For my final major project, I chose ‘Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief’ by Rick Riordan. I designed the costumes for a ballet with both 19thcentury and contemporary influences and chose to construct costumes for the characters Medusa and Annabeth.
The main themes I explored within the story were identity, love, traditions and mythology. When designing the silhouette for Annabeth I used layers of garments within the costume which shows her beauty, courage and bravery. Annabeth’s colours are chosen based on her athleticism.
Whereas Medusa’s deep green and grunge palette was inspired by her hair of snakes and effervescent personality. In parallel I tried to imagine the form of snakes (their skin and how they move) by using their scales to drag against the floor.
In second-year I designed for Dracula and I chose tobreak the illusion of Dracula being a man as women are so powerful however within the Victorian era were seen as the weaker sex and therefore modernised the plot.
Throughout placement year before COVID I spent time working at; Hat Therapy learning millinery, also Cabasa Carnival on dying and batiking fabrics for costumes and at Beamish Museum constructing garments.
