Costume: Gossip Design 1
Influence: 15th Century Jester, Waves in the Abstract
art, Kaftan Design
The Jester
collar idea came from the fact the mystery play was performed in the 15th
century. The jokers or clowns of the day were Jesters. The Gossips are the
drunks and mockers of Noah and his family who build the ark but ultimately the
joke is on them when they fall victim to the flood that Noah predicted.
The kaftan
has been worn for thousands of years. Interestingly enough it made a comeback
in the late 1950’s and 60’s when the hippie movement was going to take off and
when this Mystery play was put to Benjamin Britten’s music. The kaftan is quite
popular nowadays as well – it is a timeless piece! I thought that the sleeves
were quite clown like pulled together at the cuff, fitting in with the Jester
idea.
The batik
patterns that would be painted onto the linen or cotton kaftan, included
influence from the abstract art on the inspiration mood board given to us. I
chose shapes and patterns that I felt represented the waves that eventually
swallow up the gossips.
Their costumes
would represent their fate; they mock, they jest, they drink, they fall victim
to the waves.
Extras:
A floaty
headscarf that the gossips could dance with and use to flick about and annoy
Noah and his sons. They could be used to tie around their heads when the
weather turns bad.
They could
carry a wine cup to drink from on a regular basis to show they are drunks.
Possible developments:
Red nose
pained onto the gossips to show even more they are clowns and drunks.
Bells added
to the jester collars.
Different wave
patterns and sea colours added to the kaftan designs for each individual Gossip.
Hello Joy.
ReplyDeleteGood to see you've been busy and sorry it's taken me a while to catch up.
I think this idea shows great promise. You've grasped the idea of the gossip as someone who is quite fickle, and found some good visual language to communicate this idea. Certainly the idea of colour, pattern, and something slightly comic in the design gets this across.
I think though that you can afford to be more allusive and suggestive about it. For example, rather than make the jester collars so clearly jester-like, could they have simply a trace or a suggestion of the jester about them? Perhaps try taking this in the opposite direction to adding bells - try designs for collars that more ambiguously reference the comic or fickle of the characters.
I think the pattern is nearer the mark in terms of its allusiveness. However it would also be good to see if this could be developed in different ways so that there are perhaps three different iterations of the same basic idea for each character. Could you try this through a session of intensive drawing?
It will be really interesting to see the gossip designs in relation to other characters - next to Noah, for example, if Noah is more stately or serious, the gossip designs may automatically gain in fickleness by way of contrast. Let's see!
Hi,
ReplyDeleteIn general I would tend to agree with Chris, you obviously know your stuff and the character of the Gossips is portrayed really well.
I love your idea about the Gossips being drunks and comics. Though I particularly like your ideas about the colour blue and the pattern on the clothing of the Gossips reflecting they're demise of being swallowed by the sea, which in it's self is also kind of comical.
My only comment would be in regards to the style of the garments as your drawing is very conceptual. I really like the idea of a tunic or kaftan, which I tried to use also in my designs as it is historically accurate. Your design reminds me of the 1960's and the Hippies, was this what you where aiming for? I would like to discuss as a group the general style of clothing, as this seems to be the most striking difference between designs at the moment. Really looking forward to seeing how all the characters come together :)