ANN ROTH, A 'Costume Designer', Legend.

Still going strong in a career spanning almost six decades, the costume designer Ann Roth, 79, has more than 190 film and theater credits, including “Midnight Cowboy,” “The Day of the Locust” and “The English Patient,” for which she won an Oscar. Ms. Roth is working on the film version of “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close,” starring Tom Hanks, and is nominated for a Tony Award for best costume design of a musical for “The Book of Mormon.” The ceremony is June 12.


Source: NY Times article by BEE-SHYUAN CHANG

IMDb History of ANN ROTH Films

VIDEO of the Costuming Process as per 'Ann Roth'

Ann Roth entered the theatrical world as a scenic painter for the Pittsburgh Opera before being hired as assistant to a Broadway costumer. By the mid-'50s, Roth was one of the leading stage costume designers, and in 1964 she broadened her activities to films. Ann Roth's motion picture credits include productions “The World of Henry Orient,” “Up the Down Staircase,” “Midnight Cowboy,” and “Klute.” Her filmography also includes films like “Murder By Death,” “California Suite,” “Sweet Dreams,” and “Postcards From the Edge.” Her work was showcased through the 90s in films that include: “The Bonfire of the Vanities,” “School Ties,” “The Birdcage,” “The English Patient” and “The Talented Mr. Ripley.” Over the past decade she has continued to work with the industry’s finest and her costuming has appeared in films like: “Signs,” “The Hours,” “Cold Mountain,” “The Stepford Wives,” “The Village,” “Closer,” “The Good Shepard,” “Mamma Mia!,” “Doubt,” “The Reader” and “Julie & Julia.”

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CLAIRE McCARDELL the Designer's Designer

Truly one of the most Inspirational and Talented Fashion Designer of ALL times. Claire McCardell is a name that's synonymous with 'Great American Sportswear'. She was a 'Master' at creating 'Looks' that are still with us Today. McCardell loved, the art of design, construction and the ease of wonderful Style. So important for in American clothes. Her tremendous manipulation of the use of fabric is synonymous with Classic Couture Fashion Designs that surpass that of the French and Italian designers. American Designer's just 'Love' Her! You see her work in many, many 7th Ave. Houses, Today. She was one of a kind and America was Blessed to have Her. Claire McCardell has been called the first truly American designer, originator of the "American Look". American women have always admired her for her freshness and energy.
Born in 1905, Claire McCardell was born in Frederick, Maryland, USA, to a bank-president father. She had 3 younger brothers and grew up with a love of sports. In 1925, after high school and two years college, Claire joined fashion illustration at Parsons School of Design (which was then called the New York School of Fine and Applied Arts). She spent her second year in Paris, at the Parsons branch on Place des Vosges. There she began to blossom, for fashion was all around her. She began to understand the relationship between style and comfort (or rather the lack of it). She returned to New York for her last year at Parsons.

After graduating, she embarked on a frustrating succession of jobs. In 1930 she became an assistant to Robert Turk, a young designer just starting out, His venture failed and so he and Claire afterwards moved to Townley Frocks, an established sportswear house. Turk died in a sailing accident, so Claire took his position and finished the collection. She stayed with Townley Frocks for 7 years until the company disintegrated. While at Townley, she scored her first commercial success, the so called "Monastic Dress", a flowing robe-like design that the wearer shaped to her own waistline with a sash or belt. Best and Co., bought 100 of these dresses and they were soon well-known. In 1939 when Townley folded, she spent a brief time working for Hattie Carnegie, whose house sold Parisian designs. However McCardell's designs were far too simple for Carnegie's tastes.

please Read more about Claire

The Job of "Costume Designing" for Cinema

Costume designers often labor over the script, the production concept and they spend hours and hours hunting down fabrics as well as drawing and physically, creating wearable works of art. A character's costume can give clues to the 'Era (History of Fashion)' the movie is set in, the age of the character, their station in life, their mood, their personality and their relationship with the other characters. The reel below is a sample of some of this years Nominated movies. You can follow this article in order to get a List of some Nominees and Winners of the Past.  Historically, past Oscars have recognized many costume designers for their hard work. Many of these artist have done a great deal to create the world of the film through fashion.| Read more.....!

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Beautiful Images of Met’s Alexander McQueen

On May 2 the annual Met Ball kicks of the Metropolitan Museum's Costume Institute's new exhibit, Savage Beauty, a retrospective of Alexander McQueen's work. The hefty catalogue of the exhibit was recently distributed, and it features new glorious photos of some of the late designer's most glorious pieces. The book also includes Tim Blanks's interview with McQueen's successor, Sarah Burton — one of the most extensive that's been conducted to date. Burton tells Blanks that when McQueen (she calls him by his first name, Lee) got the call from LVMH to go to Givenchy, he merely thought they were calling him to do a handbag collaboration with Louis Vuitton, which was the hot thing in fashion at the time. Burton went with him to Givenchy. "We had one pattern-cutting table, which used to belong to Body Map and Flyte Ostell, with chairs that didn't reach the table. When Lee got the Givenchy job, we got chairs that reached the table," she tells Blanks. "And he was really excited because it meant there was money coming in, and he could do things he'd never done before." One of the most memorable collections from those days was for fall 1999, "which involved a model in a Perspex robotic body," Burton says. "The guy who made the robot told us ten minutes before the model walked out, 'If she sweats in the suit, she's going to electrocute herself. So tell her not to sweat.' ".
 ......more on this

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China Fashion Week [PHOTOS]

China Fashion Week opened today in the capital city of Beijing. A total of 40 brands, 29 collections, 15 lectures and 7 competitions joined the event, which is 14-years-old this year.
This fashion show exclusively showcases products made and designed in China. While China may be known for producing cheap clothing and accessories, this show hopes to dazzle the world with the country’s sense of fashion.

... more

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Costume Designer, Randall Christensen dishes about DWTS

Editor's Note:
[Dancing With The Stars] The photo contains the Cast for this upcoming Season. It includes "Wendy Williams" and "Kirstie Alley". You know, some people really need to know their limitations for TV. Now I don't know who these women's Dance Partners are, but, my heart goes out to them. Though I do like Miss Wendy, it's still  gonna have to be pretty tough draggin' this one across the stage. And that's for Kirstie Alley? After it's all said and done, the poor Guy will definitely feel like he's moving furniture all across the globe. Let's face it, these two heifers are not "ballerinas". I mean, wasn't that Bristol Palin broad bad enough. Or wasn't she? These fellas will definitely need a vacation after this crusade. Good Luck!

Interview with Shows Designer, Randall Christensen:

With the season 12 premiere of Dancing with the Stars just weeks away, we caught up with the king of fabulously kitschy stage ensembles, Emmy winning-costume designer Randall Christensen, to dish on everything from dressing to accommodate curves to knowing your limits on showing skin (yes, he has some!). Read the full interview, after the jump.

Randall is in New York this week for the Wilhelmina 40+ Model Search (he'll serve as a wardrobe advisor and a judge in the final event--if you're fabulous and over 40, hit the open casting call this weekend in NYC, 3/12 from 10am to 3pm at Wilhelmina, 300 Park Avenue South, 2nd floor; or find out how to enter online), and we took the opportunity to chat him up about all things DWTS and looking and feeling confident, no matter your age. Here's what he had to say:

Read More

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Designer Colleen Atwood Wins Oscar

The nominees for best costume design created a variety of looks, including nineteenth century western apparel and avant-garde Elizabethan garb. Let's meet the five women who made the cut for this year's Costume Design category.

'Alice in Wonderland': Designer Colleen Atwood, who has worked with director Tim Burton on seven previous films including 'Big Fish' and 'Sweeney Todd,' wanted to make the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp) look like he was a real hat maker from the Edwardian era.

The actor was dressed in 'playful but still traditional' garb, which included a custom hat made from imported Italian leather woven with gold threads that was sized to fit his fluffy orange wig. 'He's a real person with a great amount of heart in the story, so to have him running around in something that distracted from that would have been a mistake,” Atwood told WWD.

Read more: NY Daily News 

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London's LOUISE GRAY Sparkling RTW Show

Louise Gray is a hand embroiderer who first studied at The Glasgow School of Art and went on to graduate with an MA from Central Saint Martins College in London. Immediately following her graduation she was selected by Fashion East, and showed three seasons there.

Louise has spent the last three seasons building a label based on brightly hued, boldly textured garments whose shapes are simple and where movement and embellishment take center stage. Employing a wide range of materials nothing is quite what it seems in Gray's work. Contrast is key and Gray reworks traditional stitches and embroidery techniques to create modern folk details and trompe l'eoile effects. 

View Fall 2011 (STYLE)

VIDEO Collection

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Italy’s Pret-a-porter (RTW) Collections

From 25th to 28th February 2011, at Fieramilanocity, Porta Tedorico, The Fourth Edition of Mi Milano Pret-a-porter, The New Exhibition dedicated to Italian Fashion and Emergent Designers, will go on show. Selection, Tradition, Research, Quality, Inter-nationality are key words that contribute to making Mi Milano Pret-a-porter the New Reference Show for Buyers, The Press and those operating on International Markets.

Please visit the Website for further Details about this extraordinaire experience in Italian RTW.

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Artist Jung Hae Sun: Korean fashion and art

Published | Bangkok Post

World-renowned South Korean artist Jung Hae Sun will showcase her fashion illustrations for the first time in Thailand at “Fashion in Art & Art in Fashion”, an exhibition being held at the Atrium and Mob.F on the first and fourth floors of Siam Centre respectively, until Jan 20. This is also the only chance for art appreciators and fashionistas alike to get up close and personal with the Korean fashion illustrator in a meet-and-greet session and also witness a live demonstration of her art creations, at the Atrium, 1st floor, at 6pm.

Hae Sun teaches fashion illustration art at the Seoul Women’s College. Her feminist works are held in high regard in South Korea. She has been invited to work with many leading magazines and brands, namely Vogue, Marie Claire, Elle, Benetton, Obzee, Shinsegae, Levi’s, Lacoste, Samsung, LG and Kolon, not to mention many famous Korean designers.

She was recently invited to work her magic in Thailand with WRKRoom, a popular brand with more than 15 branches in the US and the latest  addition of Mob.F on the 4th floor of Siam Centre. She recently joined hands with WRKRoom to  create a special  collection for the bright, young  talented musician, Saksit “Tor”  Vejsupaporn, for his latest album. This triggered a buzz on the new and impressive image of the talented singer.

The art showcase will also see the launch of the brand’s special collection called “WRKRoom: for Tor”. A limited edition of scarves with lovely bunny prints will be on sale, with part of the proceeds going to charity. Korean fashion illustrator Jung Hae Sun presents her latest creations in ‘Fashion in Art & Art in Fashion’, an exhibition that runs until Jan 20 at Siam Centre.

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Designer Norma Kamali and Vogue Editor Jill Spalding Praise Shen Yun Costume Design

NEW YORK—“I was very impressed with the clothing and costumes,” said famed designer Norma Kamali after seeing the over 400 hand-made costumes donned by Shen Yun Performing Arts New York Company dancers. Jill Spalding, a writer and editor for Vogue Magazine, was also in attendance at Sunday’s sold-out performance at the David H. Koch Theater at the Lincoln Center. Both appraised the colorful garb of the different regions of China.

“I saw here the best example about how fabric, clothing, and sleeves can enhance the movement and tell the story,” remarked Ms. Kamali, who also designs costumes for dance. Ms. Kamali is better known, however, for her bathing suits, which have been featured on the cover of Cosmopolitan Magazine, and for her parachute designs, on display in the Vanity Fair permanent collection at the Metropolitan Museum. A part of classical Chinese dance, the silk costumes are designed to be a rippling and flowing extension of the dancer.

“When the sleeves became a part of the rhythm and a part of the overall design of the set, it was very impressive!” said Ms. Kamali of the long, cascading sleeves found in several of the Shen Yun dance pieces.

Taken from EPOCH TIMES 

more about “Shen Yun“