Character Costume Research Articles

A study on Na Costume in Go-ui Village (固義村), Hebei Province, China

This study analyzed the kind of costumes which villagers wore whenever the traditional Na was annually held at New Year"s Day, in Go-ui village, Hebei Province, China. As the study methods, a literature review and two field investigations were conducted. The findings show following characteristics of costumes by characters who participated in rituals and feasts. First, the costumes of characters taking part in the Na are based on Chinese traditional ones, indicating the traditional characteristic of costumes for classical Chinese opera which has been partially changed or to which some dramatic factors have been added. Second, each character appearing in the Na wore their own costumes representing their roles and statuses, implicating the symbolist one of colors and patterns embedded in the traditional culture. Third, red colors were used for cloth of masks and trousers worn by legendary hermits, suggesting the red colors" incantatory one as an exorcism function which expelled bad evils and prayed for well-being.

Floating Worlds: Cosplay Photo Shoots and the Creation of Imaginary Cosmopolitan Places

Cosplay is a globalised craft and performance practice centred upon the recreation of pre-existing character designs in the form of wearable costumes, performances and photography. Cosplay costumes and performances are typically inspired by science-fiction and fantasy texts, set in places existing outside of contemporary time and space such as Medieval Europe or alien planets. Among Australian cosplayers popular source texts include Western film and television, as well as Japanese anime, manga and videogames. Photo shoots are a popular activity among cosplayers in Australian communities of practice. Working collaboratively with photographers and other practitioners, cosplayers create staged images of their character costumes posing at especially selected locations. Using images created by cosplayers and the author during fieldwork among Australian communities of practice, this article will explore how visions of deterritorialised, cosmopolitan floating worlds are produced in local, physical spaces; how universities become European castles and parks are transformed into Edo-period Japan.

McQuillen, Colleen The Modernist Masquerade: Stylizing Life, Literature and Costumes in Russia (review)

SEER, 94, 1, JANUARY 2016 154 McQuillen, Colleen. The Modernist Masquerade: Stylizing Life, Literature and Costumes in Russia. Studies of the Harriman Institute. University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, WI, 2013. xiii + 282 pp. Illustrations. Notes. Bibliography. Index. $29.95 (paperback). Given the number of publications attempting to find a master trope for early modernist aesthetics, the venture is clearly an alluring one. For any new efforts the yardstick of comparison would be Green and Swan’s The Triumph of Pierrot (University Park, PA, 1986) and Douglas Clayton’s Pierrot in Petrograd (Montreal, 1993) — vast interpretative works exploring the notion of commedia dell’arte as an extended metaphor for the modernist imagination and an expression of fin-de-siècle cultural views. Coleen McQuillen hangs her own interpretation of the modern from a different kind of peg; the motif of masquerade (comprising masked and costume balls) is seen as a prism for refracting the diversity of artistic cross-currents of the time, and as a unifying platform for the wide spectrum of political and cultural debates. Such an analysis, without doubt, provides a valuable contribution to modernist studies, but in order to appreciate this vantage point the reader would still have benefitted from a brief comparison with the established scholarly landmarks. The book’s sub-title specifies clearly the terrain of examination, focused on ‘stylizing life, literature and costume in Russia’. The same type of clarity, however, does not apply to the chronological boundaries of the study, which range from 1872 to 1914 (p. 3). These limits require further explanation and justification, for the earlier date is most commonly associated with the Russian realist doctrine, while the activities of Russian avant-garde authors (extensively discussed in various chapters) would extend far beyond 1914. The book is divided into two parts, the first concentrating primarily on the theoretical issues of ‘parody, imitation and stylisation as discursive strategies in literature and in social performances of personal identity’ (p. 29). The three chapters in this section are well researched and suggest an original reading of the era’s social and cultural agenda (ethical, political and gender issues); but the whole is unfortunately somewhat less than the sum of its parts: in their totality these chapters do not coalesce into a coherent interpretation of the modernist imagination, defined here in terms of ‘relativistic approaches to art and self’ (p. 25), or more specifically through loosening the links between the signifier and signified. The first two chapters seem to demonstrate the opposite. When examining costume parties in Sologub’s Petty Demon and Dostoevskii’s Demons, chapter one affirms a strict one-way correlation between ethics and aesthetics, when everything beautiful speaks of goodness, and impurity reveals itself through the distorted. The same kind of referential rigidity is asserted in chapter two, which associates political conservatism with national costumes, as opposed to the widespread trend of impersonating foreign nationals among terrorists in the years surrounding 1905. REVIEWS 155 The second part explores the issues of reception by treating costume design as a legible poetic language. Informative, engaging and meticulously researched, this is, surely, the strongest section of the book. Some justification is offered for the study’s chronological starting point as it mentions the weakening of the Russian state control of visual and performing arts in the 1870s–80s (p. 119). The overall narrative also becomes more spontaneous, more fluid, and effectively more in tune with the playful and carnivalesque subject-matter of the work (as compared to the discourse of the first part, heavily charged with specialized, and at times cumbersome, terminology). Chapter four interprets non-representative costumes (such as ‘Dawn’, ‘Fantasy’ or ‘Duma’) worn at the series of balls hosted by the St Petersburg Academy of Arts, while chapter five ‘constructs an imaginative projection of the cultural legacy through the character costumes of mythological and historic figures’. In both chapters insightful parallels are drawn with the writings of Leonid Andreev (Black Maskers), Anna Akhmatova and Viacheslav Ivanov, leading (chapter six) to the inquiry into the abstract costume practices in the avant-garde works of Blok, Maiakovskii and Kruchenykh. Seen as an utmost representation of semantic freedom, their works are juxtaposed (chapter seven) to its antithetical...

Young, George M The Russian Cosmists: The Esoteric Futurism of Nikolai Fedorov and His Followers (review)

REVIEWS 155 The second part explores the issues of reception by treating costume design as a legible poetic language. Informative, engaging and meticulously researched, this is, surely, the strongest section of the book. Some justification is offered for the study’s chronological starting point as it mentions the weakening of the Russian state control of visual and performing arts in the 1870s–80s (p. 119). The overall narrative also becomes more spontaneous, more fluid, and effectively more in tune with the playful and carnivalesque subject-matter of the work (as compared to the discourse of the first part, heavily charged with specialized, and at times cumbersome, terminology). Chapter four interprets non-representative costumes (such as ‘Dawn’, ‘Fantasy’ or ‘Duma’) worn at the series of balls hosted by the St Petersburg Academy of Arts, while chapter five ‘constructs an imaginative projection of the cultural legacy through the character costumes of mythological and historic figures’. In both chapters insightful parallels are drawn with the writings of Leonid Andreev (Black Maskers), Anna Akhmatova and Viacheslav Ivanov, leading (chapter six) to the inquiry into the abstract costume practices in the avant-garde works of Blok, Maiakovskii and Kruchenykh. Seen as an utmost representation of semantic freedom, their works are juxtaposed (chapter seven) to its antithetical manifestation — the use of nudity in theatre and in life. It is a pity that the works of Boris Christa, a leading scholar of Russian Symbolism and a pioneer in the analysis of vestimentary semiotics, remained outside this otherwise methodically conducted study. By exploring the representation of masquerade in textiles and literary texts, an insightful connection is established between its fictional and social manifestations (scrupulously drawn from memoirs and journalistic accounts). This connection is undoubtedly the hallmark of the work, which not only expands the denotational spectrum of the trope, but highlights an important facet of the modernist aesthetic platform: that of stylizing life as an identity performance, revealed in a variety of its multiple expressions. Language Centre Olga Sobolev London School of Economics and Political Sciences Young, George M. The Russian Cosmists: The Esoteric Futurism of Nikolai Fedorov and His Followers. Oxford University Press, Oxford and New York, 2012. x + 280 pp. Notes. Bibliography. Index. $33.95: £19.99. This book takes the reader on a museum-like guided tour of the life and thought of the principal actors of Russian Cosmism, whose PrometheoFaustian projects include the attainment of immortality, the resurrection of the dead, the colonization of the entire universe and the steering of human evolution towards an ever more asexual and spiritual state. The unacquainted SEER, 94, 1, JANUARY 2016 156 reader is thus in for a change of scenery, to put it mildly. The Russian Cosmist movement originated with the eccentric and abstemious nineteenth-century Moscow librarian Nikolai Fedorov, for whom our first and foremost task is nothing less than to overcome death. He began with the truism that no one wants to die. All of us, even those who are mortal enemies, are united against a greater common enemy, death (p. 24), and all our problems are ultimately grounded in this overarching problem of death. Every little thing that human beings busy themselves with, however seemingly trifling — from handwriting to female attire — is fundamentally a question of life and death, because it is part of our struggle against our impending disintegration. No solution to any human problem can be final until a solution is found to the problem of death. Once a solution is found, solutions to all other problems will follow (p. 47). According to Fedorov, therefore, humanity’s ‘common task’ is to find a path to immortality here in this world. Not only should we become immortal ourselves, but we also ought to resuscitate our ancestors. He hypothesizes that dust from the dead is diffused throughout the cosmos. One of our tasks thus consists in collecting these dust-particles and inventing the technology to bring the dead back to life. But, one might ask, where would we put all these living dead? This is where the task of exploring and colonizing the universe comes into play. Eventually, all ‘of the cosmos would be colonized by the resurrected ancestors […]. This would […] solve the...

Alice in Wonderland by Unsuk Chin (review)

Unsuk Chin. Alice in Wonderland. DVD (Blu-ray). Kent Nagano / Bayerisches Staatsorchester und Chor. Directed and designed by Achim Freyer. With Sally Matthews, Piia Komsi/Julia Rempe, Dietrich Henschel, Andrew Watts, Guy de Mey, Gwyneth Jones. [Berlin]: EuroArts, 2008. 2072414. $39.99. Since the publication of the original novel of Lewis Carroll in 1865, the fairy tale of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland has been adapted into books, operas, ballets, movies, TV plays, etc. This operatic version, Alice in Wonderland, opens up a new perspective for audiences. The opera is the result of East-West cooperation with Korean composer Unsuk Chin, Chinese American playwright David Henry Hwang, Japanese American conductor Kent Nagano, German stage director Achim Freyer, and costume designer Nina Weitzner. The opera has a total of ten parts. As an introduction to the opera, Scene I displays a fairytale setting of illusively wonderful but inconceivable circumstance. Alice, a young girl acted by British soprano Sally Matthews, appears in an exaggerated mask in a dream world. While reading a book in the library she is thrown into a treasure chamber with several locked doors. Alice meets three strange figures all wearing masks: a boy carrying a mummified cat followed by two men identical to each other. Since all of them are wearing masks, apart from operatic singing, animated actions become crucial for the audience to interpret their thoughts and their feelings. Apart from pantomime-like body movements, the vocal part of the opera is also anti-traditional in scale and mode, although classical singing remains central to the opera. The operatic music, using colorful orchestration, dramatizes the character's presence frequently but not always. Also, the opera attaches great importance to con temporary audio-visual effects. This is expressed in singing, orchestral accompaniment, each character's costumes, and the staging, all of which transport the audience into an almost surrealistic wonderland. Scene I, meant to impress the audience with all of the musical and custom-and-mask descriptions, seems full of suggestions, meaning that these performing elements set the tone for what the entire opera looks like. The opera follows a Western opera pattern but is also a modern performance that combines both concepts. Scenes II and III form the initial phase of Alice's experience in the wonderland. Besides Alice, the White Rabbit (Scene II) and the swimming mouse encountered by Alice become central figures. Here, a subject through performance is to show imaginary changes of Alice's size and to dramatize a pool of tears shed mythically by sad Alice. The constant changes in Alice's size point to Alice's ongoing identity crises, an aspect worth pondering. Just as Alice repeatedly wonders: Who in the world am I? me who I am! Tell Tell me! these unanswered questions are dramatized further in Interlude I. Throughout Interlude I, Alice's body action and a huge blue Caterpillar depicted by the music lead to a vivid pantomime. The Caterpillar is acted by a group of four performers, including a noticeable instrumentalist playing bass clarinet. The Caterpillar sits on a large mushroom, and his masked head is copied from Alice's image rather than Caterpillar's own. An un certainty is created by this dramatic design. On the one hand, the Caterpillar is like an adviser from whom Alice hears words of wisdom about the advantages of changing her sizes. On the other hand, he is also a phantom of Alice appearing with her illusory image, which seems to mirror the real Alice in front of him. In this scene, the two characters neither sing nor recite lines. Instead, the bass clarinet plays a solo piece when Caterpillar and Alice are on the stage. When the Caterpillar is motionless, the music that the Caterpillar enacts fills the stage to represent his advice. In contrast, Alice uses body language to converse with Caterpillar. …

영화 '왓치맨(Watchmen)'에 나타난 슈퍼히어로 의상 분석

In order to create a national myth and be able to control international society, America with her short national history, used popular culture to accomplish these goals. The medium fit this purpose the best was the use of superhero characters based on comics. Born and developed from the 1930s through the 1960s, which could be seen as America`s national crisis era, superhero characters were thorough advocates of American justice and was perfect for the role of spreading the legitimacy of American ideology. From the 1970s, superhero characters became part of movies and became even more influential through the Hollywood`s massive film industry and the box office success. American ideology in superhero characters symbolically appeared in movie costumes. Starting with Superman and Batman, the very first and typical superhero characters` costumes work as metaphors for realization of American justice. After the 1980s, superheroes were newly developed through a genre called graphic novel and the most representative piece of this genre is Alan Moore`s Watchmen. In the Watchmen, which was also turn into a movie in 2009, six changed superhero characters appear ranging from a non-human superhero, villain superhero, superhero with mental disorder and superhero with sexual impotency, the characters were never-seen-before superheroes with different aspects that connote introspection and philosophical ideology. The changed type of heroes and ideology became another form of heroes, and this brought changes to character costumes that were never considered before. The superhero costumes that used to symbolize America now express different types of superhero by borrowing exotic mythical elements, undressing, pastiche and daily life clothes. The superhero characters and their changes in costumes from Watchmen imply American popular culture`s introspective tendency. Amongst these changes, we need to raise our critical vision towards popular culture.

스톱모션 애니메이션 캐릭터 의상제작과정에 관한 사례 연구

Due to increased interest in character costumes, the field of animation character costume design is gradually developing into a specialized domain. The costume-making process for animation characters presents many differences from the costume-making process for regular apparel. However, there remains insufficient research on the actual process of making the character costumes used in stop motion videos both in Korea and abroad. The purpose of this study is to establish a costume design process for animation characters. Furthermore, this study presents a case study on the costume planning and making process for 3D stop motion animation characters. The character costume-making process was segmentalized into the following stages: character analysis stage, character modeling stage, and character costume making stage. In the character analysis stage, the investigator analyzed the character`s movements, designed the character images, and analyzed the movements and motions of the animation characters. After completing character modeling, this study proposed a method for making the character costume. The style of the character costume was designed, and the structural design reflected the position and size of joints as well as the angle of movements. The patterns of the character costume were produced through dimensional tailoring after measuring the body size of the character. Afterward, the costume was completed after passing through the fitting and revision stages. The clothing material was selected to fit the colors and feelings shown in the illustration. To complete the costume after comparing it with the initial illustration, it was revised based on the assessment of its volume and overall atmosphere.

《春秋》筆法與桐城三祖方苞、劉大櫆、 姚鼐的古文創作

The paper is mainly to discuss the three fathers of Tongcheng School: Fang Bao, Liu Dakui, and Yao Nai. First it explains the writing theory of ancient prose constructed from ”Chun Qiu”, explores the writing theories of Fang Bao, Liu Da-kui, and Yao Nai, and then discusses the relationship between the writing theories of ancient prose mentioned above and the ancient prose writings of Tongcheng School.We discover that the ”Yi (meaning)-Fa (method, form, principle) theory” of Tongcheng School takes the classics of Confucianism as the model to construct the important contents of cultivating moral and learning the classics of Confucianism to discipline the true writing ability. As a result, the writing techniques of ”Chun Qiu” are important, but the interpretation by Tongcheng School does not focus on the politics in ”Chun Qiu” and the simple words but deep meaning. Instead, it focuses on the well-arranged writing material and concise statement-however, learning these writing techniques is not the first priority, instead, we should endeavor on it after learning the contents in classics of Confucianism.Definitely there are plentiful stories in some works of Fang Bao, Liu Da- kui, and Yao Nai. These stories use some narrative techniques such as dialogue and character costume and behaviors to portray the personality of character, and the reason why the character behaves. These articles, with biography narrative style, obviously are affected by the writing techniques of ”Chun Qiu”.

Artists' Balls and Conceptual Costumes at the Russian Academy of Arts, 1885–1909

Despite the notorious conservatism of the Russian Imperial Academy of Arts, its annual philanthropic costume balls inspired exuberant experimentation in costume design among its students in the years 1885–1909. This article explicates two emergent genres of costume that I term “conceptual” and “synecdochic,” which reveal the fresh polemical and creative potential invested in self-presentation. “Conceptual costumes” embodied ideas or polemical positions. “Synecdochic costumes” represented the instantiation of non-anthropomorphic objects and abstractions, chiefly represented by iconic symbols or parts standing for the whole. Both genres of costume represented a departure from the traditional character costume's heavy reliance on textile signification in the form of national dress or professional uniform.The spirit of sartorial innovation at the Artists’ Balls inspired such designers as Lev Bakst to embrace dress as an expressive medium, thereby aiding the acceptance of fashion as an artistic endeavor. The Artists’ Balls were also comprehensive aesthetic events, a Russian prototype of the Wagnerian Gesamtkunstwerk or “total artwork,” the legacy of which was manifested on the stage of Sergei Diaghilev's internationally renowned Ballets Russes by the artists who had attended the Russian Academy of Arts.

A Study on the Characters and Costumes in Fantasy Movies - With a Focus on the Mythic Characters -

This study examines the conceptual characteristics of fantasy movies. It also studies the process of socio-cultural changes of the mythical images such as heroes, goddesses and the devil that have often become the centre of fantasy movie characters. This study further examines the features of each character that correspond to specific mythical images. The purpose of this research is to suggest the conceptual and aesthetic characteristics of fantasy reflected in the characters and the costumes of fantasy movies, which were released since the year 2000. The followings are the results of the research: The conceptual characteristics of fantasy reflected in the characters and the costumes of fantasy movies are summarized as representation of reality, allegory and symbols, horror, desire, deconstruction and metamorphosis, otherness and counter-cultural sentiments. The aesthetic characteristics of the costumes of fantasy movies are defined as typicality and symbolism, grotesqueness, sensuality, hybridization, and otherness. These characteristics are very interconnected. The costumes of heroic characters appearing in fantasy movies show strong side of standard while the costumes of the evil characters revealed the limit of dualistic point of worldview centered on West. Heroic characters show realistic and human side that reflects the ethos of the time. Negative characters such as the devil or witches, which were created in human imagination and emotion, become the dynamic force of fantasy movies through their deviant actions. Their clothes, with variety and hybridization, become the source of creativity expected in present society.

Comparative Analysis of On-Line Game Characters’ Costumes and Fashion Trend Color

The purpose of this study is to come up with ways that cooperate between on-line game design and fashion design by analyzing trend color and on-line game character's costume color in on-line game. As for the research methodology, First, on-line games were selected with reference to www.ranky.com. Second, 2009 SS trend color palettes suggested by Copenhagen International Fashion Fair was used as a criterion of fashion trend. Third, on-line game character's costume colors were analyzed in relation to the degree of reflection of trend and the game character's type. The results are as follows. Each on-line game character costume's colors were made in accordance with typical character types. But we can find a one-to-one correspondence between fashion trend colors and game character costume's colors. That's because both trends and character types are the results of the continuing interactions between human-beings and societies. In comparison with fashion trend colors, game character costume colors are partly raw and inharmonious. Therefore, it is necessary to apply fashion trend color in game character costume design for enhancing competitiveness in the world market.

Expressive Effects of Female Characters’ Costumes Expressed in Fantasy Movies

This study examined the images and formative features of female characters portrayed in fantasy films. This study aimed at providing an applicable theory to modern fashion by reconsidering the images of women appearing in fantasy films and arranging fantastical features reflected in costumes of female characters. The followings were the results of the study: The first divine nature that human beings discovered was woman nature. The discovered stone worked of the prehistoric age had a meaning of the great mother of universe and expressed a positive image. Such positive images of the goddess were variously differentiated to negative images or reduced in their roles and meanings in the settlement process of patriarchy as well as sociocultural transition. The foremost examples of negative image were expressed as grotesque, destructive, otherness, sensual, and exotic. The positive image of a goddess in fantasy films was not especially emphasized. On the other hand, the negative images of the goddess and the case of costumes were variously expressed as well as emphasized the typicality of the negative image of the characters. It was reconsidered that the typical features of characters in fantasy films were a result of the image of women following sociocultural transition. In addition, it was confirmed that such result was being reflected in film costume.

A Study on the Middle Age Costume Expression of France <Maciejowski Bible>

In picture bible, the picture is helpful for showing story more vividly and specifically and it is helpful for finding the meaning of bible hidden behind familiarity. It plays the role of the most powerful testimony and expression, with which human provides himself. The purpose of study was to grasp the relation among historical background of the middle age, human's characteristic and symbolic color by considering the fact that the costume expressed in Maciejowski Bible, which is a picture bible of the middle age and observing type, color and decoration of costume. Among 46 folios organizing Maciejowski Bible, 129 pictures explaining the Book of Genesis, the Book of Exodus, the Book of Leviticus, the Book of Numbers, the Book of Deuteronomy, the Book of Joshua and the Book of Judges, which belong to the former 400 years of the old Testament, were analyzed for people's costumes. The pictures shown in Maciejowski Bible portrays object, costume and behavior on the background of France of the 13th century so we can find out the precious natures of middle age's costume, weapon and armor. Especially, the portrait about finger armor of chain mail attached in hauberk becomes the outstanding evidence that can encroach the discussion over whether it was used in the end of 1300s. Regarding costumes of main characters, they wore chemise and braies as underwear, wore tunic or cotte having various lengths from the length reaching knee to the length reaching 8round as basic costume and wore mantle with different-colored lining and hose with various colors. In the war picture, we can see hauberk made with chain mail and cyclas with long slit, which was worn over hauberk, barrel helmet, norman helmet and steel school cap. Regarding cap. man usually wore coif, beret, shade-shaped cap, straw hat and woman wore the decoration using veil and hairlace and used the method to wrap whole hair with net. As the colors used in the costume of the picture bible, scarlet, blue, green and brown were usually used in order. They usually wore costumes decorated splendidly with the colors haying hish brightness and chroma.

Character costume figure drawing: step-by-step drawing methods for theatre costume designers

Character costume figure drawing: step-by-step drawing methods for theatre costume designers

Nation and Class in the Karaghiozis History Performance

Karaghiozis—Greek shadow puppet theatre—is a performance which developed in Greece over a period of a hundred fifty years, using local character types, costumes, and dialects, folk anecdotes, contemporary events, topical humor, themes and motifs of classical, hellenistic, and Byzantine origin, Greek legends, songs, and dances. It is modelled on a fourteenth-century Turkish prototype, Karagoz, which itself finds its roots in fool lore and the classical mime (the dominant form of entertainment in the eastern empire from the fourth century B.C. to 1400 A.D.). The Turkish performance was introduced into occupied Greece possibly as early as the seventeenth century (the time of the consolidation of the Turkish hold over Greece). It had certainly appeared by 1809, at which time the traveller John Hobhouse records the earliest known date of the Turkish performance in Greece.