Friday 7 June 2013

Ballet Tutu Photoshoot- Lilac Fairy and Friends

So here are some of the finished photos, by Ying Yu Chen and my model Becky Pepper. The other tutu's made by my colleagues at the Arts University Bournemouth with models from Arts Ed, London.
















Thursday 6 June 2013

Black Swan-Odile Tutu

Well, my degree is finally over and graduation is just around the corner. I'm feeling very empowered (having had a few weeks sewing free) and ready to take everything I have learned and start on my journey as a costumier.

It was always my intention to create another classical tutu straight off the back of the Lilac fairy as I want to make sure I have a good grip the processes of making the tutu base, on top of the fact that I just love creating these costumes.

The question was always, 'what do I choose?' Sugar Plum Fairy, Princess Florine, Firebird, White Cat, Odette, Odile, the list goes on and on......
I knew I wanted to do a classic ands that I wanted to work in a different colour net, as Swan Lake was the first ballet I saw it had to come down to Odette or Odile and during a rather restless night in the middle of my last few weeks of uni work, I came up with such a strong concept for Odile that I had to just go with it.



Now I'm not much of a drawer, so please excuse my rough sketches, but my idea for black swan was to have a slick, wet, oiled swan, like a bird trapped in an oil spill with the oil hitting the water and creating the rainbow of colours. Here are the sketches and some inspiration photos:











 
 
 
I have already mapped and patterned the body and cut it out ready to be tacked in top fabric. By sheer chance I had a metre of black grosgrain moire in my stash, which could not be closer to the look/texture of an oil spill if it tried. Result. Shown also are the beautiful aray of Swarovski crystals, beads, pearls and feathers that will also be making an appearance on the tutu.
 







 
 
Hopefully, I plan to get this costume constructed over the next seven weeks, I will keep you all updated with the progress.