AKIRA - Costume Designer (Romeo and Juliet) - video Dailymotion

Stella Motion Pictures

Part of a longer #documentary, this video follows the creation of a brand new Graeme Murphy's ROMEO and JULIET through the design process of acclaimed fashion designer Akira Isogawa (video by Philippe Charluet). #akira #graememurphy #australiadance

Transcript

00:00They are actually hand embellished with customized sequins.

00:25Those sequins have got this bent edge.

00:29In fact, they are just plastic. It's very lightweight.

00:32And they have been boiled in hot water.

00:37And they nearly got melted.

00:41You know, in fact, some of them are actually nearly gone.

00:44But I quite like the way that actually the fact they're custom made.

00:48And then the colors are all slightly different.

00:52It gives actually certain character to this textile.

00:56My fascination with Akira came from a really undeveloped interest in fashion.

01:00I didn't have a huge interest in fashion.

01:03But I saw some of Akira's garments and I felt that they were more emotionally imbued with meaning than a lot of fashion objects are.

01:13And it was a beautiful relationship. It started with a work called Salome.

01:17And that was a huge learning curve for both of us because I had to learn to trust.

01:22Because choreographers are often control freaks about, you know,

01:25where are you going to cover up my choreography?

01:27What do you think you're doing, you know?

01:29So I had to find that moment or someone that I felt I could trust.

01:34That's supposed to be on the side for the leg.

01:37Yep.

01:38And then that's supposed to be a top and that's supposed to be a top.

01:41Okay.

01:42I come from designing fabric, really.

01:45That's what I enjoy most.

01:46You know, giving a concept.

01:48But the next step is usually working on textile.

01:52Adding colors, textures, embellishments such as adding sequins or beads.

01:57So that actually, like, you know, looks is a very modern and a new.

02:01That process itself is inspiring.

02:04And I get energized.

02:06That energy give me actually, yeah, to produce even more, further more.

02:11And that's what usually happens.

02:14So.

02:15Wow.

02:16Yeah.

02:17That's, I mean, it's not, you know, it's not nothing special about thread.

02:21Mm.

02:22Because it will be a lot of, um, flayed age.

02:24Yes.

02:25Flayed age organza.

02:26Yeah.

02:27This Romeo and Juliet production appear to be very, very big.

02:31There'll be actually more than 150 garments to be made for one production.

02:36So we have a lot to do.

02:38There are no, actually, shortcut by any means.

02:41And we quickly just wired this onto a headdress, onto it,

02:45because I thought then, at the moment it sits there.

02:49Like, just above a forehead.

02:50Yeah.

02:51Yeah.

02:52We need to make one for every dancer we can.

02:53Mm.

02:54You know, for only a couple of them.

02:55To Juliet.

02:56Yeah.

02:57Yeah.

02:58Yeah.

02:59Depending on.

03:00I don't know.

03:01It's two or three Juliet's actually.

03:02There's seven or eight, I think.

03:05Yeah.

03:06Seven Juliet's or eight Juliet's.

03:07Yeah, yeah.

03:08Oh, my gosh.

03:09Yeah, there's loads of them.

03:10Really?

03:11Yeah.

03:12Does it mean, actually, this dress needs to be duplicated seven by seven?

03:25Wow.

03:26The worst enemy is actually the time factor.

03:29The Australian Ballets in Melbourne.

03:30Oh, look.

03:31I mean, it's not like, you know, between Paris and Sydney.

03:35It's only Sydney and Melbourne.

03:37But still, we are dealing with each other in different cities, you know.

03:41Akira had to find out the difference between creating for somebody who would walk on a catwalk

03:48or into a salon or actually get down and dirty, roll on the floor and get thrown around.

03:55And he found a way to accommodate the violence that is dance, because it is the most violent art form.

04:02And fabric is the one thing that gets shredded when you're dealing with beautiful silks and beautiful fabrics.

04:08But he found solutions.

04:11One of the common links between the way we work is fluidity.

04:15His fabric and the way he creates with fabric doesn't have a rigidity.

04:21It always seems to have the possibility to do something more than just look good.

04:27In movement, it works fantastically.

04:30I do get inspired by movement of textile, especially when I drape fabric onto mannequin.

04:37And then I see a direction of movement.

04:40And then often I make patterns based on draping fabric rather than actually working on a flat surface.

04:48So I guess it is my nature to feel the movement.

04:52Yeah, I guess I'm choreographing textile rather than body itself, you know.

04:57I'm training fabric, I guess.

05:00I guess.

05:01What did I really do?

05:02Yeah, it's the first time I tried to make your hair out...

05:03He went and said, it's different.

05:04Yeah.

05:05It's different times when you're in couple of sheets, you can finish them down.

05:09Yeah.

05:10A NINTH create a handball mask.

05:11So there's a bunch of other robocities.

05:12I don't know.

05:13You were X-E, I think someone eggs and eggs,kins, looking at a passion angle.

05:15But at one point of that, we'll be a ocupation uniform.

05:17We don't have to masküng Yeah, and there is no way drawn and soll.

05:20It's different from peine!

05:21One fuels the urge.

05:23You couldn't stay here.

05:24I just thought we were reallyamous with this Menschen in America.

05:27Yeah.

AKIRA - Costume Designer (Romeo and Juliet)

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