National Ballet's Alice in Wonderland

I'm so disappointed that I won't make it to Toronto to catch this gorgeous production of Alice in Wonderland from the National Ballet of Canada.  The costumes, the sets just look f**king brilliant!  My sister is seeing for the second time this week, the minx.  It has a witty, twisted, slightly dark quality.  Growing up watching their performances, I know the actual dancing and choreography will be nothing short of amazing.

Check out the costume porn above.  If you are lucky enough to be in the city, grab tickets for their last few performance here. 

Photos from the National Ballet of Canada. Cylla von Tiedemann.Bruce Zinger

Gothic Costumes of (M)Alice in Wonderland

The senior Pratt Fashion Show's most entertaining category is always costume design. For the class of 2010, it was no exception. There was a decidedly dark slant to many of the design collections, much to the delight of yours truly.
Alessandra Hammett's collection was inspired by a nightmare version of Alice in Wonderland. It was an elaborate and witty group where the Queen of Hearts was a punk dominatrix, the Mad Hatter was in a straitjacket, and the Cheshire cat looked positively feral.
Ms. Hammett draws from details of period costume and interned in the costume department of the Boston Ballet.
Ready for your trip down the rabbit hole? She can be contacted at ahammett@pratt.edu

Kristin Costa - Costume Designer and Prop Artist

I had a wonderful time at the Wonderland ball last Friday night. One of the most enjoyable moments of the evening was the discovery of artist and designer Kristin Costa. For the Alice themed event, she created a collection of exquisite outfits with a tongue-in-cheek interpretation of classic Lewis Carroll characters.

The red and white queens were interpreted as darkly theatrical. The queen of hearts costume was literally, a heart, a bodice of hand-painted veins and all. The white rabbit was a dramatic corset and mask ensemble with old fashioned marionettes.

Her work was also seen at the Shipwreck ball a few months ago. That collection presented witty takes on ancient sailing vessels and sea creatures.

If you're looking to obtain some of her handcrafted aesthetic into your own wardrobe, she just launched a corset and accessory collection on Etsy.com.

Fashion Down the Rabbit Hole

Curiouser and curiouser. Dances of Vice always brings out the most fabulously attired citizens of Gotham. The Wonderland in Spring ball Friday night was a tremendous evening of dancing music, seductive aerial and burlesque acts and an intriguing musician and muse creating tunes from some kind of electrode machine.
What was truly entertaining however, were the the guests of the ball. Ladies AND gentleman were draped in their finest Gothic threads and Alice in Wonderland themed ensembles. I had never seen so many handsome men dressed in variations of the Mad Hatter. They were all elegant, flamboyant yet still handsomely masculine. The ladies ranged from theatrically avant-garde to historically enhanced.

Blasphemina's Closet Presents Wonderland in Spring

Were you sufficiently wowed by Tim Burton's 3D Alice?  I can do you one better... How about spending this Friday night in a fantasy spring ball inspired by the story?
Time Out NY's most fabulous New Yorker Shien Lee, together with fashion designer Samantha Rei are collaborating to produce a magical evening of fairy tale fashion shows, aerial acts, burlesque and an avant-garde chamber rock orchestra.
Shien Lee's Dances of Vice has put on many of New York's most stylish events, including the Shipwreck Ball . Ms. Rei's collection, Blasphemina's Closet is a lovely mixture of Gothic and Lolita
pieces.
She has also recently started a menswear collection to accompany the women's line.
When was the last time you dressed up and were entertained in such grand style?  Come join me (oh yes, I'll be there) and enjoy  the "liberating effects of nonsense, beauty, and surrealism".

Enjoy performances from This Ambitious Orchestra, with special performing guests ZooG von Rock as Master of Ceremonies, Corleonis on theremin, aerial and burlesque performances by the stunning Veruca Honeyscotch and Rita MenWeep. Admire the glamor of fetish, Gothic, and Steampunk fashion shows featuring the work of Blasphemina’s Closet, Kristin Costa, I Do Declare, Apatico and Bionic Unicorn.

Photos by aestheticalalchemy.com and Drayke Larson - photosynthetique.com

Wonder-ous Costumes in 3D - Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland

Opening today is Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. The dark prince of Hollywood unleashes another gorgeous film on the screen in eye-popping 3D. One of his most important partners in achieving his style is Colleen Atwood, costume designer extraordinaire. She is the talent behind the looks of Sweeney Todd, Sleepy Hollow, Batman Returns and many of my other favorite films . For Alice in Wonderland, she wanted to stay far away from the cliche "Alice-in-a-bag" costumes you see at Halloween (many based on Disney's original animated version). Instead, her team took inspiration from authentic illustrations by John Tenniel and Lewis Carroll from original 1865 editions of the books.

As reality wasn't a priority, Ms. Atwood designed Anne Hathaway's look as frothy, Victorian "Stepford Fairy Princess". For Helena Bonham Carter's red queen, the designer outfitted her in a stiff, exaggerated Elizabethan collar to create a frame for the oversized head. The actress then was fitted with a prosthetic forehead and a 3 lb heart-shaped wig.  Digital effects did the rest.

For Johnny Depp’s Mad Hatter, Colleen Atwood created his look as a blend of Edwardian hat maker (the ones who actually did go mad from mercury poisoning) and a watercolor illustration created by Depp and Burton himself.

Go see the movie, or check out many of Ms. Atwood’s costumes and sketches in person at the Tim Burton retrospective at the MOMA.

First Look at Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland

I don't know about you darlings, but I can barely wait until 2010 when this film is released. Tim Burton, a dark creative prince is one of my favorite film directors. Alice? While whimsical, always had a darker, slightly sinister undertone and was one of my favorites as a child. Together, what a wonderful couple they make.
Here is a first look at the handsome Johnny Depp, almost unrecognizable as the Mad Hatter, the lovely Helena Bonham-Carter and Anne Hathaway as the red and white queen. It looks like Mr. Burton has his wonderful creative team on board for art direction and costumes.
Looking for a dark Alice fix before the movie? Get a copy of cult game hit, Alice from American McGee which served as an inspiration for this vision.