Van go style

Had the pleasure of assisting on the build of this magnificent costume for Camila Cabello’s debut solo performance at the 2017 Billboard Music Awards.  Pieces of chainmail were intricately attached to leather and then custom hand made trims, and strands of chain, were individually applied.

This feature film starring Natasha Henstridge (Species) and Marguerite Moreau (Wet Hot American Summer) was shot in LA during Spring 2016.  Such a pleasure it was working with these incredible women and creating the looks for their characters: one an entrepreneurial handbag designer/seductress, the other a yoga instructor/mother.  Fun fact: the red dress on Natasha Henstridge, during the opening of this trailer, was a pink vintage dress that was dyed red for this scene.    

Advertisement for Mophie.  Photography by the eminent Ryan Schude.  #advertisement #styling #mophie #powerforall #vangostyle 

Earlier this year I had the pleasure of working with spellbinding Eric Andre, and his amazing team in Las Vegas, pranking unassuming bystanders all around town.  #season4promos #ericandre #adultswim #parkranger #falcon #lasvegas #parklife #campaignhat #vangostyle #costumes

Qudo and Lizas catalog shoot #boho #palmsprings #thriftstyle #vintage #qudo #lizas #martinbuhlerphotography #jewelry #vangostyle 

Being part of the costume department on the Syfy network’s Face Off was an incredible experience.  Using a mix of rented, purchased and custom built items, we created fantastical mixes in a fast paced environment.  

Styling director Jaime Deacon.  Photographs by Ryan Schude

Last year's Beauty ReCovered project with Kandee Johnson is going into season 2 this year!  We start prepping next week, and this time around, the theme is going to be POP STARS.  You won't see Taylor Swift this season, but here she is from season 1 when our task was to redo Glamour covers from the archives.  For this shoot I had to make the dress from scratch which required finding the right fabrics and dress pattern.  The pattern was easy to find, but the fabric was not.  I ended up layering a gold sequin fabric over a white sateen and adding red tule to the bottom.  After the dress was constructed, another layer of gold sequin fabric was added to the bodice to distort the stripe effect, and then I had to remove gold sequins by hand to allow some of the white to show through.  The red belt created the finishing touch and voile!  Kandee became Taylor.  

Happy Thanksgiving y'all!  Apropos the holiday, I wanted to share these custom costumes from last year's "Get Stuffed" commercial for FOX Sports 1.  Fatal Farm directors, Zachary Johnson and Jeffrey Max, asked me to create a basketball uniform in the style of the Plymouth colony.  To meet this challenge, I borrowed fashion elements of the historical and modern with the help of the local library's children section.  To create an authentic colonial look, I rented a pair of 17th century pirate pants from United American Costumes and used them to create a pattern from which I made the basketball knickers.  Also rented were the hats, belts and shoes, although one actor had feet larger than any shoe available at the costume house.  So, for him I bought a pair of slip on dress shoes from Target and affixed a satin strip and loose buckle.  The uniform tops were lined in athletic jersey material to ensure the actors comfort, and the letters and numbers were cut and sewn by hand to create a hand made impression (as the Plymouth colony predates the sewing machine).  

I don't know what giant this costume was made for, but as you can see from the before picture, Anna's top was ridiculously long and it was ruining her look.  To turn this top from frump to perfection, I opened the zipper (an important step if you want to keep its function) and removed a few inches from the bottom.  Then, to finish it off I applied a new gold trim.  

Check out this hilarious Frozen meets The Real World parody, by Kevin T. Wilson.  For this shoot, my major wardrobe challenge was finding Oaken's costume.  The others were prefabricated purchases that I simply altered to fit the actors.  To create Oaken's look I thrifted a "Cosby" sweater with Fall colors and a pair of khaki pants.  From Oaken's khaki pants I cut the bottom 6 inches in order to create the fall front with buttons at the top of his trousers.  His suspenders were made from strips of tapestry fabric I found at Jo-Ann's, and his hat was made out of cardboard covered in the material from a cut up t-shirt.  Strips of the t-shirt were also used to make the pomp at the top of Oaken's hat.