Costume Design

06Feb

May the Most Sparkle Win

Each year the Miss Universe competition is eagerly watched around the world. The main questions asked are: who is wearing what? Who will outdo other costumes? and most of all, who will be crowned Miss Universe 2017?

The winners are tested on a variety of platforms, but the popular national costume display is merely for show. This year costume designs were bold and colourful.

The Venezuelan costume was a flowing blue and white confection bedecked with pearls and a large seahorse sceptre.

Miss Indonesia chose a golden gown in the theme of a golden bird goddess.

Miss Universe Panama wore a bright green costume with flowers representing her country.

Perhaps some of the most notable of all the costumes were those that had been created with genuine Swarovski crystals. This is due to the crystals being made from glass, rather than plastic, and being durable, with metal foil backings that don’t easily peel off. Each year it’s exciting to see which competitors utilized Swarovski crystals in their costumes.

One notable costume was worn by Cheryl Chou, from Singapore. She wore a colourful costume in pinks, yellows, blues, greens, and golds, with rainbow wings. Her headpiece was designed by Moe Kasim and created to represent a traditional bridal headpiece. This headpiece was topped by Swarovski crystals.

Not to be outdone, Miss Universe Malaysia also chose a sparkly white and light orange jumpsuit bedecked in clear white Swarovski crystals. Her costume represented the Patronas Towers in Malaysia. The two towers pointed up from her shoulders, with futuristic silver shoes. The crystals were arranged in square and arrow patterns around her bodice and legs, with stripes down her arms. Many applauded the direction away from a gown to something akin to a national superhero costume.

Miss Thailand wore a traditional dress with gold lamé and gems with a long cascading shawl. This costume was intensely scrutinized and labelled the “Jewel of Thailand”. The crystals in this costume were also Swarovski crystals, and the gown was inspired by old film footage of Queen Sirikit.

Host Steve Harvey announced the winner on Sunday, January 29th. Miss France, Iris Mittenaere won. She hopes to become a dental surgeon, and won with her amazing national costume in glittering rhinestone gemstone jewellery and red feather boas, much like a showgirl costume.It’s hard to imagine how next year’s candidates will top 2017’s amazing costume designs, but it should be worth the wait.

If you’re in dance or show business and are seeking a show-stopping costume for the stage, or a dance dress for a competition, we’d love to assist you in designing and sewing a masterpiece. Our seamstresses are experienced in the proper installation of Swarovski crystals on fabric. Please contact CDP—Costume Design Plans—today and we’ll take your costume ideas into reality so you outshine and out sparkle the competition. 🙂

09Aug2016-08-10

The Rockettes—A Glittering New York Spectacular

When we hear the name Rockettes we think of the famous dancing company from early last century. Not just any dancer gets accepted into the Rockettes—one must have exceptional pose and balance, and fluidly follow the movements of the other dancers, so all appear to move as one. The great costume and dress designs are also another great reason to buy a ticket. The Rockettes are a famous dance company that was founded in 1925, and have been performing at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City since 1932. Each year, 500 women audition for the chance to be a star. This year’s show promises to dazzle and amaze with it’s “New York Spectacular” theme, with a variety of glittering and sparkling costumes made with crystals.

The story begins with three children becoming separated from their parents while on a trip to New York. New York’s most iconic sites come alive for them. The summer Rockettes wear unforgettable costumes, while dancing to a great soundtrack of classics, pop hits, and new compositions. In one number, the dancers are wearing black suits with long sleeved jackets and shorts, with large sparkling polka dots lit up with LED lights. Their black hats are also adorned with sparkles. In another set, the dancers are wearing 1920s-style flapper dance dresses in shimmery silver sparkles. As the dancers whirl, the fringe on their dresses moves with them, presenting a flashy and sparkly display. One of their sets called “Singin’ in the Rain” has the Rockettes performing in bright yellow raincoats with pink ruffles, and matching gumboots. Each Rockette dances with an open umbrella in hand that resembles a giant pink blossomed flower. The show even involves actual “rain”.
The show takes the kids through a variety of famous landmarks in New York: Grand Central Terminal, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Wall Street, Central Park, and more. It’s a reworking of last year’s Rockettes Spring Spectacular, but with some differences to attract revisits from their loyal audience.

The Rockettes were choreographed by Mia Michaels from So You Think You Can Dance. The show was written by Douglas Carter Beane and the costumes were designed by Emilio Sosa. Emilio is also known as Esosa, and he’s been nominated for many awards for his costume sewing designs, and has been on Project Runway, and designed for many other Broadway shows. He also worked on the costumes for last spring’s New York Spectacular. In the past, the Rockettes’ costumes have been known to be adorned with Swarovski crystals, some of the best and most glittering faux gems. During their 2012 show, one of their costumes had over 3000 Swarovski crystals on it. The Rockettes’ New York Spectacular is a glittery pageant, full of music, dance, sets, costume and dress designs. With so much to see, don’t expect a lot of story line at one of their —it’s mostly visual—but go for the enjoyment of a world-class show full of amazing dancers and incredible costumes.

18Jul2016-07-18

Selena Gomez Sparkles in 100.000 Swarovski Crystals Onstage

It can be quite an achievement to figure out how to make a world-renowned musical celebrity wear mostly sparkling Swarovski crystals and not much else. In Selena Gomez’s recent Revival Tour she not only debuted a new song, but also a bright and sparkling costume that featured over 100.000 Swarovski crystals. This costume featured a light golden coloured body-encasing bodysuit that covered her torso, but left her arms, legs, and neckline shimmering with the thousands of tiny sparkling gems.

Selena wore matching light gold boots to match the costume. This was the costume she wore during the opening number of her show, and she certainly wowed and stunned the audience. Her catsuit was completely covered with the clear colourless crystals, and apparently the official crystal count was 96.480, as apparently the designers were counting. Swarovski has created some of the best crystals for costumes, ensuring that the crystals are durable, sparkle as much as a diamond, and that they last a long time, as costumes often become part of museums or personal collections.

Selena Gomez’s costume was designed by the New York label Monse and involved a collaboration between the Austrian Swarovski company and the design label.

selena-gomez-swarovski-costume — Selena Gomez Swarovski Costume

Surprisingly, there are actually two Swarovski-encrusted costumes on Selena’s musical tour. Every second night she wears a black version of the golden-nude one. She alternates her costumes each night of her tour. For those lucky attendees who have more than one night of tickets to her shows, they’ll get to see her in both spectacular versions of the costumes.

Her opening act begins with a costume transformation. She enters the stage wearing a full-length gown, morphs into cocktail length being short in front and long in the back, and then she discards her gown completely to reveal the black or the golden catsuit beneath. During the transformation she keeps her face veiled with black netting, before discarding this during her final transformation.

Monse is a new clothing brand that was created by Laura Kim and Fernando Garcia. Both have previously worked for Oscar de la Renta. They presented their first collection this Spring 2016. They also work for Carolina Herrera in full-time positions, but still manage time to run their own line. The Monse line has earned some CFDA and International Woolmark Prize nominations. Sarah Jessica Parker has been seen wearing the Monse clothing during the Met Gala, and she supports their line fully. Selena Gomez’s introductory performance look is called “Runway/Masquerade”. Other designers were invited to create looks for her other portions of the show.

Selena Gomez’s Swarovski catsuits are sure to be destined for the costume museums’ ranks, through not only their sparkling ingenuity, but for the sheer number of hours that must have gone into constructing the black and the golden nude catsuits. These are costumes that have been designed for Selena Gomez alone, and are so form-fitting that they’ll be retired with honours after her Revival Tour has been completed.
You would like to have a unique costume made with Swarovski Crystals? You would like to shine on the Stage like a Pop Star! Just contact us and we would be glad to create your dream costume!!!

08Jul2016-07-20

Cirque du Soleil and Swarovski Costume Collaboration

Cirque du Soleil has some of the most unique costumes in the theatre circuit, so when they collaborate with the Swarovski crystal company in costume sewing and design, you know there are going to be some amazing costume creations. Every Cirque du Soleil show has continued to amaze and charm audiences. These are stage productions that encompass smaller stages, often done under tents or smaller Las Vegas venues. A show has little dialogue, choosing to show rather than tell the story. And this is why a collaboration with Swarovski has been so exciting.

Many people know that Swarovski has a line of beautiful clear colourless crystals yet they forget that their crystal line also has bright colourful gems too. If you picture a Cirque du Soleil show, most people think of unusual and yet colourful costumes. Swarovski crystals were used for one of the costumes worn during the showing of Amaluna. This was a white dress worn during the Peacock Dance. This dress comprised two pieces, a bustier and a skirt. The bustier was made from a stretch nylon tulle to enable the dancer to move fluidly. The bustier was encrusted with white beaded lace that was covered in Swarovski crystals. The dress itself was made of nearly sixty metres of white non-stretch nylon tulle. The dress was constructed with a tail made from sun ray pleats and white peacock feather designs. This skirt was also covered in white lace and was covered in Swarovski crystals. The combined dress alone was covered in over 6500 Swarovski crystals.

Cirque du Soleil’s show Totem also featured an incredible costume that while simple, still packed an amazing wow factor for the audience. This costume began as a dark blue silhouette fully covering

Marina-&-Svetlana-Tsodikova Cirque Du solei-Totem — Marina & Svetlana-Tsodikova costumes made with 4,000 Swarovski crystals.

the male performer. Crystals were then attached in amazing patterns, much like resembling tattoos on the body. When the acrobat performed in his costume, the crystals would shine and sparkle in the light as he turned and rotated. For such a simple costume, it certainly stunned the eyes.

Swarovski has even been helping costume design students in the creation of costume designs. At École supérieure de mode (ESM) students were given the opportunity to redesign popular costumes from the Cirque du Soleil shows. Swarovski believes in supporting emerging fashion talents. Teams were formed, and they transformed past Cirque du Soleil costumers into new designs by using fabric and crystals together. Their aim was to reuse garments for sustainable living and to transform old materials into new forms.

Students made purses and bags from the old costumes. One notable design was a lot like a kaleidoscope from childhood, which is one of the notable themes that could come from a Cirque du Soleil show. The Swarovski company was impressed by the talents discovered from the ESM school.

Swarovski continues to enforce their commitment to sustainability through creativity and education. It will be exciting to see what other types of Cirque du Soleil collaborations they have throughout the remainder of 2016. Let your costume made also with Swarovski crystals!
Get in touch with us and we will design and create your perfect Swarovski Costume!!

26May2016-07-08

Distinctive Costumes Designs on the Eurovision Song Contest Final 2016

Eurovision has been going strong since the mid-20th century. Each participating country sends their best singer to the competition. They try to not make it about politics, but with around 42 countries competing each year, you never know what may happen. This year, the finals were held in Stockholm, Sweden, and Jamala from Ukraine was the winner. The special guest of the Eurovision awards was Justin Timberlake, who was not competing, but only presenting his newest song to Europe with a live band.

Not only are the singers the best that each country has to offer, there are also some amazing and outlandish costumes to be seen on stage. Many performers had costumes that were encrusted with Swarovski crystals, known for their bright and everlasting sparkling properties.

The female host of the show, Petra Mede , wore a stunning gold dress made with Swarovski crystals. It had long sleeves, and a drooping cowl neck that tapered down her right shoulder, with a split down the front to her ankles. The entire surface of her dress was fully encrusted with small Swarovski crystals.

With a stroke of brilliance to allow the performers to sparkle, the opening ceremony costumes didn’t compete, but were made of white paper and they were truly amazing. They turned models into large paper lanterns that resembled everything from panda bears to multi-armed octupi.

Some of the most notable costumes were presented from countries in Europe.
Hovi Star from Israel had a unique costume which was pure black, and the stage helped to enhance the theme. The performer stood out as a black silhouette against a sparkling crystal night sky.

Poli’s costume from Bulgari was a futuristic black and white creation. At first it merely appeared that she had strips of cloth for stockings and sleeves, but during the last chorus, her dress lit up the stage with its many LED lights.

Germany must have had one of the most unusual competitor’s costumes. Jamie-Lee Kriewitch wore a dress reminiscent of Japanese Lolita style, complete with a hat that was covered with tiny colourful toys. Her dress had a short but full circular blue skirt, with the bodice in white with ribbons.

Australia’s Dami Im sung her Sound of Silence entry atop a large black box with sparkling gems, while wearing a knee-length white dress embedded with clear Swarovski crystals. The dress had a short sleeve on one side, open in the front, and no sleeve on the other side.

Nina Kralijic represented Croatia and wore an interesting silver and white V-necked gown with a shawl, and a long cascading waterfall of ruffles.

Iveta Mukuchyan from Armenia wore a tight fitting long sleeved bodysuit consisting of think black sparkling cable-tie styled straps over a sheer beige fabric.

Eurovision is about a lot more than which country has the best singer—the finale is about a full evening of the world’s best superstars, and how they can shine and sparkle in their beautiful costumes.

Get the perfect costume or dress made by Costume Design Plans: https://www.costume-design-plans.com/your-own/costume-references/

29Oct2016-04-05

Costume design – Star Wars: The Force Awakens

An iconic film such as Star Wars had special requirements towards costume designs and costumer designer as well. Movie lovers are aware of every single little details of the previous films, and they look for something new and stick to the past at the same time.

Therefore the job for Michael Kaplan, costume designer of ‘Star Wars The Force Awakens’ movie was tough and inspiring at the same time. Kaplan worked together with the director J.J. Abrams on two rebooted Star Trek movies, Aramageddon, Se7en, Flashdance etc. In 1982 he had a great experience in designing costumes for ‘Blade Runner’:

I learned a lot on Blade Runner, just my love of grit and texture and things being overly aged. The reason I got the job on Blade Runner was they were meeting with a lot of people, and a lot of people, when they heard it was futuristic, were kind of bringing in, like, Mylar space-suit sketches and things like that, and I think I was the only one who read the script and felt that it should have an old Sam Spade, old gumshoe kind of feeling. When I said that, it kind of hit a note and I got the job.

– told Michael Kaplan in his interview for Vanity Fair.

However it worths to dig in thrift shops for objects, elements, parts of costumes – like old military equipments for Star Wars costumes – the time passed and certain stuff is already outdated and looks cheapy now. Therefore the costumes of the stormtroopers needed a re-design. The action in the film it required not to be “VacuFormed”, like the old uniforms, and they cracked and broke. The new stormtrooper uniforms are slightly changed (not too much, as we talk about iconic costume designs…), heavy-duty.

Costume design changes needed on the Rebels’ and Empire’s dresses as well. Kaplan made the differentiation even sharper than it used to be: previously Rebels wore khaki and olive colors – now orange, as a warm color is added to the palette. The lines and fabrics of the costumes support the positive and warm feelings: wool and natural fibers. The Empire got sharp lines, black, gray and metallic colors and teal blues. The shapes – even the haircut – refer to the 1930s, the Nazi era.

Tell me about designing for Leia and Han and Luke. They’re such iconic characters and they had such iconic looks. Do you reference what we’ve seen in the past, or not at all?
A lot of it had to do with what was right for the story and the action, but a lot of it was also, you know, people have a way of dressing. I wouldn’t really be doing my job if I thought, Hey, let’s redesign this character totally and put them in colors they’ve never worn. It just wouldn’t make any sense. But you also want new, interesting things to look at. You want enough change to be there. (Vanity Fair – How Apple Inspired The Stormtroopers of Star Wars: The Force Awakens)

Let’s take a look at the scenes as Annie Leibovitz made photos of the shooting:

Source of the image: Star Wars gallery

23Aug2016-04-05

Costume design and stage lights

Lighting a scene or stage is an important job when you think about the final impression of any stage show. Different colored lights can work differently in terms of impression, with the same costumes and make up.

As a performer there are a few things to think about to give the best impression for your audience:

colored lights can give different impression of your costume – talk to the director and lighting expert of the show beforehand
try your costume and fabrics with the show lighting to test their impression and colors appearing
communicate your request concerning lighting with the director or the designer of the scenery – to highlight or cover some parts of your performance
think about the props of your performance (stick, hat, jewelery etc.) and ask for a rehearsal with the final lights – audience in even the last row must see clearly
sidelights can sculpture the costume – think about it details what you want to show and how the fabrics of your costume would work
makeup – even the most natural look – has its on color – so include your makeup in the lights rehearsal
rhinestones support the most impactful visual effect – test your final, decorated costume in scene lights
media and the cameras can modify the actual scene – consult the relevant expert how to show you

23Aug2016-04-05

Change costumes 8 times in 6 minutes

I think there is no other act on the stage where the costume design is so important than in a quick change show.

Quick change – where the performer changes her/his costume in no minutes. The miracle is: how can they do it so quickly? It is illusion, but being a part of the illusion is always a fun – for me and for my partner, Sebastian, and hopefully for our audience as well.

Our act is a bit more than quick change, because it is combined with dance performance. I dance and change at the same time in the act – 9 times in 6 minutes!

Therefore the act and costumes required adaptation not just in terms of dresses, but the dresses have to be in harmony of the music and the style of the dance:

We sorted out the costumes very carefully. All of them should have suited me, to my figure, and support my movement on the stage. At the same time they should have been in line with the melodies’ style and on top of that they have to be showy on many types of stages and stage lights!

Time to time we change a part of the costumes to show something fresh for our audience.

My advice for you: think about the style of your act as well as your personal style first! Be clear in your mind what you want to emphasize: your breast part, bottom part or your long and nice legs! Choose the costume design with what you feel “love at the first time”.

I hope that all of our costumers in Costume Design Plans will feel the “miracle” what a well-thought costume means for a performer!

Kristina Eötvös

11Mar2016-04-05

Training of a stage costume – by a dog…

A stage costume sometimes is under a great pressure… Regardless whether the performer is a man or a woman.

For years we had a so called Comedy Dog act with my partner, Kristina Eötvös. This act was a combination of vertical rope and a comedy act with our trained dogs, Ronaldo and Artur. Kristina’s dress was a specific acrobat dress – red, shining, tight coverall suit – absolutely supporting her fantastic spinning on the rope, showing her figure.

My costume was nothing special for the first sight… But sometimes a stage costume must be extremely strong for a while… In the comedy dog act my trousers and my shoes had their roles. Look at the it!

My trousers had to be loose enough to drop them in the moment when I jumped up onto the rope, and Ronaldo could grab them in the right moment. At the same time my costume must have been elegant as well, because the audience did not have an idea about the “future” of my trousers and shoes.. Of course this “costume” was worn out relatively quickly: we used roughly 3 trousers per a year!

In Costume Design Plans Team I have the admirer role – but I believe my stage experience is an added value as well.

Sebastian Richter

P.S. Ronaldo is already retired, and sends his best regards to all CDP customers and website visitors.

02Mar2016-04-05

Costume design failures

What is a costume design failure from the designer’s view? All costumes which are not in line with the performer or the act, is a costume design failure.

Well, if you look at some videos via internet, you won’t need a detailed explanation how important a costume’s fit:

A wardrobe malfunction comes when a dress is not functional: it is designed just on paper and it was not tried during stage movements.

What do we expect from a good costume?

First of all it has to be a part of the show, like any other member of the act or performance. It has its role: mainly supporting the actress, giving her self confidence, highlighting her voluptuos innermost personality. (Women know exactly that being sexy is not the question of physical shapes, rather the inner feelings. A good stage costume supports these feelings.)

On the other hand we all know that the act is not the same in a jogging… The costume has to be something different. Cheapy fabrics, wrong color combinations, wrong choose of the style could result the same.

Last but not least, a costume designer must keep in mind that the costume must be alive on the stage or in the circus ring. The performer moves, jumps, runs, sits down or touches others during the show. As you can see, huge wardrobe disasters can happen…

Thanks to my own dancer career, I am fully aware of these requirements, and my designs include this experience.

Wishing you successful performances in your costume design plans dresses,

Zsuzsanna Völgyi

P.S. You can ask for your own costume design:I will be happy to get in touch with you.