AliceFraser
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Costumes and Bodies on Stage
🕑 Added 2016-10-20 02:10:29 +0000 UTC So, I've been looking at fabric and dress-designs recently, signing up to pinterest and looking at costumes and clothes, which are not my normal area of expertise. I do like good design, and I tend to think that I dress well enough (even though usually in the same thing every day), but it's not one of my core preoccupations.Who knew there were so many different kinds of fabric?
I'm in the middle of the very beginning of planning the writing and content of my new solo show for next year, which will be called Empire and I'm thinking about costumes.
Aussie comedian Adam Richards often advises young men standups to dress up more than the standard sloppy jeans and teeshirt, saying that the stage imbues everything with intent, as an artistic signifier: "everything you bring to stage is a prop, and everything you wear on stage is a costume".
I asked him if that advice also held for women, and he said it was even more important for women to think about what they were wearing on stage, because the female form is already loaded with symbolism and significance in art, you're making a statement by just bringing a female body on stage. So you might as well acknowledge that, and use it to say what you want to say, rather than letting other people read in, willy nilly, to an unintended message.
(listen to the podcast with Adam Richards HERE)
Comments
My friend Therese is incredibly articulate about clothes and their meanings - she has synaesthesia, so I always found talking to her about that stuff super fascinating
I like "Empire". I also really like thinking about what people are wearing onstage (or in life) and why they chose it. I love clothes. I like their temporary nature, specifically because you can costume yourself daily. It's part of why I shy away from the idea of ever getting a tattoo actually. I can't imagine not regretting attaching something to my body permanently, even though I have found other people's tattoos totally gorgeous and fun to look at.
