FIDM Magazine

FIDM Alumna Mona May Visits LA Campus

FIDM Alumna, costume designer Mona May, visited the downtown LA campus last week for an informative and inspiring hour-long chat with FIDM Students and Faculty. Students from majors ranging from Visual Communications to Merchandise Product Development and Fashion Design came to pick the brain of the master Costume Designer of movies like Clueless, Enchanted, Stuart Little 2, and The Wedding Singer. Mona, who is at work on a TV pilot, generously answered students’ questions:

Q How did you get started in the movie industry?
A I had studied fashion in Europe and New York. I came to FIDM in the 90s because I wanted to do sportswear. While going to fashion school here, I naturally met students from the film schools like UCLA and USC. When they asked me to design costumes for their student films, it sounded like fun, so I just jumped in.

Q What is the main difference between fashion design and costume design?
A In costume design you are not designing for the trends. You are designing for character. You have to think, “What makes this character different? What is their transformation?” Drew Barrymore’s character in Never Been Kissed was so much fun to dress for that reason.

Q Where do you go for ideas?
A You have to be innovative. Since your job starts about 8 months before the movie shoots, you have to be ahead of trends. I look at the runway shows and magazines like Collezioni that are looking to the future. You cannot look at what is in the stores right now or the clothes will be out-of-date by the time the movie is released.

Q How can students prepare for interviews?
A I am still auditioning after nearly 20 years in the industry. I like to bring big presentation boards filled with visual ideas to show the director I really care. Don’t be afraid to have a strong point-of-view as a designer. Remember that you’re competing with other designers so you have to stand out.

That said, I dress professionally and arty for the meeting. I want to make an impact with my ideas.

Q Can you tell us about your process?
A As a designer, you collaborate with lots of people, but the director is the most important. I begin the conversation by discussing the script. You are not the artist who sits at home and paints so you have to meet and talk everything out. Over time, you build trust with a director, but you have to be like a combination artist/lawyer. You are always convincing him that your ideas are right.

On Stuart Little 2, I was designing for a 4-inch computer animated no-neck mouse as well as a 6-feet tall live action actor, Geena Davis, so the collaborations were complex. For instance, computer programs were designed to actually make patterns for all the tiny mice clothes, so I was a virtual tailor working with a large staff of animators.

Enchanted was even more complex. There were 3 formats we were designing for: live action, classic animation, and CGI.

Q How do you deal with the stress of Hollywood?
A If you love what you do, it’s fun! Being a costume designer involves lots of problem solving. My advice to new designers is: get there early, stay late, and be happy at work. Go cry at home, if you have a bad day.

Q Is there a philosophy that guides your work?
A I think of each scene in a movie or TV show as a painting. All the characters, their clothes, and their surroundings should go together and make a pleasing picture on screen.

Film & TV Costume Design is one of 20 majors offered at FIDM.

Alumna Worked on The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

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.

Costume Designer Mona May Coming to LA Campus

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 Worked on Oscar-Nominated Film The Artist

FIDM Alumna Kaitlynn Wood, a Graduate of the Entertainment Set Design& Decoration Program, worked in the Set Decoration Depart of The Artist, which has been nominated for 10 Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Art Direction in Production Design and Set Decoration

Kaitlynn worked under the direction of  Production Designer Laurence Bennett and Set Decorator Robert Gould. She is the first Graduate from Entertainment Set Design & Decoration to receive an on screen credit for an Oscar nominated film in Art Direction.

Film & TV Costume Design Lands Internship at Western Costume

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 Worked on Costumes For New Superman Film

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."

FIDM Student Wins Best Production Design for Short Film

Congratulations to 2011 FIDM grad Amber Bailey! She won Best Production Design award at this year’s Action on Film Festival for the short film The Price—a spaghetti western with an apocalyptic edge.

When the New Mexico native first came to FIDM two years ago, she majored in Visual Communications. “I always thought it would be cool to work in entertainment, but I didn’t know the jobs,” she reports. After moving to LA and working on friends' films, she is now focused on a career in production design. Next semester, she’ll build on her skill set with the Advanced Study program in Entertainment Set Design & Decoration.

Amber jumped into production design for The Price feet first when the first designer dropped out. As set designer, she helped choose locations, built sets from the ground up, and was responsible for all decorating.

“I like doing set design because it is so much more than just decorating,” says Amber. In movies, “the sets and decoration are an extension of character. You can explore characteristics not expressed in plot or dialogue.” Amber loves making all those creative choices.

“I’m looking forward to the networking and internship opportunities that FIDM offers. Now I can learn the foundations from industry professionals so I really know what I’m doing,” says the already award-winning set designer.

 

FIDM Alumna Ha Nguyen Designs Costumes for Super 8

Fashion Design major alumna Ha Nguyen is costume designer of this season's mega-thriller Super 8, directed by JJ Abrams and produced by Steven Spielberg. The accomlished FIDM Grad and Academy member has designed the costumes for 35 films including: The Nutty Professor, The Mask, and Lethal Weapon 4. In addition to her film work, Nguyen designs homes and sells her hipster T-shirt designs under the label Bongo T's.

True Grit Actress Hailee Steinfeld Visits FIDM Museum

Actress Hailee Steinfeld visited FIDM this week and toured the 19th Annual Art of Motion Picture Costume Design Exhibition. The costumes that she wore as Mattie Ross in the film True Grit are on display, along with costumes from over 20 movies from 2010.

Tomorrow, April 30th, is the last day to see the exhibition. It's open from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and is free and open to the public.

Bill Cunningham Doc Celebrates a Life in Fashion

Long before “fast fashion” was invented, Bill Cunningham was trolling the streets of New York capturing the best, most arresting images of fashion forward New Yorkers and documenting the trends, first for Women’s Wear Daily and then for the New York Times. If you love his weekly Sunday column “On the Street”, and online videos, you will adore this moving documentary on the life and work of the legendary fashion photographer. Filmmakers follow the modest, rail thin 82 year old on his daily rounds: standing on street corners in the rain, going to galas at the Met, pedaling his trusty Schwinn downtown to art openings, and attending the Paris shows—dressed either in his signature plastic poncho or street cleaning jacket and flashing his impish grin as he works to record the way people are dressing today. As Vogue editor Anna Wintour says in her homage, “We all get dressed for Bill.” The man who has made his life’s work snapping the pictures of others is pure joy to watch.

Bill Cunningham New York is playing at The Landmark at Westside Pavilion, 10850 W. Pico, 310.281.8233.