Costume Evaluation

Jennyanydots Evaluation

From the beginning of this project I have wanted to put Jenny in a fur coat. A fur coat was appropriate for many reasons, first of all, in the original production of cats, Jenny wears a fat suit at the beginning of Gumbie Cat. I didn’t think a fat suit would work for our production as we were portraying humans not cats, so it would look very strange if Jenny suddenly seemed to shed her skin and it may also be seen as quite offensive. A fur coat is big enough to pad her out and hide a pretty costume underneath so it seemed like the right choice. A fur coat would also pay homage to the original production. Jenny was also a fashion designer in our concept and fur coats are something fashion designers stereotypically wear.

I am basing Jenny’s costume on the style of fashion designer Zandra Rhodes. This is because they are both older designers who are still relevant to the industry today and don’t let their age stop them. Zandra’s style is very bright and unconventional and Jenny’s original costume is bright yellow and orange so it seemed to fit to me.  For this reason I decided to design Jenny a bright orange fur coat. This seemed like a good idea until I started to look at the prices. I had a search online and to buy a ready-made orange fur coat would cost anywhere between £90 and £250. I decided to look at fabric instead but this was also very expensive. One metre of fabric could cost £45-£200 so to make it from scratch was even more expensive. These prices were way above our budget so instead I went into the high street to see what I could find. After no luck at the charity shops I had a look in some mainstream shops. I found a black and white fur coat for £35 in H&M. Although this was an extremely good price compared to what I’d seen online I still wasn’t sure if the colours were right. I looked in my local fabric shop. They had material for £10 per metre. I knew I needed 3 metres so this would cost £30 which is similar to the price of the one in H&M. However the fabric shop didn’t have any orange fur either or any other bright coloured fur, so I decided my best bet was to buy the coat from the shop. Even though the colours were not as bright as I’d originally planned, they still created a funky pattern so it still worked with my original idea for her outfit.

Zandra Rhodes is infamous for her statement pink hair so I decided to add this to Jenny’s costume. At first I was going to get a wig that was in a similar bob style to Zandra’s, but when I looked online none of the wigs in my price range looked very realistic. Although her style is crazy I didn’t want her to be a joke. So instead I  found a longer pink wig that looked more realistic and only cost £5. At first I was worried that it would affect how well I would be able to dance due to its length but luckily it didn’t hinder me at all. However I did get very hot in it and the front of it often went out of place when I was dancing on stage so it required constant fixing when I was backstage.

I also had problems finding a pink leather skirt, or in fact a pink skirt at all in my size so I ended up buying a yellow skirt. It was still bright and actually fitted Jenny’s original colour scheme even more so it was a good choice. The only problem was it was a little short so I had to wear some shorts underneath so that I could dance without worrying about the skirt coming up. I then decided to stick to the original colour scheme and bought an orange top to go with the yellow skirt. By the time I bought the top there were only a couple of weeks before the show so I really left it too late to make it myself and put all of the rhinestones on.

Although my final costume was not the same colours as I had designed, I still managed to create almost the same look which worked with the influences of Zandra Rhodes and the original Jennyanydots costume. Here are some pictures of my final costume:

 

 

Rum Tum Tugger Evaluation

I based Rum Tum Tugger’s costume on rock star Alex Turner and the designs from this year’s Burberry show at London Fashion Week. I chose Alex Turner because his personality is very similar to Tugger’s, an arrogant show off with lots of female fans. They also both do similar hip movements when on stage! Alex’s style is very similar to what was on the Burberry cat walk this season. Patterned shirts with plain black trousers, long coats,scarves and sunglasses. There was a definite 50s vibe about the outfits but they were also very sophistaicated and something that I believe Tugger, who was portrayed as a young model in our adaption, would wear.

I decided to give Tugger a leopard print coat because it related to the leopard print pattern on his original costume. It was quite long and this could have restricted him when dancing. The sunglasses and scarf also could have hindered Tugger’s performance.

Rum Tum Tugger’s final costume was similar to the style of Alex Turner. He wore a shirt, blazor and jeans all in black. Although these all made it very easy for him to dance and move in, I think he should have had a splash of colour/ pattern in there even if it was a leopard print scarf that he wore when he wasn’t dancing too much. Here are some  pictures of his final costume:

 

 

Bombalurina Evaluation

I based Bombalurina’s costume on Lady Gaga’s red lace outfit she wore to the Grammys. I chose red lace as Bombalurina is supposed to be a feisty and saucy character and red was also the main colours of her original costume.

I found it difficult to find any red lace of the right size and price, so instead I decided to get some white lace and dye it red. Lady Gaga’s outfit was also very see through and I didn’t think this was appropriate for a college production, so instead I thought I could get a red leotard or swim suit and adapt it by putting red lace over the top and sewing the lace arms and legs to it.

The costume would be an all in one suit so that would make it very easy for her to dance in as Bombalurina has a lot of dancing to do. However as it is long sleeved and full length, she may have got very hot under the lights.

Bombalurina’s final costume was completely different to my design. It ended up being a black dress which I don’t think represents her character as well and makes it harder to dance. However it took a lot less time and effort to make as we didn’t have to dye or adapt anything. Here is a picture of the final costume: