One exhibit I look forward to each year is FIDM's Motion Picture Costume Design Exhibit. It generally runs from February to April. The exact date this year is February 9 - April 17, 2010. FIDM is located at Grand and Ninth Ave in downtown Los Angeles. The exhibit is free. Parking is $3 per hour metered on the street. You can easily see the exhibit in an hour. While visiting the exhibit, I strongly recommend you stop in the Scholarship store. In the back, behind the wall divder is usually rolls and rolls of fabric, for a buck a yard! There also is usually an assortment of trims and zippers, although the type varies from visit to visit. A few years ago, parking was free but the area has grown in the last couple of years because of the expansion of the Staples Center and the surrounding lofts and now there are parking meters everywhere.
This year's featured costumes are from the following movies:
Bright Star, The Duchess, GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, Nine, A Single Man, The Soloist, Star Trek, Watchmen, The Last Station, Sherlock Holmes, Amelia, Broken Embraces, Inglourious Basterds, The Young Victoria, Coraline, An Education, Julie & Julia, My One and Only, Pirate Radio, Public Enemies, Aliens in the Attic, and Where the Wild Things Are.
I must admit I have seen few of these movies, in fact, only 2: The Soloist and Julie & Julia. (I Netflix) It's great to see the costumes and all the details and work that is gone into them. The clothing worn by Jamie Foxx who plays Nathaniel Ayers in The Soloist has words, drawings, and crossword puzzles scrawled over on them in black marker. Nathaniel used his clothing as paper obviously. You can see some of that here http://www.imdb.com/media/rm1971227392/tt0821642
Also on display is the shopping cart of his belongings - ok, you say, some of you see that everyday on the streets, but I like seeing the details that go into each item of clothing and the props. I notice things that I didn't see in the movie because I was probably looking at faces and the action. This exhibit lets me look at the clothing.
Another thing I noticed is that Meryl Streep's shoes had a 4-5" platform for her character Julia Childs in Julie & Julia. The platform was done so it looked like part of the shoe. So, between the shoes and the shorter actors who played along side her, she appeared tall. The period costumes from The Young Victoria, The Duchess, Sherlock Holmes, and others are also wonderful to look at. The details in the buttons, pleats, tucks, hems, pockets, are beautiful. I only wish they allowed photographs. I'd love to be able to capture some of the details and incorporate them into my sewing.
If you are local, go see the exhbit and become inspried!
Here's a slide show to enjoy http://fidm.edu/resources/museum+galleries/exhibits/motion-picture-costume-design/2009/
