Designer: Marli Heinjus
Title: Cleopatra
Medium: Linen dress, copper and beaded accessories
Size: 60 x 50 cm
I designed an outfit to be used in a film set in Ancient Egypt for the character, Cleopatra. The design features a linen dress with batik detailing and accessories including a headpiece and neck collar. The concept for this design originated from my interest in the history of Japanese an Egyptian cultures. I was inspired by movies set in Ancient Egypt and artwork found in Egyptian tombs, displaying the clothing worn at the time. I turned my inspiration into a full outfit by following the design process of brainstorming, creating a brief, exploring, analysing, and refining my ideas.
Through experimentation with many different styles and design techniques, I developed my design skills by rendering outfits with markers and improved my ability to draw different fabrics and croquis to the correct proportions. I also experimented with fabric dyeing techniques such as stencil-printing, block-printing, and batik. I improved my sewing skills and learnt different ways to manipulate and dye fabric.
One artist who heavily influenced my design was Billi Rothrove, a Batik artist who uses organic lines and a monochromatic colour scheme to create dynamic patterns on fabric. I took inspiration from his use of repetition to add an element of colour and detail to my design using batik on the capelet and belt piece. Similarly to Rothrove, I used a colour scheme of warm tones, representing the natural colours used in Ancient Egyptian clothing.
A designer who inspired the concept of my design was Ruth Carter, the costume designer for the film Black Panther. Carter drew inspiration from the colour and pattern found in clothing from African tribes to represent the character’s cultural background in her modernised designs. My design has a similar theme as I also aimed to represent the style, colours, and patterns used within Egyptian culture.
The brief outlined that my design must reflect a sense of seduction, power, beauty, and royalty in order to help portray the character. I achieved this by using a flowy material with two leg slits to introduce an element of femininity. I also used contrast between the plain fabric and detailed patterns and embellishments to create a sense of elegance.
One challenge I faced while creating my design was structuring the skirt as it involved multiple layers and I found it difficult to manipulate to sit in an ideal way. I was able to overcome this by trial and error and researching how to create a skirt with leg slits. Another challenge was that the neck collar was initially supposed to contour to the shape of the model’s shoulders, however this was challenging to do with cardboard. I overcame this issue by altering the collar shape so that it sits flat against the chest of the model.
Overall, I believe my design successfully represented the style and themes of Ancient Egyptian fashion while also helping to represent the traits of the character, Cleopatra. Throughout the design process, I developed my creativity and practical skills to ultimately produce an aesthetically pleasing ensemble.
Title: Cleopatra
Medium: Linen dress, copper and beaded accessories
Size: 60 x 50 cm
I designed an outfit to be used in a film set in Ancient Egypt for the character, Cleopatra. The design features a linen dress with batik detailing and accessories including a headpiece and neck collar. The concept for this design originated from my interest in the history of Japanese an Egyptian cultures. I was inspired by movies set in Ancient Egypt and artwork found in Egyptian tombs, displaying the clothing worn at the time. I turned my inspiration into a full outfit by following the design process of brainstorming, creating a brief, exploring, analysing, and refining my ideas.
Through experimentation with many different styles and design techniques, I developed my design skills by rendering outfits with markers and improved my ability to draw different fabrics and croquis to the correct proportions. I also experimented with fabric dyeing techniques such as stencil-printing, block-printing, and batik. I improved my sewing skills and learnt different ways to manipulate and dye fabric.
One artist who heavily influenced my design was Billi Rothrove, a Batik artist who uses organic lines and a monochromatic colour scheme to create dynamic patterns on fabric. I took inspiration from his use of repetition to add an element of colour and detail to my design using batik on the capelet and belt piece. Similarly to Rothrove, I used a colour scheme of warm tones, representing the natural colours used in Ancient Egyptian clothing.
A designer who inspired the concept of my design was Ruth Carter, the costume designer for the film Black Panther. Carter drew inspiration from the colour and pattern found in clothing from African tribes to represent the character’s cultural background in her modernised designs. My design has a similar theme as I also aimed to represent the style, colours, and patterns used within Egyptian culture.
The brief outlined that my design must reflect a sense of seduction, power, beauty, and royalty in order to help portray the character. I achieved this by using a flowy material with two leg slits to introduce an element of femininity. I also used contrast between the plain fabric and detailed patterns and embellishments to create a sense of elegance.
One challenge I faced while creating my design was structuring the skirt as it involved multiple layers and I found it difficult to manipulate to sit in an ideal way. I was able to overcome this by trial and error and researching how to create a skirt with leg slits. Another challenge was that the neck collar was initially supposed to contour to the shape of the model’s shoulders, however this was challenging to do with cardboard. I overcame this issue by altering the collar shape so that it sits flat against the chest of the model.
Overall, I believe my design successfully represented the style and themes of Ancient Egyptian fashion while also helping to represent the traits of the character, Cleopatra. Throughout the design process, I developed my creativity and practical skills to ultimately produce an aesthetically pleasing ensemble.