Initial Ideas

Although I have not completely finished the research for this project yet, i have done a considerable amount of visual research for the major characters and want to start sampling and making as soon as possible, so that I can make as many characters as possible.


 In fourth year, which is the final year, you get to chose what play you want to study and design for and then make a minimum of 2-3 costumes for that play.
I have decided that I want to design for Sleeping Beauty. I have a great many ideas so far, but I am currently focusing my thinking on Sleeping Beauty and the Evil Fairy, as those are the 2 that i definatley want to make in the end as well as probably the prince and if possible one or two of the good fairies as well  I want to make 5 overall, but that's pretty ambitious so I don't know how well that will work out. But I figure if i get started on the research stages straight away by the time i get back in September for 4th year I will be ready to make straight away.

So my ideas are;
 - For the evil fairy, instead of an Old Crone, as she is described in the fairy tale  I want to make her a fiercer character, stronger, probably closer to the maleficent from the Disney version. Her cursing of the princess is a very aggressive move, almost like the start of a war or attack against the royal family. Because of this i want to make some form of metal costume, with armour elements to portray her paranoid and aggressive nature.
  - For sleeping Beauty I really want to work on distressing her dress, as she is a princess her dress should be quite grand and decorated but at the same time she has been asleep for a hundred years; while her body has been preserved the fabric has begun to decay and dirty over the years. I like the idea of the contrast between the grand embroidered dress that is then destroyed and dirtied.
Also for sleeping beauty i am discussions with an illustrator who is interested in a collaboration. On Sleeping beauty's dress i like the idea of there being some intricate and delicate embroidery on the front with roses and trailing briars, like the briars that grow up around her and the castle, that trail off into the skirt of the dress. The illustrator will design this intricate floral pattern which i will then embroider onto the front of the dress.
- In the original fairytale the prince is quite a sinister character, for starters he is married when he finds Sleeping Beauty in her tower and he proceeds to rape her before she wakes up. In the original it is not the kiss of the prince that wakes her, it is after she has given birth to two children and they suckle at her finger dislodging the splinter from the spinning wheel. While i don't really want rape to be a part of my interpretatino of sleeping beauty, i think it would be interesting to explore this slightly more devious side of the prince, giving a bit of a change from the generic prince charming character.

I also have a few ideas for the fairies but not really well enough in my head to articulate.