist and has a great eye," she said. "He enjoys seeing what all of us come up with. His movies always have a great sense of play."


Depp, like many top actors, has a provision in his contract that permits him to keep his costumes. He agreed to loan FIDM his Sweeney Todd outfit, which Atwood brought to the museum just in time for the Jan. 28 opening.

-Donna

Good find Donna!

Oh that sounds great. I remember going to a LOTR event a while ago, where costumes were being displayed too...and that was definitely a special experience. So I'd love to see the Sweeney costumes of course, but unfortunately I live not anywhere near LA. *g*

But I wish everyone who might be going lots of fun. I'm already looking forward to your reports! :)

Will see if we can swing by for a peek. Thank you so much for the information on the exhibit!

Yvonne in LA woohoo

Admin edited for spelling and capitalization

I went last year! They had Jack's costume, Will's Costume and Elizabeth's Wedding dress from Dead Man's Chest! The exhibit is well worth seeing for all the costumes!

That is super nice of Johnny to led them his costume! I can't wait to see it!

Pity there's no pictures with this artical! :(

It would be nice if they could take this exhibit to different cities. I would love to see all these costumes up close.

Terry

That is so cool of him!! Very smart to keep the costume!!!!! :shistle

Thanks so much! Have to make time to drive through LA traffic.

I would also like to see those costumes. :) Please somebody take pictures for us. :thumbsup

Sadly they don't allow pictures---at leas last year they didn't. :(

-Donna

We went to this today and it was very cool! No photos were allowed. Sweeney's costume was complete, all the layers included: shirt, scarf, vest, barber's coat and leather jacket. The pants were crusted with a lot of salt, more then you see in the movie. And his boots seemed small to me considering how big Johnny's feet usually appear!

They also had Pirelli's costume (the blue one), Judge Turpin's (what he was wearing when he called Anthony into his home), 2 of Mrs. Lovett's (the red striped dress from By the Sea and the brownish one from in the pie shop), and 2 of Johanna's dresses (the one that looks beige/pale yellowish when she throws the key out the window, it was actually pink! And the blue one she is wearing when she is packing to run away when the Judge catches her).

The detail on all the costumes was amazing. Things you don't really see in the movies. Pattern on coats, brocade work, etc, just amazing!

A side note, after we left, just a few block away is the Bonaventure Hotel, where Johnny filmed Nick of Time. So we went to check that out! From the curb outside, to the lobby, bar, glass elevators, etc it was very cool! Everything is so recognizable from the movie! As we stood inside and looked up where Johnny was hanging by cables to film his plummet down, we just kept thinking how scary it must have been for him!

It was a very nice Johnny inspired day!

Thanks BuccaRoux for the lovely reports!!

Really enjoyed your report, BuccaRoux! Thanks!

They featured the ST costumes on yesterday's Good Morning America. Eventually I will be getting the clip to Holly, so everyone can enjoy it. They did an interview with Colleen Atwood as well.

Thanks Susan!

Thanks so much for the report BuccaRoux--I'm really looking forward to seeing this, hopefully sometime in March.

Susan, thanks for catching the GMA clip as well----I just want to hear that great music Ballad of ST tonight when they win their awards! :)

-Donna

Until it can be converted for download, you can watch the GMA clip here. It's wonderful! Colleen Atwood has fast become one of my favorite people.

http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=4333790

FAN I was just coming here to post that-lol! Very nice clip!

-Donna

WOO HOOOO Thanks Fan!

Must be really exciting to see those costumes in person. :thanks also for the clip :)

WOW Bucca, it sounds like you had a fabulous Pre-Oscar Johnny day, thanks so much for sharing all that with us. :thumbsup

Thanks for the link Maggy, that is a great clip. Was there more on the tv, or was that the lot? I could have watched so much more, it was fascinating.

Anne x

That was the main segment, but they did reports all day from in front of other costumes from Enchanted, Elizabeth: The Golden Age, Atonement, etc. Glad the main focus was on ST! :D

Thanks Susan. If that was the main bit, would you like me to try to snag and clip it? I know Holly is up to her ears with clip work right now.

Anne x

Anne, I'll PM you! :)

I am :blink: , but there is always room for one more. :angel

Already done it Holly. :lol: Thanks for the PM Susan :thumbsup

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=RTPSRRUZ

Anne x

:snoopy WOO HOO

:thanks Anne.

Thanks Anne and Susan!