Dressing a Galaxy: The Costume of Star Wars Limited Edition with DVD (Hardcover)

Book Description
· While the Star Wars saga is famous for its elaborate sets and for revolutionary visual effects, it also features some of the most unique and ornate costumes in modern film. In this exquisite volume, the intricate and beautiful fashions that have appeared in all six Star Wars films are on display-from military gear to royal gowns and the iconic garbs of Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader. Every costume is brilliantly displayed in intimate detail, from preproduction sketches to the final creations. Actors, including Natalie Portman and Samuel L. Jackson, provide commentary on their experiences during principal photography, while writer-director George Lucas and producer Rick McCallum contribute their thoughts on this exploration of Star Wars costume design. Accompanied by an exhibition at the The Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising (FIDM) Museum & Galleries at FIDM in Los Angeles, this unique visual treat is a must-have for any Star Wars fan. This limited-edition run of this book will be released with lavish gatefolds, fabric swatches, a special dvd, and a cast replica of a Wookiee belt-buckle, sure to be the ultimate Star Wars collectible.

Limited Edition Special Features

Hardcover with French-fold jacket encased in an elegant clamshell box with an Obi Wrap cloth overlay. Special features include six bound-in booklets and eight 6-page gatefolds, a costume index by character for all six films in the Star Wars Saga, 16 additional pages of color photographs and fabric swatches cut from the same bolts as the Saga's actual costume material originating from the Lucasfilm archives including swatches made from the same fabric used for Darth Vader's cape as well as a cast replica "Wookiee Belt-Buckle" symbolizing the valor and loyalty of these ferocious warriors. Also includes a Certificate of Authenticity for the Wookiee Belt Buckle replica and Costume Swatches.

"looks at what actors wear on screen. Interviews with costume designers chronicle the creation of elaborate get-ups..." - Erin Hanafy, Associated Press

Book Description
Dressing actors to suit character, place and period is more crucial to the filmmaking process than many realize. Costume Design provides compelling insight into this fascinating craft, featuring interviews with 14 world-class international costume designers, including the designers of Raiders of the Lost Ark, Batman, Shakespeare in Love, and many more.

*Vast cultural and artistic range of costume design brought together in one publication for the first time
*No other book uses so much visual content from the designers
*Contains interviews with some of the most celebrated costume designers in the world

This book is invaluable for anyone interested in learning about costume design--from the designers themselves. Fourteen highly accomplished designers discuss their craft in highly engaging and informative interviews, conducted by the author, Deborah Nadoolman Landis, herself an Academy Award-nominated costume designer. This is the kind of stuff that is usually neglected in "Making Of" film books and Hollywood history tomes. The interviews are augmented by hundreds of color and black-and-white photographs and costume sketches, which in themselves are more than worth the price of the book. Highly recommended!

This book is ideal for anyone interested in fashion or costume, and the creative process that goes into the creation of design. Landis, a costume designer herself, interviews most of the best costume designers working in film today. So unlike other books on costume design, where you get one person's opinion on the craft--and that person is usually a critic or academic who doesn't really have experience working in the field--here you get straight information direct from the creative people themselves.
The pictures are fabulous, so I think this book has appeal for anybody interested in clothes, movies, or design. Obviously, it will be a necessity for anyone interested in costume design or interested in being a costume designer.

Although there is a section on Landis' work on such movies as Raiders of the Lost Ark and Coming to America, she has obviously expertly edited the interviews that make up the text of the book. It seems as if the reader is sitting in the living room of these famous costume designers, chatting casually about how they got started, what inspires them, and some of their most interesting professional experiences.

Besides Edith Head, how many costume designers can you actually name? This book is a phenomenal collection of interviews with some of the best working film costume designers. You get a rare insight into what it's like to design for the stars, collaborate with the director and other craftsmen/women on a film set. Hollywood is well represented, but international designers get their due here as well. Designers describe what it's like to design for the much-lauded period films and the often-overlooked costumes of contemporary films (the author is herself an Oscar-nominated costume designer for "Coming to America"). The book includes lots of color photos and illustrations. You don't have to be a film historian to appreciate it.

The most recent book in Focal Press' Screencraft series, this book is a revealing look at the job of a film costume designer, told from the point of view of the practitioners. The names, faces and stories behind the most famous costumes from cinema are represented. From period films to contemporary, from mainstream to art films, from stylized costumes to naturalistic, the designers interviewed reveal their design process and the purpose of costume design, as well as what it's like working with stars and directors. The Academy Award nominated (if not winning) designers interviewed include: Theodora Van Runkle ("Bonnie and Clyde"), Italian designer Piero Tosi ("The Leopard"), Jeffrey Kurland ("Erin Brokovich"), the books author Deborah Nadoolman ("Raiders of the Lost Ark"), Ann Roth ("The Hours"), Japanese designer Eiko Ishioka ("Bram Stoker's Dracula"), Anthony Powell ("Tess"), Albert Wolsky ("All That Jazz"), Sandy Powell ("The Crying Game"), Gabriella Pescucci ("The Age of Innocence"), Ruth Carter ("Malcolm X"), Milena Canonero ("A Clockwork Orange"), James Acheson ("Dangerous Liaisons"), and Bob Ringwood ("Batman"). A fascinating behind the scenes look at a craft typically invisible to the audience. All of the designers deserve this long overdue recognition, and this book celebrates their work with interviews, color photos, and costume illustrations. Perhaps a future second volume might include interviews with designers Colleen Atwood, Patricia Norris and the design team of Jenny Beavan and John Bright?

Elegantly Frugal Costumes


Book Description

This wonderfully practical book literally shows you how to make costumes for plays, pageants and musicals at the lowest possible expense! Over 150 detailed illustrations work with the easy-to-follow text to walk you through every step of the process. Just about every basic period is covered: Biblical to Medieval, Renaissance, Angels, the Fabulous Fifties, 1800s to World War I, The Roaring Twenties and more. Many helpful hints on making or buying realistic period theatrical costumes on a shoestring budget from cast-offs, donations, scraps, and other easily-obtained materials. Also included are "special effects" costumes, helpful hints for getting into and out of costumes, and a glossary of costuming terms A book that will pay for itself with its first use.

About the Author
Shirley Dearing holds degrees in music and art and has sung and designed costumes for several operas. She lives in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Review:

What I like about this book is that it foregoes any esoterica and costuming theory in favor of good old fashioned practicality. The reader doesn't have to sift through the excruciating snobby details, but instead is given the real lowdown as if visiting with a best friend who happens to be a costume mistress.

This book focuses mainly on costuming for low-budget productions (such as community theatre or a school play), providing useful information and advice on making good-looking costumes from already existing garments and/or thrift store offerings. Information abounds about time period, costume cuts & styles, ways to splurge or skimp on your costumes and still have them look fabulous, as well as details that an inexperienced costumer might overlook (such as using velcro instead of buttons for ease in costume changes).

I would highly recommend this to anyone who is involved in costuming for a production, or anyone who simply loves costumes and loves to recycle old clothes into great new ones. I love this book and have read through it several times just for inspiration.


An excellent book of ideas and help for someone wanting to learn to costume for community theatre. It contains excellent examples of her own work that is easy to follow. It does not overload your brain with useless information. A good starting out book, that aids a person in organizing the information , and research problems needed to suceeded in this field. Also a good read for veterans of the design buisness to give fresh ideas and back up what they have done . After 35 years finally I have found someone who appreciates the use of thrift stores , goodwill and lace curtains for stage costumes. Thank you Shirley for putting it into words and pictures.

Instant Period Costume: How to Make Classic Costumes from Cast-Off Clothing (Paperback)

Reviews

Anyone who has done costume work for theater knows how difficult create believeable outfits quickly, and how expensive it can be to rent any costume. Instant Period Costumes: How To Make Classic Costumes From Cast-Off Clothing is the pefect solution to the costume worker's dilemma, for Barb Rogers has designs for inexpensively assembling over 100 period piece costumes, complete with photos and diagrams. The instructions are so easy to follow that absolutely no sewing is required! With chapters that describe costumes for the Gothic, Renaissance, Elizabethan, Restoration, Bustle, Turn-of-the-Century, World War I, '20s, '30s, '40s, '50s, '60s, '70s, '80s periods and more, Instant Period Costumes is highly recommended not only for theater costume workers, but also anyone looking to put together an excellent Halloween or masquerade ball costume with a minimum of cost and hassle!

The book provides numerous creative ideas for low budget theater companies. I found the ideas in this book clever and very useful, covering many different periods of style. Book has before and after photographs, easy to understand instructions. Good to have as a reference.


I agree with some of the other reviewers who pointed out that the costumes in this book are not "period perfect", but I thought the author had some clever and inspiring ideas about how to mix cast-off items to create new looks. Looking at her pictures will really help you to see the potential in those ugly old bridesmaids' dresses. I also appreciated her tips on how to use things like glue guns and cardboard for quick construction. I do wish, however, that the interior of the book had color pictures--the copy I have is all black and white, and it's hard to make out the detail in many of the images.

This is a fabulous book!!! Great for sewers and non-sewers alike. I will definitely buy it for my collection and have already started to aquire cast off clothing for usagein new costumes. Barb Rogers makes each costume seem so easy to make and really takes the threat out of costuming. GREAT IDEAS!!!! good pictures, wish they were all in color!!...

This book saved me from having to spend a fortune on a period costume for the re-enactment party. With some dye, glue, pins, and the ideas gleaned from it, I came up with my own Renaissance gown. And, it was so easy. You would not believe the people who asked where I got my costume. There is no doubt in my mind, when other occasions arise, I will be able to show up in a unique costume I have designed myself. I would recommend this book to anyone, especially people who don't sew, in need of a costume for any occasion.

This is NOT a guide to constructing period costumes -- her identification of the "periods" is more fantasy than fact -- but it does have clever ideas for fast and inexpensive costumes. This might make a good starting place for a costuming newbie who's overwhelmed at having to put together a whole show in just a few weeks. Experienced costumers can skip this book, since you've probably already come up with these ideas on your own.

A word of warning: the author frequently dyes the second-hand clothing she uses, but you could probably skip that step in many of the examples (I don't know about you, but I don't know anyone who would let me use their washing machine to dye a wedding dress blue...!). It's the tips on combining parts of different garments that most people will find helpful.

My main problem with this book is the title; if you just omit the word "period" then you've got a good idea of what this book IS good for. It would be useful for school musicals, masquerade parties, parades, Halloween, etc. but don't expect to costume a decent production of Shakespeare with the aid of this book. Kiss Me, Kate -- yes; Taming of the Shrew -- no.

Costume Design: Techniques of Modern Masters (Paperback)

Review

While this book is absolutely gorgeous, it isn't a book *about* costume rendering. It's not a how-to book, but I'll add that it's a wonderful book for inspiration. The text portion (that I find is often skipped over in favor of looking at the pretty pictures) is worth a read as well, since it goes into some detail on various costumers' processes. Good book, but not an essential read for costume students.

I have searched for this book in hardback form and I am so glad it is back as a paperback. The conversations with the designers are invigorating and enlightening for all of us in the design business. It is also a constant source for excellence in costume renderings. I find myself going back to the pages over and over again for refinement and inspiration in my own rendering techniques. A must have for every costume designer!

Halloween : A Grown-Up's Guide to Creative Costumes, Devilish Decor & Fabulous Festivities (Paperback)

Book Description

Finally, here's a Halloween book that's definitely for adults. It's brimming with practical and inventive ideas for parties, decorations, and costumes, and with an amazingly atmospheric design that's a luscious treat for grown-up eyes. Take the dread out of a costume party with creative and playful ways to dress for success on All Hallow's Eve; there are even actual costume elements to use, from wings and tails to masks and hats. You'll find ways to repurpose items right out of your own closet or benefit from a quick trip to the thrift shop. Unique make-up tips for a ghoulishly great appearance will complete the effect. An elegant "Pumpkin Primer" supplies projects to enhance the holiday spirit, including menacing hex dolls and simple, spooky candlescapes. Finally, a selection of theme party ideas, from Day o' the Dead to a Masked Ball, will make for a Happy Halloween. After all: why should kids have all the fun?

Every knows Halloween has become big business over the past 20 years or so and second only to Christmas in terms of dollars spent decorating. Much like Christmas Halloween has become an entire season with stores dedicated to selling Halloween items popping up every year around the beginning of September and people decorating their homes at the beginning of October. If anything, Halloween may be even more elaborate and more expensive with complex animated items and realistic tombstones and other such displays. And the costumes...one can spend upwards of a hundred dollars or more on a good costume. That's where this wonderful book by Joanne O'Sullivan comes in handy. The book concentrates mainly on costumes and accessories, showing you step-by-step how you can make some fantastic costumes at home, often with materials you may already have or that can be purchased inexpensively at fabric or hardware stores.

Each costume comes with a full color photograph and each has a well done materials list and directions which clearly illustrate how to make the costume. Now if you're slant is to the ghoulish and gory, this won't be the book for you. The costumes here slant towards the traditional such as a gladiator, Knight, and Witch, to the rather sublime such as dressing as a Jackson Pollock abstract painting. The designs all show marvelous creativity and shows what you can do with a little imagination. How about making an English Judge's wig out of rolls of bathroom tissue, or a Geisha Girl costume made with old bed sheets. The costumes are all aimed at adults and the materials list reflects making these for an adult wearer, as opposed to children.

There's a nice section on creating medieval weaponry on stuff cheaply found at a hardware or home improvement store. One of my favorite items in the book was a Medusa's wig that looks just spectacular. Get yourself some cheap rubber snakes from the local dollar store, a swim cap, and a few other ingredients and you've got a very unique and terrifying accessory to a costume or outdoor display. There are also a variety of other wigs, capes, hands, and feet that can be made. The decorating section is a bit sparse but contains some nice information on pumpkin carving, decorating alternatives, and making such items as voodoo and hex dolls.

Finally, there is some great tips on throwing themed Halloween parties such as a New Orleans Voodoo Cocktail party or a Day of the Dead dinner party, both with invitations, décor, libations and food, all matching the theme. While it may be a tame for some peoples tastes, "Halloween: A Grown-Up's Guide to Creative Costumes, Devilish Decor & Fabulous Festivities" is still a great book with many interesting and imaginative ideas. The wonderful color photography is among the best I have ever seen in a book of this type.

My opinions are divided about this book. I give it five stars for the assortment highly original, great-looking, easy costumes. The styrofoam hooves and horns were great ideas, the bug costumes actually looked pretty good, and so on. I especially loved the Monet costume, which was of watery blue cloth and bedecked in water-lilies, with a garden bridge on the hat. Many of the costumes and decorations are very artistic. Even some of the no-sew costumes made me say "Oooh, cool!"

I give it one star for the several infuriatingly innaccurate Asian-inspired costumes and decor. The "samurai" armor was just a joke and perhaps could be said to have its own peculiar charm, and the Yuki Ona costume (which is supposed to be spelled Yuki Onna, it's pronounced differently) was quirky and didn't look even remotely Japanese or even Asian (actually, it looked like the Snow Queen) and the bedsheet kimono was actually pretty good and began to look authentic in comparison to the other things, but when it had flat paper masks from the "Kabuki, or CHINESE opera"...! Ooh, that makes me SO MAD! Aargh! If they'd just stopped at one horribly innaccurate Japanese costume, I would have shrugged and skipped over it, but when they kept doing it, one after another... grr. It's not racist, just not researched enough.

Something similar happens when it talks about using a voodoo-doll motif for a Halloween party. It then tells you a bit about the religions of Vodoun and Santeria, from which the "voodoo dolls" come. This raises the question of why it's using very serious religious symbols as fun party decor.

The book has historical information about Halloween, monsters, and other cultural things. For example, after the instructions for the Green Man costume, it has two pages telling what is known (and not known) about the Green Man's history. With the fairy costume, it tells about different kinds of fairies, and how some kinds of fairies are more dangerous than cute.

However, after having seen how innaccurate this book was when it came to Japan, I'm highly suspicious of its educational value and authenticity in other areas of history and culture. It's clear the book *tried,* since it does at least include historical information for everything it can, but I'm not going to use it as history reference. Enjoy, but take with a grain of salt.

The section about the Mexican Day of the Dead seems considerably more accurate than the others, and fairly true to the spirit of that holiday and culture, but I still feel a bit suspicious about its authenticity.

Sorry if I seem grouchy about the book- I really did enjoy its originality of design. It's a relieving change of pace from the "country charm" Halloween craft books where you've seen everything before. None of those hokey books had scarecrows like the one in this book, which is a terrifying art statue with broken garden implements for claws, a faceless pumpkin head,and a metal wire body wrapped in dead vines! That's probably the scariest thing in the whole book, and genuinely scary at that. Not all of the things in it try to be adult or scary, mind you; there's plenty of light-hearted Halloween silliness too. I am going to have to try some of the things in here!

The book title caught my attention as the word "Grown Up" jumped out at me. I am big fan of everything Halloween so I had to have this book. I should have borrowed it at the library first! I read other reviews on Amazon.com about how wonderful this book was so I purchased it solely based on the reviews.
DON'T JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER:

The cover threw me off. It had pictures of a paper mache skull with horns, a pumpkin with star holes, floating candles in a bucket filled with flowers and mini pumpkins and a picture of hand-made crepe paper witch hats on the front door. I was thinking: all right! A cool book on how to decorate and cool crafts to make!

What they should have put on the front page was a picture of a man in spider costume, a picture of a woman in a poodle outfit, a picture of a man wearing a bird beak..you get the picture.

COSTUME 101

The first 107 pages out of 173 pages were all about costumes only. Here's a sampling: black spider, poodle, bees, really ugly paint spattered thing...

The good thing about this book - you can make most of the costumes listed here because they are items that are readily available.

The bad thing about this book - it really shows.

Many of the costumes just require you to take your old dress/shirt/gown and throw paint all over it or sew a few things on it here and there. There was even an outfit called "Dancing Queen" and can you guess what you are supposed to do? Slap used CD's all over yourself. You are supposed to look like a dancing queen...isn't that what being covered in CD's is all about?

The Queen bee outfit looks...anemic. I thought bees were supposed to be fat. In this case the Queen bee stands in skin tight clothing with what looks like black chicken wire around her waist (I think its supposed to be black netting).

The "Mother Nature and Green Man" costume I find hilarious. Just looking at the picture you'd think they were hippies covered in vegetation and/or mossy stuff. On the next page there is an entire page on "Who is The Green Man?" I figure if you have to go around explaining who the heck you are it takes the fun out of it after the 500th time. "No...I'm NOT the moss man or the hippy man covered in vegetation...I am the Green Man (insert expletives and other cuss words here)...!"

I must admit there are a few neat outfits: the shimmery mermaid outfit, the gladiator and the bedsheet geisha, but not much else going for it. For every one male costume there are about 3 or 4 women's costumes (mainly old dresses with things sewn onto them).

The second part of the costumes section take you step-by-step on how to make things like birds beaks, hairy legs (I am not making this up), thundering hooves, walrus tusks (WALRUS? where's the matching costume for this tusk?). There's one page on how to make an outfit for your dog.

The third part of the costume section teaches you how to paint your face (3 pages of really boring stuff), how to make a hat, how to make paper bags LOOK like a face. Are you sleeping yet? The only thing remotely fresh that I saw in this section was the medusa wig. You get a bunch of plastic snakes and pin it to your swim cap covered in black tulle.

FINALLY...THE DECOR SECTION:

The first ten pages in this section covers pumpking carving basics, how to add a "nose" to a pumpkin simply by turning it over so the stem acts like a nose, how to make a pumpkin look like a "bushy head" by sticking twigs and leaves out of its head, how to carve squares into a pumpkin to make it look geometric, how to....urgh.

The next five pages are all about making dolls. Voodoo dolls, corn "dollys" and hex dolls which are nothing more than twigs hanging eerily off some dead branches. Phhhhfft.

Then..get this...another craft article on how to make a GIANT 6 FOOT SPIDER! That's right...in your very own back yard! How did the craft section go from tying together twigs and corn to make faceless dolls to a gigantic, humongous, insanely huge spider? I take that back, the spider is 6 feet in diameter, which means its actually bigger.

FOOD SECTION:

There are differently themed parties throught this book: the New Orleans voodoo cocktail party, the Day of the Dead dinner party and the Masked Ball party. Not many recipes. Just a lot of nice pretty pictures, I do give this book some credit!

MY RATING:

I give it a ho-hum bummed out "2" on my scale of 1 (don't bother) to 6 (excellent).

Try Martha Stewart's Halloween for better decorating ideas.

I am a fan of adult Halloween books - nothing cutesy or for the kiddies. I bought this book thinking it would have equal amounts of decor and costumes as I am the type of person that likes Martha Stewart's Halloween decorating ideas. While this book is very good, it is primarily costumes and masks. I would have liked to see more decor. The first 108 pages out of 175 pages are costumes. The remaining pages covers jack-o-lanterns, decorating with candles, a few recipes, etc. Nothing new or spectacular. Great if you like to craft your own costumes...mediochre if you want new decor ideas and crafting your own Halloween items.

Maybe it's because I'm not a seamstress, or even a casual sewer, but I don't understand the objections of an earlier review. It's hard to believe we're talking about the same book! Yes, there is a costume using duct tape, but throughout the book I found many new, very original and creative ideas that I will be able to use for my annual Halloween extravaganza. I have read dozens and dozens of books on Halloween costumes, crafts, and decorating, and never been quite so inspired. As a Halloween afficionado, I recommend it highly!

Halloween costume
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Halloween costumes are outfits worn on October 31st, the day of Halloween. Halloween is a modern day holiday (spun off of the Gaelic/Druidic/Pagan holiday of Samhain (in Christian times, the eve of All Saints Day). Originally a day to remember the dead by celebrating the darker and more gruesome side of human existence, celebrants would dress as their deceased relatives. It has now become a very commercialized celebration. Because of this, popular costumes are often mass manufactured and sold in specialty stores.

What sets Halloween costumes apart from costumes for other celebrations or days of dressing up is that they are often designed to be gruesome or scary. Popular monsters of legend or fiction are regular themes for Halloween costumes, as are pop culture figures like presidents, film or television characters.

Some of the most common and popular Halloween costumes are:

Ghost
Vampire
Frankenstein's Monster
Witch

Other Halloween Costume Ideas

Halloween Ideas and Tips
Halloween Party Ideas
Halloween Costume Ideas
Halloween Decorating Ideas
Halloween Safety Tips
Halloween Makeup and Special Effects Ideas
Halloween Haunted House Ideas
Halloween Ideas
Halloween Recipes
Halloween Movies
Halloween Holiday
Harry Potter Costumes
Incredibles Costumes
Goth Costumes
Plus Size Costumes
Star War Costume
Batman Costume
Lady Bug Costume
Lion Costume
Halloween Costume
Halloween Dog Costume
Halloween Adult Costume
Renaissance Costume
Halloween Sexy Costume
Pirate Costume
Belly Dance Costume
Medieval Costume
Fairy Costume
Willy Wonka Costume
Power Ranger Costume
Spider Man Costume
Darth Vader Costume
Halloween Baby Costume
Clown Costume
Halloween Child Costume
Halloween Kids Costume
Toddler Halloween Costume
Disney Costume
Couple Halloween Costume
Classic Costume
Infant Halloween Costume
Hollywood Costume
Teen Halloween Costume
Halloween Shop
Costume Wig
Halloween Masks
Wonder Woman Costume
Tinkerbell Costume
Super Hero Costume
Halloween Prop
Halloween Costume Store
Princess Costume
Halloween Costume Accessories
Halloween Cheap Costumes
Adults take over Halloween
Halloween Festivals
Halloween History
Monster Costume
Naughty Nurse Costume
Devil Costume
Witch Costume
Vampire Costume
Hobitt Costume
Goblin Costume
Angel Costume
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Costume
Ninja Costume
Ghost Costume
Sponge Bob Square Pants Costume
Sexy Cheerleader Costume
Hilarious costumes
Barbie Costume
Sexy Bunny Costume
French Maid Costume
Big Kahuna Costume
Go Go Costume
Sexy Cop Costume
Hippie Costume
barbie costumes
superman costumes
batman costumes
pirate costumes
incredibles costumes
fairy costumes
sexy costumes
couple costumes
kids halloween costumes
girls halloween costumes
boys halloween costumes
mens halloween costumes
teens halloween costumes
baby halloween costumes
women's halloween costumes