Every year around the time of the Academy Awards, FIDM, the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising, has a museum on 919 S. Grand Ave. in Los Angeles with costumes. It opened on February 5th and finishes on April 12th. The first costume was a pink dress from Phantom Thread (2017). The first room contains the “Out of This World” section covering worlds of fantasy and science fiction. In the center of the room is the work of Ruth E. Carter with a circular platform for the costumes Black Panther. In the center was the white dress of Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett), to her left is purple robes of Zuri (Forest Whitaker), and to her left is the red Dora Milaje uniform of Okoye (Danai Gurira). Facing the other side is the ceremonial outfit of Shuri (Letitia Wright). I’ve seen these costumes since the D23 Expo in 2017, but they were out of context since I didn’t see the movie. Then, again at the El Capitan Theatre for the Black Panther movie, but it was great to see the details of the costume. To the right is the costumes of Aquaman (Jason Momoa) and Mera (Amber Heard) designed by Kym Barrett. She is known for the costumes of The Matrix (1999). What impressed me is not only were the costumes reflective of the comic books, but also the detail unnoticed on screen, the scales on Aquaman’s boots!
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| The costumes of Black Panther, FIDM, photo by the author. |
To the left of the Black Panther display were the costumes of Mrs. Who (Mindy Kaling), Mrs. Whatsit (Reese Witherspoon), and Mrs. Which (Oprah Winfrey) from A Wrinkle in Time. They were designed by Paco Delgado and stand as my favorites of the exhibition even though I saw them earlier on display at the El Capitan Theatre. There is of course a difference seeing them in a room and then seeing the costumes up close. I could see the bubbles, like packing material, in Mrs. Which’s dress which made me think she represented the element of Air. The aqua blue material in Mrs. Whatsit’s dress which made me think of the element of Water. The dress of Mrs. Who seemed almost like a volcano with a red stripe down the center of the dress and multicolored puffy fringes like smoke so she might represent the Fire element. Next to A Wrinkle in Time were the costumes from Avengers: Infinity War including the Black Panther habit worn by Chadwick Boseman. Then, there was the costumes of Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), Captain America (Chris Evans), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), and Thor (Chris Hemsworth). These costumes were designed by Judianna Makovsky and were mostly dark in color; red, dark blue, and black. At the end of the room were the costumes from A House with A Clock in Its Walls, I didn’t see that film so it was slightly out of context for me.
Next to the Aquaman costumes were the clothing from the characters of A Quiet Place. This was a nice contrast to the outlandish superhero outfits. The normal clothing didn’t attract attention, but I still love that movie.
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| The Royal Daulton Music Hall dress of Mary Poppins, photo by the author. |
Past them is the costumes of Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald designed by Colleen Atwood. Featured were the costumes of Dumbledore (Jude Law) and black jacket of Grindelwald (Johnny Depp). Next to the magical costumes was the sci fi costumes of Solo: A Star Wars Story. The most impressive one was the yellow shirt and black jacket of Lando Calrissian played by Donald Glover. I still haven’t seen the film. The next room had a large displays of costume designs from all of the films. It also had a display of accessories from the different movies and the costumes of Crazy Rich Asians, which was strangely their casual wear, not their formal clothes. Also, the dresses from Ocean’s Eight and A Simple Favor. The following room features American Life on one side and some international costumes. There was the dresses of Ruth Bader Ginsberg from On the Basis of Sex played by Felicity Jones, the costumes of BlacKkKlansman, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, If Beale Street Could Talk, and First Man. I was impressed by the RBG dresses because I didn’t expect that film here. The featured outfit is Freddie Mercury’s kingly robes from Bohemian Rhapsody. On the right is the costumes from Mary Poppins Returns designed by Sandy Powell. They had the red and blue coats of Mary Poppins (Emily Blunt) with the lamplighter outfit of Jack (Lin-Manuel Miranda). This is contrasted by the formal pink dress of Mary Poppins and the blue-green of Jack’s outfit in The Royal Doulton Music Hall sequence.
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| The astronaut space suit from First Man, photo by the author. |
Next to them was the costumes of The Nutcracker and the Four Realms. I loved these costumes because they are fantastic. I’ve seen the dresses of Clara (Mackenzie Foy) and Sugar Plum (Keira Knightley) at the El Capitan, but this also had the Nutcracker soldier, Philip (Jayde Fowora-Knight) and also Hawthorne (Eugenio Derbez) and Shiver (Richard E. Grant). Of course, these are Disney films, but I like the bold color palettes and connect the fantasy in the first room to this one. Next to them is Freddie Mercury outfits worn by Rami Malek. At the end of the room tying into the music performers were two costumes worn by Lady Gaga playing Ally and another worn by Bradley Cooper (Jack) in A Star is Born. The centerpiece of the last room is the astronaut space suit worn by Neil Armstrong (Ryan Gosling) in First Man. This was impressive since you can see the attention to accuracy with all of the steps for the backpack listed, but this piece is said on the FIDM page to only be on display for the first week. To the left side is the costumes from The Favourite also designed by Sandy Powell. There were three dresses of Abigail (Emma Stone), also a costume that looks like a riding outfit of Queen Anne (Olivia Colman), and a costume of Lady Sarah (Rachel Weisz). On the right side of the room were costumes of Mary Queen of Scots designed by Alexandra Byrne. These seemed more formal and extravagant than the costumes of The Favourite. Next to those dresses were the clothing of Colette and costumes of Outlaw King including the royal robes of the Robert Bruce, Earl of Carrick and his earlier chainmail armor. Lastly, there were the costumes from The Girl in the Spider’s Web, including the outfits of Lisbeth Salander (Claire Foy) who also has a costume with the First Man display. It is an experience to see these costumes up close. One of these films will pick up the Best Costume Academy Award! I hope everyone has a chance to go down to FIDM before April 12th!
#FIDMMuseum, #BlackPanther, #AWrinkleinTime, #FirstMan
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