Alumna Francine Lecoultre was the Costume Textile Artist for the film, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.
She was recently nominated for a Costume Designer's Guild Award for Excellence in Commercial Costume Design.
FIDM Alumna Mona May, the famed costume designer behind films such as Clueless and Enchanted, will be on campus on Wednesday, February 8, 2012, from 11am to 12pm in FIDM Annex Room A332. She will speak to Students about her career and bring a portfolio of her work. Her latest film for 2012 is Vamps, starring Sigourney Weaver and Malcolm McDowell.
FIDM Alumna Jill Ohanneson, who has worked on shows such as Dexter, Lie to Mie, and Six Feet Under, is nominated for Outstanding Contemporary Television Series at the 14th annual Costume Designer's Guild Awards for her work as the costume designer on Revenge.
The awards are set for Feburary 21, 2012, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills. Good luck to Jill!
Film & TV Costume Design Student Michelle Himawan will intern with Western Costume's Bobi Garland, Director of Research. Bobi is busy working on six films including Horizons (2013) starring Tom Cruise and Clint Eastwood's Trouble With the Curve (2013.)
Alumna Courtney Leigh will showcase her designs in Phoenix as the featured clothing fashion artist at Rawk by Raw Artists on December 9, 2011 at The Duce.
Since graduating from FIDM, Courtney has been a costume designer for several local theaters and events, including Phoenix Theatre and Theater Works, Fear Farm, and Phoenix ComiCon.
Alumna Marina Toybina has seen her creations on everyone from Britney Spears and Katy Perry to Pink and Miley Cyrus. She is currently the costume designer on X Factor, where she sometimes has only days to turn around up to 140 costumes.
What do you love about your job with X Factor?
I feel very honored to have this opportunity. To be surrounded by incredible talent and in the company with the best-of-the-best in this industry is truly a priceless experience. I get to create magic and visual art with my team every week. How could anyone, especially in my field, ask for anything more?
What have been some recent challenges and highlights?
The long hours and the faster-than-the-speed-of-light turn-arounds have been a bit hectic from time to time, but overall, every show is its own highlight. The dancers are incredible to work with, my team is my rock, the creative directions are artistically fulfilling, and the experience to create and recreate is simply beautiful.
How did FIDM help prepare you for this fast-paced career? FIDM provided the fundamentals and the tools I needed to understand my own strengths and weakness. The discipline and dedication I experience on daily basis comes from my studies, hard work and the knowledge that I have acquired throughout the years.
What would you tell a student who dreams of being a successful costume designer?
Stay true to your vision, yourself, and your craft. Never stop growing, learning, and teaching. Learn from your mistakes and smile always while undergoing challenges and tough times. Art will always set you free.
Superman: Man of Steel doesn't hit theaters until 2013, but FIDM Fashion Design Alumna Ashli Pingry has already worked on costumes for the anticipated film. "In the art department, I was putting finishing touches to the pieces for all of the suits, which required extreme attention to detail," she says of her freelance job at Frontline Costume Design Studio. "In fabrication, I helped apply a special glue that would help the parts of the suits stay on. This was a very important detail since the costumes would be subject to a lot of wear and tear through shooting."
Ashli is now working at another costume shop creating pieces for resorts and theme parks and she continues to do wardrobe and costume design for indie films, but she will always remember her Superman experience fondly. "I am a huge super hero fan, so working at Frontline was like a dream come true," she adds. "Before I worked there, I would always go to the FIDM Museum exhibits and look at all of the superhero costumes wondering how in the world they were made. I got to see all parts of the process at Frontline and it was amazing."
How amazing would it be to make costumes for some of the most exciting superhero films imaginable? FIDM Film & TV Costume Design Students found out when Frontline Design, a company that creates costumes for major motion pictures such as Spiderman and the upcoming Superman movies, visited their classroom. Frontline Design gave students an up-close look at some of the costumes and talked about how they're produced. For more photos, visit the FIDM Flickr page.
FIDM Advanced Study Students from Fashion Design, Film & TV Costume Design, Theatre Costume Design, Entertainment Set Design & Decoration, and International Manufacturing & Product Development programs took a special tour of the new exhibition “Il Teatro alla Moda” on Friday, October 14th. The exhibit, at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills, celebrates Italy’s haute couture designers and their impact on opera, dance and theater design.
Valeria Mangani, Vice President, Alta Roma and Counselor for External Relations and Fashion for the Mayor of Rome, led the small group of 20 FIDM Students on the special tour, answering questions and pointing out the rich details of the amazing costumes.
The exhibit of 80 costumes, sketches, and drawings from Giorgio Armani, Roberto Capucci, Enrico Coveri, Fendi, Alberta Ferretti, Romeo Gigli, Antonio Marras, Missoni, Emanuel Ungaro, Valentino, and Gianni Versace is on display until November 13.
FIDM Theatre Costume Design Graduate Mikael Sharafyan recently won Best Costume Design for the film Disasteroid at the Los Angeles Cinema Festival of Hollywood. The film will screen on October 12, 2011 at Whitefire Theater in Sherman Oaks.
