FIDM Art of Television Costume Design!

I had visited FIDM (Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising) for the Academy Awards exhibition of costumes, but it was just a few days when I realized the 12th Annual Art of Television Costume Design exhibition would end on Saturday, yesterday!  This was of course to display the costumes and the designers which started on August 21st before the Emmy Awards which aired on September 17th.  I’m glad I caught it before the exhibition closed, I’m fascinated to see costumes up close, and also used on what would be on television screens.  If you have missed it, hopefully you can catch it next year, the exhibition is free and you can take pictures and video as long as it is not flash pictures.  Side note: many of the visitors are patient and aware that you might want to shoot the costumes, but be patient, also the lighting is harsh so be extra steady and move you camera around to find the right angles.  

Westworld costumes at FIDM, photo by the author.

There is a wall when you enter that has the title of the exhibition, this leads to a side wall that has pics of the various costumes.  Then, you get the first costume, Black Lightning!  This is impressive since it is has the internal lighting glowing with the lightning bolt patterns.  The image is so striking, and no lighting on it, you can believe Cress Williams is there in costume.  Next to it are the costumes from Outlander, the Starz show, based on the  Diana Gabaldon novels.  There is the costumes of James Fraser and Claire Fraser in their 18th century outfits.  Frank Randall’s modern clothes and two of Claire Randall’s modern looks.  This goes on to costumes from Grown-ish and Unbreakable Kimmy Schimdt.  At the end is costumes from The Crown. The centerpiece in the middle of the room is a circular display of the costumes from the Netflix show, GLOW.  

Black Lightning's costume, photo by the author.

On the other side is the dresses from the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and further on is the costumes from Game of Thrones.  A White Walker is standing in the back, upfront is Sansa Stark’s royal robes, next to her is the fur outfit of Jon Snow and then the fur robe of Daenerys Targaryen.  The next room had a display of the books that were adapted to television.  Then, there were costumes of the Netflix series, A Series of Unfortunate Events, and TNT adaptation of Caleb Carr’s novel, The Alienist.  Turn to the left and there is a series of room and turn to the right you can see the costumes of Star Trek: Discovery with the Mirror Universe costume of Michael Burnham in the back and in front is the armor of Emperor Georgiou, also in the back is Sarek’s red robes, then Ash Tyler’s uniform next to Dr. Hugh Culber’s medical whites. Turn to the left and there were the costumes from the recent Jesus Christ Superstar tv musical.  

Michael Burnham's costume from Star Trek: Discovery, photo by the author.

A side room had costumes from Westworld including Sakura, the Shogun in the back, Maeve Millay front and center of course, Akane in the back, and the black samurai shitagi of Musashi to the side.  Across from it was costumes from The Deuce.  The next room on the left were costumes from The Orville; Navarian Ambassador, Lurenek, Charlize Theron’s character, Pria Lavesque, and her costume, Kirll Captain Haros, and Sazeron.  There was Santa Clarita Diet costumes along with Another Period.  There are of course more costumes, this is just an overview of what was there, I would like to see some of shows returning next year.  Check with the FIDM Facebook page and website to keep up to date with their current exhibitions at the FIDM museum and galleries.  It is located at 919 S. Grand Avenue in Los Angeles.  

#FIDM, #ArtofTelevisionCostumeDesign, #GameofThrones, #StarTrekDiscovery