FIDM 28th Art of Motion Picture Costume Design Exhibition!

Around the time of the Academy Awards, this year on Sunday, February 9th, there is the Art of Motion Picture Costume Design at the FIDM Museum, 919 South Grand Avenue, Los Angeles.  It is free and you can take non-flash pictures.  The exhibiton opened on February 4th and closed on March 21st.  Check out more information at FIDMmuseum.org.  The exhibition has a long wall once you enter the building, the right side leads to the gift store, and left side begins with a display of the costumes of Angela Bassett (Ramonda) and Lupita Nyong’o (Nakia) from 2018’s Black Panther.  On the opposite wall is the Academy Award won by Ruth E. Carter.  To the side is the costumes of Joker by Oscar nominee Mark Bridges.  The center piece is the costumes of Elton John worn by Taron Egerton in Rocketman with designs by Julian Day.  There is the familiar, red sweater of Fred Rogers from A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.  Past it, is the dresses from nominee Jacqueline Durran, for Little Women. 

   

Costumes from Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, photo by the author.

Then, there are circus outfits from Dumbo and then the facing wall has several costumes from Once Upon a Time in Hollywood by nominee, Arianne Phillips.  The wall on the right features nominee, Sandy Powell’s costumes from The Irishman.  Followed by three superhero costumes from Captain Marvel.  Then, the facing wall, has several outfits from nominee, Mayes C. Rubeo’s Jojo Rabbit.  I like Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’s capture of the period, but what looks more like costumes seem to be Little Women’s dresses.  The next room is stunning since it has three displays from Missing Link.  There are various figures of the different characters in a display case and above it is the style board of the various swatches and designs for the characters.  Then, there is characters in a scene with Sir Lionel Frost (Hugh Jackman) leading the way, Mr. Link (Zach Galifianakis) behind him, leading a horse next to massive logs.  This is the most detailed display that I’ve seen for the exhibitions about costume design.  

Style board from Missing Link, photo by the author.

Across from Missing Link’s displays is various costumes of Captain America, the sign notes that they are from Avengers: Endgame, but really these are from various MCU films; Avengers (2012 and Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014).  At the end of the room is the various dresses from Maleficient: Mistress of Evil with designs by Ellen Mirojnick.  The opposite alcove has costumes worn by Felicity Jones from The Aeronauts.  The next room on the wall to the left has costumes from the Downton Abbey movie, nice period costumes, but not too much elegance.  There are the soldier uniforms from 1917.  What stunned me was that there were black and white robes from a film called Shadow, a film from Zhang Yimou.  There there are dresses from Harriet which I found more diverse in design that what I saw from Little Women.  On the opposite wall is outfits from Hustlers, then Ford v Ferrari, then Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.  What seemed new was the helmeted uniform of Zorii Bliss, Keri Russell must be tiny!, and the full costume worn by Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams).  The center piece is an alien from the Coachella festival in the movie.  Basically, the costume design was uninspired, up close there was no real detail that was interesting.  

Costumes from Us, photo by the author.

Continuing on there was costumes from Last Christmas.  I was fascinated by the dress worn by Michelle Yeoh’s character, Santa, it has a faded jade color and intricate gold and flower designs, but this fades into a brown at the bottom, as if the character was once fancy, but now that has all faded.  I was equally stunned to see the outfits worn by Lupita Nyong’o from Us, the bloody shirt of Adelaide and the scarlet outfit of Red.  The last room has costumes from The Laudromat and next to it is three outfits from Aladdin.  I’ve seen the costumes before, but I will say, I think they are the best in the exhibition in terms of just fanciful designs and intricacy.  Great work by Michael Wilkinson.  Next to it is the costumes from the Eddie Murphy comedy, Dolemite Is My Name.  Finally, there are three outfits from Booksmart.  The opposite wall has costumes from Knives Out.  There is an incredible diversity of movies on display at FIDM.     

#FIDMMuseum, #AcademyAwards, #Joker, #StarWars