[Enclosure]

Spatial Exhibition:

Upon displaying the two costumes together, i noticed a few things. Overall, i think the wire costume was more successful than the plush dress.

I think the plush dress ended up focusing too much on the cutesy vibe of the garment and became less bed-like than it was intended. 

Above is the old version and below it is the current version. I like the version in the top image because the rolled fabric look above the toys is more like a comfy bed. I chose to make a patch work bodice to resemble a quilt but i feel like i could have made it look more like a blanket. 

Perhaps a combination of the two would be good.

the other thing is that i could have explored a different positioning of the toys, like perhaps around the head and shoulders, since it’s the head that rests on pillows and soft things in a bed. placing a bunch of old toys around the legs can send an message about sexuality too (which is actually another thing associated with beds), I think the costume has an innocence about it in that regard, the crotch of the wearer is sort of guarded by all these stuffed animals, some of those animals being predators, like bears and tigers.

This innocence was one of the reasons I wanted to capture the garment in a club space during the late hours of the night. this photoshoot did not work out too well as we didn’t want to disturb party goers and club staff...

The photos i chose for each garment differed a in tone and style a little too.

The images for the wire costume ended up looking more cinematic than the plush dress, which had a fashion-shoot look to a lot of the images. I think that this has a lot to do with the fact that the plush dress leaned more to aesthetic appeal than character and material. 

I knew that i wanted to display my two costumes on mannequins but wasn’t sure what else to display. I had photos that I wanted to show off but felt that i should be selective with the images since the actual garments were going to be right there next to them, so close up shots would be redundant.

I looked up examples of other costume exhibits to get an idea of how other people did it.

I liked the idea of having concept sketches in the background. I feel like it gives some insight into the planning of the garment and real gives the sense that the costume has been brought to life from nothing more than an idea.  

Above are examples of film costume exhibitions that display screenshots from the film next to the costumes to provide some context for the garments.

I like how the “Her” exhibit has used bold colours to  liven the display. the costumes are very simple and casual, I think excessive backgrounds would over power the main subject of the exhibition.

The “maleficent” costumes are interesting and detailed enough to stand out but I feel like the flashy concept pictures next to them are starting to compete with the garments. it is also a little distracting that neither of the garments are what the character is wearing in the massive head shot image next to the costumes.

Overall it seems that costume exhibitions can be rather boring... the displays rely solely on the appeal of the actual garment

Above, the garments are posed against a white background like a typical piece of art. this kind of display works fine enough to showcase the beauty of the costumes, but the conversation with the set design and garment is lost and the atmosphere differs greatly from the media it came from.

I like the above image because it shows off detail that you might not see in the show itself, which can be dark and moody, (plus the camera tends to focus on character’s faces), the white background is a very unusual set for these costumes, the atmosphere of game of thrones isn’t displayed here.

Bellow is a different game of thrones exhibit but with a dark background. the costume detail is still visible but the tone of the display is a bit more menacing, like the show.

lighting and color isn’t the only thing that creates atmosphere. some exhibitions have the luxury of being displayed on the same set that the costumes belong in.

Some just take elements/objects from the set to display alongside costume.

The two costumes i’m going with.

I have selected places to photograph them, this includes a place that they each belong and a few other places that they don’t belong.

The wires in a natural environment and the soft plush toys in a hard, sharp and cold environment.

As i was looking for examples of set design and costume design working together i was captured by edward scissorhands’s designs.

First of all, Edward is a character that appears menacing at first, he is shadowy and sharp, but his face and the way his make up is done makes him look like a child on the verge of tears, which is a very soft and vulnerable sight to any human.

He is first shown in an old decrepit house alone in dark open spaces.

I particularly like how the holes in the roof with specs of light shining through are similar to the shining metal bits all over edward’s costume. 

he is “rescued” by another character and taken in to her home

which is a stark contrast from his original environment. the house appears much more pleasing and inviting but edward looks completely out of place.

The other characters attempt to assimilate edward into their world but his character is so alien that it never completely works. A character is even shown failing at covering up his pale complexion and scars with make up.

something about the contrast between edward and the pastel environment is really nice

I think it is because of the character’s childlike behavior. his harsh exterior doesn’t reflect his gentle nature and so the soft pastel colours of the suburb do it instead. Edward is a character that cant dress himself, or maintain a house, so the old broken building doesn’t reflect his personality either.

what he can do is cut things. he is shown to be a skilled gardener, a job that requires care and compassion. and it is in the gardens that his true personality is shown

Edward scissorhands never truly fits in with the brightly coloured community and in the end returns to the old building. it’s bittersweet because the audience doesn’t think of the dark and broken house to be very welcoming plus edward has formed relationships with the other characters that he now has to let go, character who were colourful and inviting like their homes. yet edward ultimately belongs in his old isolated world.

Can the other characters stay there with him? well, no, they don’t belong there themselves

It is made very clear through use of costume and set, that edward and the other characters are very very different parties

My project began from my fascination with escapism and evolved into a costume design project. 

The costumes are a response to different kinds of escape, putting on a costume itself is an escape. but if i’m looking at costume, i’d also like to examine set design. or rather how the costume can converse with a set/environment.

Most films and plays want their characters to look like they belong in the world.

Sometimes sets are designed, sometimes they are just existing sites that are specially chosen, often adjusted with effects or arranged differently. 

With escapist narratives, the main character will often travel to a new world, harry potter may be the most well known example. harry travels to a new and exciting world and is an alien in many ways. this is made clear through his character’s behavior more than anything and not costume. however, harry puts a uniform upon arriving in this new world and almost immediately blends in.

I think some stories make it appear that these characters were destined to be in this world, that they had belonged there all along. the characters either already dress similarly or are given new clothes upon arrival. 

in labyrinth, the hero of the story is an alien in the fantasy world, but is already shown to be invested in fantasy elements and her baggy sleeved top resembles an elven adventurer, her jeans are the most stand-out non-belonging piece of costume.

She is a fish out of water more than a character  who is destined to be part of this world and eventually returns home.

Sometimes fish out of water characters end up staying in their new environments, usually because their character goes through a change and learns to love their new scenario.

In enchanted, the main character is drawn to things in the ‘other’ world that she can relate to, like buildings with ornate detail

or nature

she also attempts to continue her usual lifestyle in her new environment, like summoning birds and other creatures to help her with tasks.

i made a coat out of other pieces of clothing to look like a wearable pile of clothes, but the photos taken didn’t turn out the best and ultimately i ran out of ideas for extending upon the costume.

Had a quick photoshoot with a costume based off a computer room. when making these costumes i start thinking up characters and scenarios, for this one i imagine a person who spends a lot of time at the computer either working or playing games.

A person like this often wants to be alone while working or gaming, there’s nothing more annoying to them than someone breathing over their shoulder.

The curtains are often pulled in these rooms, blocking out light and also prying eyes. the pulled curtains create a thin shield, the computer user feels safer with them shut. 

the excess of wires is based off a junk drawer, but also the space under the desk where the cords all run. 

As we wandered around looking for good photo spots, we really couldn’t help but make this outfit look menacing. it’s only natural, the cape hides my face and eyes and makes my body larger. 

My costumes use found objects to create their shapes, colours and textures. I’ve chosen to use excessive amounts of each object, creating a kind of chaotic and busy look. 

the junky-ness is somewhat inspired by this character from labyrinth....   

a character who carries around a bunch of junk and tries to get the main protagonist of the story to carry all her things too,

in an attempt to understand exactly what my project is about, I printed the images in of my work that I liked the best and collated them.

the top left image above is not my own, but a president image that piqued my interest. I liked the fact that the woman in the photo blended so well with the interior of her home, like her identity surrounded her.

So far the garments i have been producing, either blend in with a space or stand out.

I suppose my work has been mostly exploring how objects, colours and shapes converse with their environments.

The point of “enclosure” was to create spaces for humans to live and belong in. to me this meant designing a central room, something between a bedroom and living room. Not a place to sleep or hang out, but a place to escape and be alone.

A room where the occupant melds with.

this would mean all other spaces are alien and the person won’t be able to blend. but from the coat made of scraps i noticed that, though it blended with my room the best

I also found places removed from my comfort space (bedroom) that the coat blended with

The point of this exercise was to create a wearable enclosure.

I’ve always considered my own body to be my house, so when i leave my bedroom i’m still at home within myself.

some sketches from when I was considering exploring the relationship between the occupant’s appearance and the front of their home. 

Sometimes the house’s front gets designed to look aesthetically pleasing, but how many consider what the house would then look like with a car parked outside, or with someone coming home with groceries. 

After attempting to move the project in a different direction, i started taking on way too much.

The ideas were all a mess and far too broad.

i decided to back to something I felt more interested in and that was making wearable spaces/costumes.

above are some initial sketches of what i have thought of so far. I want to make a new version of the plush dress but also i have ideas for trash gowns and big top-heavy coats made of handbags. 

in order to make the project more spatial, i decided to make it site responsive. 

it’s not just about the costume, but how it relates to its surroundings. 

I write this retrospectively but I had attempted to make my project more spatial.

one of the reasons for choosing “enclosure” as a title was so i could compare spaces designed for humans with spaces designed for non-humans. I was potentially going to design a human house that acted more like a jungle-gym/playground, or what i’d consider to a good “enclosure” that catered to human needs (activity, social, creativity, self esteem, etc) 

i was going to explore the possibility of a house that you had to climb around. climbing is something our species did a lot back in our evolutionary chain but not so much any more.

the above image also explores a design for a mug that you could carry while climbing, since you wouldn’t easily carry a regular mug of tea or coffee up an incline.  

in the spirit of climbing, I sketched out ideas for buildings that took on tree-like forms.  

For week 2 tabling we were meant to bring something ‘found’ that represents my project.

i find it really hard to define what exactly my project is. My first reaction was to bring all the objects from my table tops in and just see how people would react and reflect on the objects out of the context of my room.

though i was trying to be as honest as possible with what i brought, i did leave a few things behind. things that were either too precious or things that were total trash like the corners of candy bar wrappers that hadn’t quite made it to the bin. 

I also left behind IDs and avoided bringing too many personal things.

I lay the objects out in roughly what it had been on my bedside table. 

As i piled up the objects they seemed to transform, the pile itself became a singular object. and if i stare into it i feel like i could be in my bedroom.

I guess my intention with these objects was to present a snapshot of stuff that i’ve collected since living in my room for almost 3 years. 

if i were to isolate the knickknacks and ornaments it would probably make for a prettier picture and would still say something about my personality, but i think the addition of old receipts and random pens and so on makes for a more honest depiction of the kind of person i am.

As the class went on, people began to pick out things of interest, sometimes questioning me on what they were and i’d tell the story behind each object. the pile started to melt a bit as the interesting objects were untangled from the mess.

The questions asked and the conversations i had with people where interesting. some didn’t relate to the pile at all and recalled how their rooms were much more minimalist. 

it was interesting to hear the interpretations from people who had no attachment to the objects, those who wanted to ‘sort’ or ‘clean up’ possibly didn’t understand what my relationship with the pile was.

I’m somewhat returning to the main reason why i titled this project as “Enclosure”

the idea came from observing zoo enclosures and asking the question of what a human enclosure would be.

through my exploration of garments as wearable spaces i also started thinking about costumes and performs. one of the last questions i left my project on was “If our fashion is a costume, is our home a stage?”

Zoo enclosures and theatrical stages share some commonalities, for instance, both are designed to be viewed by an audience.

Now not all zoos are as considerate of their animals as the zoos i’ve known in new zealand and australia, but usually an animal enclosure will be designed with spaces for the creatures to escape to.

the keepers who look after the animal have studied hard to know exactly what each animal needs and even how to cater to their personalities, though in my experience from volunteering at Wellington zoo, they sometimes guess wrong and make assumptions about an animal, which is bound to happen when designing for other humans too.

I want to start creating dwelling spaces for the next part of the project and have chosen to spark my ideation from the existing designs of theaters and zoo enclosures.  

I noticed that in both kinds of space, there is a clear barrier between audience space and inhabitant's space.

There are three clear sections to each kind of space: total privacy (audience is not allowed in), a space where both subject/performer and audience interact and a space that the audience only occupies.

translate this to a house and I imagine that the “audience only” section of a house is actually the space outside of the property, or even a place beyond that.

I think it’s safe to say that the private spaces of a house are where you sleep. Humans are very protective of the places where they rest their heads.

Lastly I attempted to combine ideas of a theater-like house with previous ideas of privacy gradients.

there would be a large space for audience and performance, but occasionally people will be invited backstage where they can form more personal relationships with the cast. a house doesn’t usually have ‘staff’ but anyone who lives there or has permission from other residents may feel a bit more free in the spaces.  

was prompted to produce an image that encompassed my project in its current form.

I’m still mostly unsure what path my project will take and my ideas are so all over the place that i struggled to come up with a image that illustrates all my ideas in a clear manner.

so i’ve just made a photo mash up.

Finally took to the streets in my plush dress.

Mostly because i wanted to get some cool pictures, but also i wanted to see how people would react.

as i walked around i heard a lot of “that’s a great skirt”, others would pause their conversations to stare. 

Overall, it seemed to make a lot of people smile, which in turn made me feel good. I had left the comfort of a private space feeling absolutely stupid in this garment of toys, but hearing the compliments and seeing the children point and smile made me feel a lot more comfortable somehow. 

it’s strange because usually when i’m being watched or pointed at i feel insecure, but i guess this time around there was a clear reason why people stared. 

other days i’d be dressed in something less noticeable. Mottled grey is the urban camouflage.

People who approach me and ask “what’s this for?” and i was honest and told them it was a project, but in hindsight i wished I had said that this was just what i like to wear sometimes. 

I think i’d like to make a new crazy outfit to wear out in the public and just make it part of my lifestyle, no “project”, just an aspect of me.  

On queen’s birthday weekend i went to The Armageddon Expo in Wellington, which is a convention for gamers, geeks, fanatics, nerds, whatever you’d like to call them. it’s a real mixed bag of people actually, an outsider might see them as all the same kind of person but i often find it funny that there’s a wrestling ring set up next to stalls with anime merch.

It’s like a universal hub, the ultimate crossover of worlds. especially when you see people walking around dressed as fictional characters from various series’. 

the cosplay is what i find most interesting about this event. Cosplay is when someone replicates a character, There is a broad spectrum of whole involved one can become in their costume, from just wearing the colours or a certain item, to completely transforming themselves and embodying a character. 

On the three days that i was there, i was wearing a different “skin” everyday. Essentially, I was not helen anymore, people who knew me as Helen called my name, but others who recognised the skin would yell out a different name to get my attention, and I’d respond.

In a way it’s an escape, I get to choose what i’d like to be each day, tho at the same time, I’m still performing as Helen (until someone asks for a photo that is) 

the most interesting thing is the moment when you leave the safety of the convention walls and venture out into the unassuming public. there is nothing stopping me from wearing these costumes daily other than social rules.

It makes me want to try dressing up more often.