For this costume I took inspiration from the silhouette of traditional Japanese kimono to create a humorous, but still elegant, rendition of a piece of sushi. The body, including the "rice" and "tamago" (Japanese egg omlette) is sculpted from soft foam. The "nori" obi is made from layered iridescent fabrics. The hat features a scoop of bright green "wasabi" surrounded by a ruffle of pink, pickled "ginger".
detail view
This piece was inspired by a costume Louise Brooks wore in the 1929 film, The Canary Murder Case. The bodice is covered in gold sequins and pink and black feathers, all applied individually by hand. The veil is also custom made.
back view
detail view
This was a very labor-intensive (but fun!) project. The client brought in an absolutely beautiful vintage suede dress with the request that I re-work it into something she could wear for her performances as a fire dancer while maintaining the essence of the original piece. To do so, I disassembled the original dress (which was intricately laced together), created patterns for the top and pants, reassembled the pieces into their new shapes, and then cemented and laced them back together. In the end, I used just about every scrap of the original dress, including the existing fastenings and trim, to fashion a whole new creation.
front view
back view
I designed and built this sassy little pvc Alice in Wonderland costume for a client to wear to a launch party for Electronic Arts' "Alice" video game. The client wanted something with a flirtatious edge, and any body part that could be pushed up, in, or out was!
back view
side view
The same client later did me a great favor by modeling a few of my pieces for the Junk In The Trunk fashion show in San Francisco.
another piece from the show
These are three of a set of four costumes I designed and built for an aerial dance performance by members of Eat Cake Productions. The project was especially challenging because I had to design and construct the corsets and cage skirts so that they appeared stiff and constricting, but were actually quite comfortable and flexible. The dancers performed sommersaults and pirouettes while suspended twenty feet in the air.